ASCE has honored Robert Smilowitz, Ph.D., P.E., F.SEI, M.ASCE, with the 2024 Ernest E. Howard Award for international leadership in protecting lives from acts of terrorism through structural design and public policy and for teaching protective design to the next generation of engineers.
Smilowitz has enjoyed a remarkable 42-year career in the field of blast-resistant analysis and design of structures. He has made significant contributions to the analysis and design of many different types of structures for resistance to seismic forces, dynamic shock, and vibration loading. He has participated in the design of numerous embassy buildings around the world, many federal and state courthouses, GSA and federal office buildings, airline terminals, visitor centers, financial institutions, hospitals, etc., as well as a NATO Command Center. He is an acknowledged worldwide authority and expert in advanced elastic and inelastic analysis of structures for seismic ground waves, and is regularly called upon to design all types of structures for resistance to terrorist attacks and to develop protective design services for government facilities and private institutions.
As a renowned registered professional engineer and principal with Weidlinger Associates (1977-2015) and now Thornton Tomasetti in New York, Smilowitz has participated in many notable and high-profile projects, including those around the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the WTC 1-4 Buildings. He is currently providing protective design services for the entire Lower Manhattan Redevelopment, which includes Freedom Tower, WTC Memorial and Museum, and the Visitor Center and Terminal.
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.
