] Michel Bruneau, Ph.D., P.Eng, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE, SUNY Distinguished Professor at the University at Buffalo, has been honored with inclusion by ASCE in its 2022 class of distinguished members for major contributions to advance the state-of-the-art in structural engineering, ductile design of steel structures, multihazard engineering, and seismic resilience through innovative research that has had an impact on design codes and standards.
Bruneau quickly built a reputation among his peers in earthquake engineering as a highly respected international expert in the field. His research has had a very significant impact on the design and understanding of the behavior of steel structures subjected to earthquakes. It has been instrumental to the inclusion, in national and international standards, of specifications for ductile steel plate shear walls, tubular eccentrically braced frames, ductile bridge diaphragms, and ductile composite members.
His research, however, is not limited to earthquake engineering. He was also heavily involved in the research of steel structures subjected to blast loading after the 9/11 World Trade Center event in 2001. He then pioneered multihazard and community resilience research.
He is currently co-leading development of a composite steel plate and concrete wall system that many believe will completely change the marketplace. This system appears to be 40 percent faster to construct than with current methods, and his work to quantify the excellent seismic behavior of the system is a key facet in the list of benefits that will make this new system so transformative.
Bruneau was inducted as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2017 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction in 2019 and a Special Achievement Award in 2020. From ASCE he has been the recipient of the J. James Croes Medal, George Winter Award, Raymond C. Reese Award, and Moisseff Award.
He is a current member of both the CSA-S16 Standard, Limit States Design of Steel Structures, and the AISC Specification for Structural Steel Buildings (AISC-360) Committee on Composite Structures, as well as a former director of MCEER. He has been a fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute since 2019.
Bruneau has to his credit over 550 technical publications, including 85 in ASCE journals. He is one of the most cited researchers in structural engineering and earthquake engineering and the lead author of the textbook Ductile Design of Steel Structures and the 2003 seminal paper “A Framework to Quantitatively Assess and Enhance the Seismic Resilience of Communities.” He has conducted numerous reconnaissance visits to numerous disaster-stricken areas to conduct on-site observations and studies of structural damage. He has also participated in various expert peer review panels, project advisory committees, and special project design teams.
His master’s and doctoral degrees are from the University of California, Berkeley and he is a registered professional engineer in Ontario, Canada.
ASCE will honor the 2022 class of distinguished members during the ASCE 2022 Convention, Oct. 24, in Anaheim, California.
