Fabio Matta, Ph.D., Ing., F.ASCE, a professor of civil engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, has been named a fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Matta joined the University of South Carolina in 2010 as an assistant professor and received tenure in 2016. Before then, he was a research assistant professor and associate director of the NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center for the Integration of Composites into Infrastructure at the University of Miami, Coral Gables.
His research focuses on construction materials and their structural performance and field application, with an emphasis on extreme stressors. Research sponsors include the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Energy, Federal Highway Administration, SC Department of Transportation, and industry. With the support of his collaborators and undergraduate and graduate assistants, Matta has made notable contributions in structural engineering and experimental mechanics, particularly in the areas of noncorrosive nonmetallic reinforcement for structural concrete, bridge engineering, infrastructure strengthening and repair, structural testing and health monitoring of constructed facilities, and innovative solutions for locally appropriate, environmentally sustainable, and hazard-resistant dwelling structures. He has authored or co-authored over 140 peer-reviewed papers and over 150 technical presentations and seminars around the world.
Matta is an active member of the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC), where he serves as a Council member and holds the rank of fellow, and the American Concrete Institute (ACI), where he serves as voting member of ACI Committee 241 (Nanotechnology of Concrete), 440-0H (FRP-Reinforced Concrete), and Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 446 (Fracture Mechanics of Concrete), and as consulting member of ACI Committee 440C (FRP Reinforced Concrete Building Code). His contributions to the profession extend to his long-standing service to ASCE publications as associate editor of the Journal of Bridge Engineering and Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Composites for Construction. This service has been recognized through the 2017 ASCE Associated Editor Award and the 2025 ASCE Richard R. Torrens Award.
Matta received his undergraduate education at the University of Padua, Italy (five-year “Laurea” degree in civil engineering in 2003), and the University of California, San Diego (UCEAP visiting student 2002-03), followed by a professional civil engineering license in Italy (2004) and a doctoral degree in civil engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla (2007).
