New EMI Medal for Failure and Damage Prevention Honors Professor Zdeněk P. Bažant

The ASCE Board of Direction approved at its January 8, 2015 meeting the new Zdeněk P. Bažant Medal for Failure and Damage Prevention. The newly established Society award will be administered by the Engineering Mechanics Institute of ASCE. Many thanks to Prof. Franz Ulm (M.I.T.) for leading the effort to Zdeněk P. Bažantestablish the award! The purpose of the award is to recognize an individual for significant contributions to the engineering science of failure and damage prevention.


The selection committee will evaluate senior-level civil engineers or engineering scientists based upon outstanding performance or specific and noteworthy actions which may include publications, patents or other forms of scientific invention demonstrating a clear impact on failure and damage prevention. The award may be made in even-numbered years. The medal will be given without regard for society membership or nationality, but ASCE or institute members shall receive preference where candidates are considered equal in all other ways. The award selection committee, which is composed of members of the Engineering Mechanics Institute and the U.S. National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNCTAM), shall recommend a recipient to the Society’s Executive Committee for approval.

Read the entire ASCE newsletter.

See the ASCE rules for the medal

McCormick News Article