UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Thomas Boothby, professor of architectural engineering, has been named the 2018 recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineer’s (ASCE) Civil Engineering History and Heritage Award.
The award recognizes those who have made outstanding contributions to increase the awareness and appreciation of civil engineering’s history and heritage through their writings, research and teaching.
“Professor Boothby’s knowledge and enthusiasm for heritage structures is unmatched and everyone in the Department of Architectural Engineering is excited to see him honored for his service in this area,” Kevin Parfitt, professor of architectural engineering, said.
Since joining the Department of Architectural Engineering in 1992, Boothby’s research and teaching efforts have focused on assessing historical structures, structure preservation and structural analysis and design methods.
In 1996, he received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his research project “Assessment, Maintenance, Repair, and Rehabilitation of Historic Structures.” Other preservation research projects include “Preservation of Thin-Shell Concrete Structures,” funded by the National Park Service’s (NPS) National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT); “Assessment of Historic Concrete and Masonry Structures by Broadband Vibration Testing,” funded by the Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program; and “Historic concrete and masonry assessment by the air-coupled impact-echo method,” funded by the NPS’s NCPTT.
“Studying historic structures is a constant reminder that we don’t know everything about building. We can always learn more,” Boothby said.
Boothby has written more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and is the author of “Empirical Structural Design for Architects, Engineers and Builders” and “Engineering Iron and Stone: Understanding Structural Analysis and Design Methods of the Late 19th Century.”
He will be presented with the award in October at the ASCE 2018 Convention in Denver.