Structural Engineer awarded a MacArthur Fellowship
John Ochsendorf, a structural engineering professor at MIT, has been awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship - $500,000 over 5 years with no strings attached. Sounds like a good deal, right? I'm not entirely sure, but I believe he is the first structural engineer to be a MacArthur Fellow. Structural engineers don't get much press unless something really bad happens, so I think this is a great way to show that there are many opportunities in the field of Structural Engineering. Oschendorf is described on the MacArthur site as "a structural engineer restoring cathedrals and other structures of the distant past and identifying ancient technologies for use in contemporary constructions."
The purpose of the fellowship program is to encourage people who have the opportunity to make a big difference in the world to follow through with their work, and to provide them with capital so they can concentrate on doing just that. The wikipedia link to an op-ed article by a former fellow is a humorous and enlightening introduction into the brave new world of a genius.
The bio on his school page and the press releases show he is interested in using ancient structural engineering designs to solve modern problems. His first projects involved researching Incan suspension bridges and seismic resistance of Gothic architecture. I think he is involved in a fascinating field, and I look forward to seeing what happens with his research.
On a related note, I found out one of my colleagues was unfamiliar with the Roman Pantheon (building). It's a great structure, so I'm hoping everyone takes a few moments to learn more about it. I bring it up because it's a good example of how modern structural engineers would be unable to recreate the past or even prove how this structure works. The pantheon has very unique characteristics that engineers even today would consider as brilliant.
If you asked an engineer today how far four inches of unreinforced concrete could span, they would run away screaming to avoid liability. Our modern building code doesn't allow unreinforced concrete in most situations. Is the pantheon unsafe? Maybe, but this unsafe structure has stood for almost two millenia while most modern structures barely hit their expected 30 year lifespan. I think the work that our friend Prof. Oschendorf is doing can lead us to a new way to think about historic and ancient structures.
The purpose of the fellowship program is to encourage people who have the opportunity to make a big difference in the world to follow through with their work, and to provide them with capital so they can concentrate on doing just that. The wikipedia link to an op-ed article by a former fellow is a humorous and enlightening introduction into the brave new world of a genius.
The bio on his school page and the press releases show he is interested in using ancient structural engineering designs to solve modern problems. His first projects involved researching Incan suspension bridges and seismic resistance of Gothic architecture. I think he is involved in a fascinating field, and I look forward to seeing what happens with his research.
On a related note, I found out one of my colleagues was unfamiliar with the Roman Pantheon (building). It's a great structure, so I'm hoping everyone takes a few moments to learn more about it. I bring it up because it's a good example of how modern structural engineers would be unable to recreate the past or even prove how this structure works. The pantheon has very unique characteristics that engineers even today would consider as brilliant.
If you asked an engineer today how far four inches of unreinforced concrete could span, they would run away screaming to avoid liability. Our modern building code doesn't allow unreinforced concrete in most situations. Is the pantheon unsafe? Maybe, but this unsafe structure has stood for almost two millenia while most modern structures barely hit their expected 30 year lifespan. I think the work that our friend Prof. Oschendorf is doing can lead us to a new way to think about historic and ancient structures.
Labels: structural engineering
posted by Graeme at
9:16 AM
0 Comments
