The AISC Education Foundation is pleased to announce that Cristopher Montalvo will receive the first-ever Reidar Bjorhovde Outstanding Young Professional Award. Montalvo is a structural engineer for Dekker Perich Sabatini (DPS)--and he's already well on his way to forging connections to industry and education for his local community in New Mexico! "Cristopher is just the type of remarkable leader the AISC Education Foundation aims to support through its programs," said AISC Director of Foundation Programs Maria Mnookin. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to connect Cristopher to our activities, resources, and networks for future career development and mentorship opportunities." The AISC Education Foundation will give him a big boost with the Bjorhovde Award. He'll attend NASCC: The Steel Conference in Charlotte, N.C., in April, then enjoy steel mill and fabrication shop tours over the summer before joining the AISC Committee on Specifications meeting in Chicago in the fall! "So many of the buildings in New Mexico are steel structures, so this is an excellent opportunity to broaden my knowledge of steel and connect with leaders of the steel industry," Montalvo said. "I want to thank AISC for the honor of being selected as the inaugural recipient of the Reidar Bjorhovde Outstanding Young Professional award. I am thoroughly excited to join the AISC Committee on Specifications meeting in Chicago in the fall!" Montalvo formed and currently chairs the Structural Engineers Association of New Mexico's Young Member's Group, which provides networking opportunities with all members of the construction industry (fellow structural engineers, young architects, contractors, and civil engineers), technical sessions for current university students, technical sessions to learn soft skills, technical sessions to assist in learning common industry standards such as what is expected from a young engineer, community outreach opportunities to all members, and review courses for the PE exam. He is a graduate of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology ('18 BSCE) and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ('19 MSCE), and he served as president of his local ASCE and SEI student chapters at both institutions.

The American Institute of Steel Construction will present its highest industry honor, the Robert P. Stupp Award for Leadership Excellence, to David Zalesne, president of Owen Steel Company and a former chair of the AISC Board of Directors. "David is a visionary who sees opportunities and solutions the rest of us can't. Even better, he's wonderfully able to share his vision and engage the rest of us," said AISC President Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD. "David commits and always builds great outcomes." Zalesne is only the 10th Stupp Award winner since the program's inception in 1998. The award is named for the late Robert P. Stupp, president of Stupp Bros. Bridge and Iron Co. in St. Louis, who won the inaugural prize. "My father had selfless passion for the industry and demonstrated leadership that was heads and shoulders above the norm--that's why those traits became part of the criteria for this award," said his son, R. Philip Stupp, Jr., current executive vice president of Stupp Bros, Inc. and an AISC Board member. "David shares that spirit and commitment, and he deserves to join the elite club of previous winners. David's dedication to the industry demonstrates the quality of service above self that sets true leaders apart." Zalesne has served on the AISC Board for more than a decade. He has also served as chair of its Government Relations Committee and Education Foundation Board, and as a vice chair of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Steel (ITAC 11) under the Office of the U.S Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce. He has testified on behalf of the domestic structural steel industry in connection with tariff investigations under sections 232 and 301, a trade case hearing on Fabricated Structural Steel before the International Trade Commission, and the bipartisan Congressional Steel Caucus. Prior to becoming president of Owen Steel Company in 2004, he practiced law as a partner in the Litigation Department of Klehr, Harrison in Philadelphia and worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He has also served on the boards of several local business and community organizations in Columbia, S.C. He received a bachelor’s degree in international relations and finance from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and earned a law degree from Emory University School of Law in Atlanta. AISC will formally present the award on April 12, 2023 during the opening session of NASCC: The Steel Conference in Charlotte, N.C.

