Nominate an Outstanding Paper for the 2023 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award
CHICAGO – The American Institute of Steel Construction is seeking nominations for the prestigious T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award, which recognizes an innovative lecturer/author whose outstanding technical writing constitutes a ground-breaking addition to engineering literature on fabricated structural steel.
In addition to taking home a $15,000 cash prize, the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award winner will present a keynote address at the 2023 NASCC: The Steel Conference in Charlotte, N.C., April 12 to 14. The winner will also present his/her work, upon request, at various prestigious professional events throughout the year.
Nominations are due July 1, 2022, and AISC will announce the winner in the fall of 2022.
How to submit a nomination:
Email your nomination package to Martin Downs at AISC: [email protected]. (Please contact him directly 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, 2017, and Jan. 1, 2022, is eligible for award consideration.
Nominees must be:
- Permanent residents of the U.S.
- Available to attend and present at the 2023 Steel Conference, which will take place April 12 to 14 in Charlotte, N.C.
- 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 2023 jury includes:
- Michel Bruneau, University at Buffalo – SUNY (Buffalo, N.Y.)
- Joel Chandler, Owen Steel Company (Columbia, S.C.)
- Frank Russo, Russo Structural Service (Havertown, Pa.)
- Tom Sabol, Englekirk Structural Engineers (Los Angeles)
- Chia-Ming Uang, University of California, San Diego (La Jolla, Calif.)
- Duff Zimmerman, Cooper Steel (Shelbyville, Tenn.)
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
2022 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award Winner: Amit Kanvinde
AISC was proud to present the 2022 award to Amit Kanvinde, PhD, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the College of Engineering at University of California, Davis. Kanvinde’s lecture, “Column Base Connections: Research, Design, and a Look to the Future,” discusses his findings from 15 years of research into the behavior, design, and structural interactions of various types of connections, including exposed, slab-overtopped, and embedded connections. The lecture includes prospective developments in base connection design, as well as insight into a revision of the AISC Design Guide 1: Base Plate and Anchor Rod Design.
If your organization is interested in hosting a T.R. Higgins lecture, please contact Christina Harber, AISC’s director of education, at [email protected].
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.
About the American Institute of Steel Construction
The American Institute of Steel Construction, headquartered in Chicago, is a non-partisan, not-for-profit technical institute and trade association established in 1921 to serve the structural steel design community and construction industry. AISC’s mission is to make structural steel the material of choice by being the leader in structural steel-related technical and market-building activities, including specification and code development, research, education, technical assistance, quality certification, standardization, market development, and advocacy. AISC has a long tradition of service to the steel construction industry of providing timely and reliable information.
