Stephan A. Durham, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, assistant dean for student success and outreach of the College of Engineering as well as a professor of civil engineering at the University of Georgia, has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Durham led the development of the new Civil Engineering degree program through the first full accreditation in the College of Engineering at UGA in 2015. He came to UGA from the University of Colorado Denver in 2012, and since joining academia in 2005, he has graduated over 30 master's degree and doctorate students in the area of structural engineering, concrete materials, sustainability, and construction management. He has performed past studies for the Georgia Department of Transportation, Colorado Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and private industry.
He has received numerous awards, including selection as the 2020 UGA Engaged Scholar Award; 2018 UGA College of Engineering Faculty Fellow; 2016 ASCE Civil Engineer of the Year award in Georgia; 2016 UGA Outstanding Instruction Award; 2015 and 2021 UGA Lowry Gillespie Jr. Curriculum Enhancement Award; 2014 American Concrete Institute Young Member Award for Professional Achievement; 2013 Georgia Engineer of the Year in Education award; 2012 University of Arkansas Outstanding Young Alumnus Award; and 2011 Walter P. Moore Jr. Faculty Achievement Award.
Durham teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in structural materials, construction management, reinforced and prestressed concrete design, and advanced concrete materials. He is exceptionally renowned for development and management of the outstanding UGA capstone design series in civil and environmental engineering, which includes innovative leadership training and relations with and working for government agencies among several other approaches to experiential learning. Much of his remarkable instructional collaborations are with the UGA Archway Partnership, J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, and the UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant program. His research contributions include innovative concrete materials and mixtures, design and evaluation of pavements, nondestructive testing, and evaluation of construction practices.
Durham is also renowned for his leadership in ASCE, including his service as legislative contact and advocacy captain for the State of Georgia and recently his appointment to the Society Transportation Policy Committee. Additionally, he has served in a number of leadership roles within the ASCE Northeast Georgia Branch and Georgia Section. His most exceptional professional leadership is as the first and only faculty advisor for the ASCE University of Georgia Student Chapter, created in 2013, a chapter that ASCE just designated as one of the 2021 ten Outstanding Chapters worldwide and whose Chapter presidents have dominated the Georgia Engineers Week Engineering Student of the Year awards during the last six years.
He obtained his bachelor's degree, master's degree, and doctorate in civil engineering with an emphasis in structural engineering from the University of Arkansas. A strong advocate for registration in academia, he was registered in Colorado early in his teaching career. He is currently a licensed professional engineer in the state of Georgia.
