The ASCE Transportation and Development Institute is pleased to announce Stephan Durham, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, of the University of Georgia, as the 2026 recipient of the Wilbur S. Smith Award. The award was established to honor contributions to the enhancement of the role of the civil engineer in highway engineering.
Dr. Stephan A. Durham led the development of the new Civil Engineering degree program through the first full accreditation in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia (UGA) in 2015 and reaccreditation in 2022. Currently, he serves as the Assistant Dean for Student Success and Outreach of the College of Engineering and Juneau Construction Company Professor of Civil Engineering. He served as Interim Dean for the college from 2024 – 2025.
Dr. Durham came to UGA from the University of Colorado Denver in January 2012 where he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. Since joining academia in 2005, Dr. Durham graduated over 40 M.S. and Ph.D. students in the area of structural engineering, concrete materials, sustainability, and construction management. He has performed past studies for the Georgia Department of Transportation, Colorado Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and private industry.
He has received numerous awards that include selection as the 2020 UGA Engaged Scholar Award; 2018 UGA College of Engineering Faculty Fellow; 2016 ASCE Civil Engineer of the Year award in Georgia; 2016 UGA Outstanding Instruction Award; 2015 and 2021 UGA Lowry Gillespie, Jr. Curriculum Enhancement Award; 2014 American Concrete Institute Young Member Award for Professional Achievement; 2013 Georgia Engineer of the Year in Education award; 2012 University of Arkansas Outstanding Young Alumnus Award; and 2011 Walter P. Moore, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in structural materials, construction management, reinforced and prestressed concrete design, and advanced concrete materials.
Dr. Durham is exceptionally renowned for development and management of the outstanding UGA capstone design series in civil and environmental engineering that includes innovative leadership training and relations with and working for government agencies among several other approaches to experiential learning. Much of his remarkable instructional collaborations are with the UGA Archway Partnership, J. W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, and the UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant program. His exceptional research contributions include innovative concrete materials and mixtures, design and evaluation of pavements, non-destructive testing, and evaluation of construction practices. Dr. Durham is also renowned for his leadership in ASCE, including his service as legislative contact and advocacy captain for the State of Georgia with a previous appointment to the Society Transportation Policy Committee.
He currently serves on the Society’s Committee on Student Conferences and Competitions. Additionally, he has served in a number of leadership roles within the ASCE Northeast Georgia Branch and Georgia Section.
His most exceptional professional leadership is as the founding faculty advisor for the ASCE University of Georgia Student Chapter created in 2015, a chapter that ASCE designated as one of the 2021 ten Outstanding Chapters worldwide whose Chapter presidents have dominated the Georgia Engineers Week Engineering Student of the Year awards during the last 6 years. The UGA Civil Engineering Program he developed was recognized as the 2024 Walter LeFevre Award for promoting ethics, professionalism, and licensure. He obtained his BSCE, MSCE, and Ph.D. in civil engineering with an emphasis in structural engineering from the University of Arkansas. A strong advocate for registration in academia, he was registered in Colorado early in his teaching career.
He is currently a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Georgia.