ASCE has honored David V. Rosowsky, Ph.D., P.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE, with the 2023 Ernest E. Howard Award for his seminal contributions to risk-informed design of wood structures and his influence on a generation of engineering students.
Since 1990, Rosowsky has conducted research in the areas of structural reliability, performance of wood structural systems, design for natural hazards, stochastic modeling of structural and environmental loads, and probability-based codified design. His current research addresses three topics: (1) behavior of the built environment subject to natural hazards, most recently including the effects of climate change and adaptation; (2) modeling and analysis of load effects on buildings and other structures with particular emphasis on complex environmental phenomena; and (3) performance-based engineering for design, postdisaster condition assessment, and loss estimation studies. He is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on reliability-based design of engineered wood structures and systems. He is one of the pioneers in the field of performance-based seismic design of wood structures, having served as an investigator on the CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project, the NSF NEESWood Project, and most recently the NSF NEESoft Project.
Rosowsky’s work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and various state agencies and industrial sponsors. As a researcher, he has authored or co-authored more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals and more than 140 papers appearing in conference proceedings. He has been invited to present his research work around the world, including lectures in France, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. He has supervised more than 20 master’s and doctoral students. He is the recipient of the ASCE Walter L. Huber Research Prize, the T.K. Hseih Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), and the ASCE Norman Medal.
The Ernest E. Howard Award is given to a member of the Society who has made a definite contribution to the advancement of structural engineering through research, planning, design, or construction.
