The SSRC Beedle, MAJR, Yoon Duk Kim, and Vinnakota Awards were presented on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 during the Council’s Annual Meeting, kicking off the Annual Stability Conference. SSRC is proud to recognize this year’s recipients!
The Beedle Award, the top award given by SSRC, was proudly awarded to Professor Samuel Easterling. Sam is the Montague-Betts Professor of Structural Steel Design and Department Head in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. He has directed research and consulted on projects dealing with a variety of steel-concrete composite and cold-formed steel structures, including composite and non-composite diaphragms. He has been active professionally within AISC, AISI, ASCE, and SSRC. Pictured: Todd Helwig, SSRC Chairman, and winner Sam Easterling.
The McGuire Award for Junior Researchers (MAJR) Award was established in honor of the late Bill McGuire to recognize promising young researchers in structural stability. The 2018 MAJR Medal was awarded to Mina Seif, a licensed P.E. working as a research structural engineer in the National Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Mina’s primary research interests relate to the assessment of structural performance under extreme loads, particularly under fire-induced heating. Kara Peterman and Cilmar Basaglia were also recognized with honorable mentions for this award. Pictured: Todd Helwig with winner Mina Seif.
The Vinnakota Award, which recognizes excellent work based on students’ theses or dissertations, was this year awarded to Amir Elmaraghy and Luis Vieira. Hye-eun Kong was also recognized with an honorable mention, in addition to the winners’ advisors, Nicolas Boissonnade, Rodrigo Gonçalves, and Dinar Camotim. Pictured: Todd Helwig and Larry Fahnestock with winner Luis Vieira and his advisors, Rodrigo Gonçalves and Dinar Camotim. Second Picture: Todd Helwig with winner Amir Elmaraghy and his advisor, Nicolas Boissonnade.
This was the first year that the Yoon Duk Kim Young Researcher Award was also presented. This award, given in honor of the late Dr. Yoon Duk Kim, recognizes excellence in young researchers up to three years past their date of graduation. This year’s award was presented to Bence Jáger from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, who won the Vinnakota Award in 2018. Pictured: Todd Helwig and winner Bence Jáger.
Distinguished Membership can be awarded by the Executive Committee to those who have long been engaged in service to SSRC and who have made significant contributions to the work of the Council. This year, Distinguished Membership was awarded to Professor Dinar Camotim, last year’s Beedle Award winner. Pictured: Todd Helwig and Distinguished Member Dinar Camotim.
The Annual Business Meeting marked the end of Professor Todd Helwig’s term as SSRC Chairman. To recognize Todd’s service, he was given an engraved clock, traditionally presented to the outgoing SSRC Chair. The Council will now be headed by Professor Larry Fahnestock. Pictured: Todd Helwig and Larry Fahnestock, incoming SSRC Chair.