JoAnn P. Browning, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, interim vice president of research at the University of Texas at San Antonio, has been honored with inclusion by ASCE in its 2024 class of distinguished members for her exemplary career in civil engineering research and education, most notably for contributions to the performance of structural concrete, for accelerating the exchange of knowledge through conferences and publications, and for inspirational leadership in education.
Browning has also been dean of the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering & Integrated Design at UTSA, and her accomplishments in a few years’ time are stellar. They demonstrate a superior grasp for relating to diverse and competing constituencies. Browning’s ability to reach into minority communities shows a way forward for other educational institutions to increase enrollment of underrepresented populations and participation in the civil engineering profession. As dean she has established six new bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate engineering programs.
Since 2001 Browning has also authored or co-authored more than 48 research reports and delivered 32 oral presentations, of which 23 were invited. Her 29 projects as PI or Co-PI have been funded to over $11 million.
By the time she was made dean of the College, she had developed a robust research group in earthquake engineering and improving the durability of concrete bridges as a tenured professor at the University of Kansas.
Browning is a fellow of the American Concrete Institute and was given ACI’s 2008 Young Member Award for Professional Achievement. She was also recognized as the 2015 Purdue University Distinguished Woman Scholar and with the 2016 Inspiring Women in STEM Award by Insight into Diversity magazine. In 2024 she was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame and awarded the Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award from Purdue University.
Her service to the profession continues through her work on building codes. She was appointed to ACI Committee 318–Structural Concrete Building Code for the 2014 code cycle. Serving on Subcommittee D–Flexure and Axial Loads, she was one of the first three women members in the history of the structural concrete building code committee. She made important contributions to it and was subsequently appointed a full voting member of the building code committee and later chair of Subcommittee C–Analysis & Serviceability, a position she still holds.
Browning has also served in leadership positions for the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, Building Seismic Safety Council, Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering, and others.
She earned her doctorate in civil engineering from Purdue University, 1998, and her M.S.C.E. and B.S.C.E. from the University of Kentucky, 1995 and 1994 respectively.
