California Institute of Technology Professor Emeritus Named Distinguished Member of National Civil Engineering Society

Anthony Reed
703-295-6413
areed@asce.org

California Institute of Technology Professor Emeritus

Named Distinguished Member of National Civil Engineering Society

Reston, Va.— Wilfred D. Iwan, Ph.D., Dist. M.ASCE, NAE, professor emeritus of the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, Calif., was recently named a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). ASCE’s highest accolade, distinguished membership recognizes eminence in a branch of engineering, and is currently comprised of only 198 of the Society’s 146,000 members worldwide. Iwan will be formally inducted, in honor of his research on the seismic performance of structures, Oct. 29, 2009, at ASCE’s 139^th Annual Civil Engineering Conference in Kansas City, Mo.

Iwan currently serves as emeritus professor of applied mechanics and director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, where he has served on the faculty since 1964. As a researcher, Iwan is a world renowned scholar in earthquake engineering. He has developed practical methods for earthquake-resistant design of structures and simplified methods for the analysis of equipment isolation systems. Iwan also introduced the concept of a drift demand spectrum as a means of understanding the effects of earthquakes on structures.

He has previously been awarded ASCE’s Nathan M. Newmark Medal and the William H. Wisely Award. He was also awarded the Earthquake Safety Foundation’s Alfred E. Alquist Medal, the Consortium of Organizations for Strong-Motion Observation Systems Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s George W. Housner Medal. In 1999, Iwan was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Iwan received his doctorate from the California Institute of Technology. He is a resident of Sierra Madre, Calif.

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 146,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society. For more information, visit www.asce.org.

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