Preetam Biswas, P.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE, a structural engineering principal at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, has been named a fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Biswas’ significant achievements have been in both conceptualizing new structural ideas and bringing them to fruition through project work, as well as making a multitude of efforts at furthering the profession of structural engineering.
On the design and engineering front, Biswas has led projects, both domestic and international, in a wide spectrum of typologies. As a structural engineer with an architecture background, he is passionate about designing innovative yet simple and constructible systems for tall buildings, long-span structures, and small-scale specialty structures. He was drawn to design by the natural world, inspired by the beauty and structural efficiency of a spider’s web and with a desire to replicate that efficiency in the built environment. Approaching his projects from this standpoint, he has designed towers, airports, stadiums, and a few ‘first-of-its-kind’ cladding systems to celebrate the structure within the architecture. He constantly strives to share the knowledge gained on projects by authoring multiple publications and making presentations at various domestic and international venues.
Besides design, he has been on the forefront of the paradigm shift for information exchange and knowledge sharing in the architecture engineering and construction (AEC) Industry. At SOM, he has led the effort at incorporating advancing digital delivery of project documentation, supplementing construction documents, to achieve schedule acceleration and eliminating expensive on-site modifications. He has shared the knowledge gained through this experience with his peers in the industry through publications and discussion with leaders and academic experts at various international workshops and conferences, putting forward proposals for sharing knowledge digitally between designers and contractors for better information and higher quality of construction.
Biswas has continued to contribute to research and innovation, through his conceptual work on the human habitat on the moon, in collaboration with fabricators in the use of additive manufacturing in steel; and in design of lightweight, prefabricated, rapidly deployable modular classrooms/shelters.
His efforts at furthering the profession of structural and civil engineering has been multifold: through commitments and committee work at ASCE-SEI and SEAoNY, by documenting and sharing knowledge through numerous publications; and through teaching and presentations to the next generation of architects and engineers. The crowning jewel of his achievement is in leading the ASCE-SEI Task Committee multiyear work in the publication of ASCE’s Manual of Practice Design and Performance of Tall Buildings for Wind and serving as its co-editor and lead author.
Biswas has taken an active part in leading by example and moving the needle on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the AEC industry through his efforts at SOM. As a member of the firm’s Talent, Equity, Diversity and Development (TEDD) committee and being a founding co-chair of the Equity Action Committee, he has worked to strategize SOM’s commitments within the DEI Action Plan and produce the firm’s first Annual DEI Report.
