Alfredo H.S. Ang, professor emeritus of civil engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of California, Irvine and a former director on ASCE’s Board of Direction representing international members, has died. He was 94.
Ang, Ph.D., S.E., NAE, Dist.M.ASCE, achieved significant breakthroughs in applying probabilistic methodology to advance safety criteria in structural design.
He was author or co-author of more than 300 publications and was senior author on a two-volume textbook, Probability Concepts in Engineering Planning and Design, which has been translated into several languages and adopted by universities worldwide. He also developed both undergraduate and graduate courses in probabilistic methods, lectured extensively, and organized seminars and short courses.
Ang was a member of the ASCE Board of Direction, serving as the international director from 1999 through 2001. In 2015, the Society instituted the Alfredo Ang Award on Risk Analysis & Management of Civil Infrastructure. The funds for the award were obtained through the solicitation of gifts from his colleagues, admirers, and friends.
Showing early promise, Ang placed at the top of his class at Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila. Behind an ever-present, jovial smile, he was known for joking that he graduated from “MIT.”
After Mapua, he was invited to pursue graduate studies with Nathan Newmark in the civil engineering department at UIUC. His research was such a breakthrough that the department made the unusual move of asking him to stay on as an assistant professor after he graduated in 1959.
He went on to become a full professor, overseeing the research of more than 60 doctoral recipients. During his career, both at Illinois and then at Irvine, Ang combined academic research and teaching in several aspects of structural mechanics and structural engineering.
The man extended his theoretical work to practical problems, including seismic hazard analysis, earthquake engineering, and more. As a consultant and technical adviser, he served numerous governmental and industrial organizations both in the United States and abroad.
His research work on safety criteria had a major impact on engineering specifications and practice.
Ang’s doctoral thesis at UIUC was groundbreaking, taking advantage of the pioneering computing capabilities of the Illiac I supercomputer to integrate probabilistic methods with computational algorithms to analyze and predict the reliability and safety of engineering structures, allowing for more accurate and efficient assessments than earlier conventional methods.
In 1988, he and his wife Mae moved to UC-Irvine after Ang took early retirement from Illinois. Later, after yet another retirement and a final move to Bellevue, Washington, he served as a distinguished visiting professor at National Taiwan University for Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech), and director of the advisory board for its Building Technology Center.
Ang received multiple awards and honors from ASCE and other organizations for his achievements and contributions. He was granted six honorary doctorates.