The American Institute of Steel Construction is proud to present University of Texas at Austin Professor Michael D. Engelhardt, PhD, PE, with the Geerhard Haaijer Award for Excellence in Education to recognize his profound impact on the structural steel design and construction industries. Engelhardt boasts a formidable portfolio of groundbreaking research. "It seems that no matter what topic he touches, he makes a significant impact and dramatically advances the state of the art (or the state of the 'Engelhardt' - pun intended)," said AISC Director of Research Devin Huber, PE, PhD. "He has made a lasting impact on the industry and been a mentor to many engineers." "It has been my great pleasure to be a friend and colleague of Dr. Michael Engelhardt for almost 40 years since his days at Berkeley working with our mutual research advisor and mentor, Egor Popov," said Degenkolb Engineers COO and Senior Principal James O. Malley, SE. "I consider it an honor to collaborate on some of Mike's steel research over the years and to serve with him on various technical and professional committees during that time." The Haaijer Award is AISC's highest honor for educators, and Engelhardt will be just the eighth recipient since the Award's establishment in 1999. He also won an AISC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. "The impact he's had on the industry is multiplied when you consider all of the students he has taught," said AISC Senior Director of Education Christina Harber, SE, PE. "In addition to students in the classroom in the traditional sense, many of the graduate students that worked with him on his groundbreaking research have moved on to teach their own students. In addition, he has taught thousands of professionals through AISC seminars." Engelhardt is perhaps best known for his research into seismic performance and design of steel structures following the Northridge earthquake in 1994. In the five years following the earthquake, he conducted more than 60 large-scale structural tests of connections for seismic force-resisting systems, which ultimately led to the development of the reduced beam section connections used in special moment resisting frames--one of the first modern moment connections developed after Northridge. That research earned him the 1999 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award. He also made substantial contributions to the development and adoption of eccentric braced frames for use as a seismic force-resisting system--an accomplishment that garnered a 2008 AISC Special Achievement Award. But his seismic research breakthroughs are only part of the story. Engelhardt's recent research has broadened our understanding of how the properties of structural steel change during a fire, and other projects have driven innovations in the design and construction of skewed and curved steel bridges. Engelhardt has served as a member of the AISC Committee on Specifications, AISC Task Committee (TC) 9 on Seismic Systems, the AISC Connection Prequalification Review Panel, and AISC TC 8 (Design for Fire Conditions). AISC will formally present the award on April 12, 2023 during the opening session of NASCC: The Steel Conference in Charlotte, N.C.

The American Institute of Steel Construction is proud to present the 2023 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award to Jennifer McConnell, PhD, of the University of Delaware. McConnell has conducted groundbreaking research into the performance of uncoated weathering steel (UWS) in bridges. Her work incorporates long-term field data on the performance of steel structures and corrosion protection methods in various environments and includes an analysis of practical design strategies that improve corrosion resistance. "Dr. McConnell's research is essential to ongoing work to update Federal Highway Administration guidelines for the application and maintenance of uncoated weathering steel--which date all the way back to 1989," said AISC Vice President of Engineering and Research Christopher H. Raebel, SE, PE, PhD. "Research like this ensures that departments of transportation throughout the country will be able to take full advantage of this uniquely sustainable, economical, and durable structural material." McConnell is the Bentley Systems Career Development Professor at the University of Delaware, where she also directs the Center for Innovative Bridge Engineering. She has over 20 years of research experience in bridge behavior, laboratory testing, field evaluation, inspection, long-term performance, design, and analytical modeling of bridges. She is a member of the National Steel Bridge Alliance Oversight Committee, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Steel Bridge Task Force, the AISI Corrosion Advisory Group, and the Transportation Research Board Committee on Steel Bridges. McConnell will present "Steel Structures to Withstand the Elements: What Structural Engineers Need to Know About Corrosion" as the final keynote of NASCC: The Steel Conference in Charlotte, N.C., next April. She will repeat the presentation at other events throughout the year. About the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award Each year, AISC's T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award recognizes an outstanding lecturer and author whose technical paper or papers, published during the eligibility period, are considered an outstanding contribution to the engineering literature on fabricated structural steel. The award is named for Theodore R. Higgins, former AISC Director of Engineering and Research, who was widely acclaimed for his many contributions to the advancement of engineering technology related to fabricated structural steel. The award honors Higgins for his innovative engineering, timely technical papers, and distinguished lectures. Winners receive a $15,000 honorarium and present their lecture, upon request, at professional association events.