Pittsburgh—Carnegie Mellon University’s Chris T. Hendrickson will be named an honorary member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) at the 137th Annual Civil Engineering Conference, Nov. 3 in Orlando, Fla. Hendrickson, the Duquesne Light Professor of Engineering, will be honored for his distinguished service and leadership during more than four decades as an educator, administrator and researcher. He is a recognized expert in civil engineering planning and management, including design for the environment, system performance, construction project management, and finance and computing. Hendrickson joins an elite group of 565 professionals who have been elected honorary members since ASCE’s founding in 1853.
“This is a wonderful honor for an outstanding civil engineer,” said Anthony M. DiGioia Jr., an ASCE honorary member who earned his bachelor’s (1956), master’s (1957) and doctoral (1960) engineering degrees from Carnegie Mellon. “Chris is an outstanding educator and an innovative researcher, and this latest honor is well-deserved,” added DiGioia, a principal of DiGioia, Gray & Associates LLC.
Hendrickson’s professional career includes innovative research and contributions in computer-aided engineering, transportation systems, construction project management and environmental systems. He was an early contributor to the development of a network analysis system for lifeline planning after seismic events. His work in construction project management resulted in a widely used and translated text that emphasizes the importance of the owner’s viewpoint throughout the project life cycle. Through his leadership, the university created a new undergraduate minor in international engineering, which helps to support Carnegie Mellon’s strategic priority in globalization.
“Hendrickson’s innovative research has made significant, tangible contributions to his field, and this latest professional honor reflects those outstanding contributions to academic research and its practical application to a variety of industry sectors,” said Pradeep K. Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering. In addition to performing pragmatic research, Hendrickson co-directs Carnegie Mellon’s Green Design Institute. In that post he has successfully explored the environmental life-cycle consequences of alternative product and process designs by developing software tools and methods for pollution prevention and environmental management. With several colleagues, he developed a systematic approach to life-cycle assessment for goods and services. And with a doctoral student, Hendrickson developed management models and a data logger chip for use in electromechanical devices for remanufacturing power tools.
A Rhodes scholar in 1973, Hendrickson has penned five books, hundreds of papers and has served as managing editor of the Journal of Transportation Engineering. His many other accolades include the American Society of Civil Engineering’s Frank M. Masters Transportation Engineering Award, the Francis C. Turner Award and the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize.
About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 144-acre Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. A global university, Carnegie Mellon has campuses in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia and Europe. For more, see www.cmu.edu.