The American Institute of Steel Construction is now accepting nominations for the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award.
This annual award recognizes an innovative lecturer/author whose outstanding technical writing constitutes a ground-breaking addition to engineering literature on fabricated structural steel.
The winner will receive a $15,000 cash prize and be recognized as a keynote speaker at the 2022 NASCC: The Steel Conference, which will take place March 23-25 in Denver. The winner will also present his/her work at various prestigious professional events throughout the year.
Nominations are due by July 1, 2021. AISC will announce the 2022 winner in the fall of 2021.
How to submit a nomination:
Email your nomination package to Rachel Jordan at AISC: jordan@aisc.org. (Please contact her if you’d prefer to submit your nomination by mail.)
All nominations must include the following:
- The name and affiliation of the nominee
- The title and publication citation of the nominee’s outstanding paper(s). (If a work has multiple authors, please identify the principal author.)
- A copy of the paper(s), along with any published discussion
- A brief description of the merits of the nominee and his/her work
Eligibility:
Any paper published in a professional journal between Jan. 1, 2016, and Jan. 1, 2021, is eligible for award consideration.
Nominees must be:
- Permanent residents of the U.S.
- Available to attend and present at the 2022 Steel Conference, which will be held March 23-25 in Denver
- Available to present his/her work at least six times on selected occasions throughout the year
Judging:
A distinguished panel of industry experts will weigh this year’s nominations for the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award. The 2022 jury includes:
- Michel Bruneau, University at Buffalo – SUNY (Buffalo, N.Y.)
- Joel Chandler, Owen Steel Company (Columbia, S.C.)
- Matthew Eatherton, Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Va.)
- John Rolfes, CSD (Milwaukee)
- Tom Sabol, Englekirk Structural Engineers (Los Angeles)
- Matt Smith, L&M Industrial Fabrication (Tangent, Ore.)
The jury will consider each nominee’s reputation as a lecturer. They will also evaluate the following aspects of his/her work:
- Originality
- Clarity of presentation
- Contribution to overall engineering knowledge
- Future significance
- Value to the American fabricated structural steel industry
2021 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award Winner: Amit Varma
AISC was proud to present the 2021 award to Amit H. Varma, Karl H. Kettelhut Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the Bowen Laboratory of Large-Scale CE Research at Purdue University’s Lyles School of Civil Engineering. Varma’s lecture, “SpeedCore and Steel-Concrete Composite Construction: The Best of Both Worlds,” shares what he’s learned from more than 12 years of researching composite steel-concrete construction, highlighting experimental behavior, numerical modeling, and design of composite walls and the SpeedCore system for wind loading, seismic loading, and fire loading conditions.
If your organization is interested in hosting Amit Varma for a T.R. Higgins lecture, please contact AISC Director of Education Christina Harber: harber@aisc.org.
About Theodore R. Higgins:
Theodore R. Higgins joined AISC as chief engineer in 1940 and served as its director of Engineering and Research from 1945 to 1968. He played an especially prominent role in more than 20 years of research that led to the development of plastic design techniques for steel structures. His pioneering work developed the research and engineering principles that form the basis of today’s steel design and construction knowledge.
The T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award honors his unparalleled contributions to the structural steel industry and recognizes those who continue his work today. A list of past winners is available here.
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