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Engineering Societies Recognize Hsu for Distinguished Achievement
By
Stephen Greenwell
Thomas T.C. Hsu, the Moores Professor of Civil Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, has been recognized by two international organizations for his contributions and research.
Thomas T.C. Hsu, the Moores Professor of Civil Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, has been recognized by two international organizations for his contributions and research.

A professor in the Cullen College of Engineering's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been recognized by two international organizations for his contributions and research.

Dr. Thomas T.C. Hsu, the Moores Professor of Civil Engineering, received the 2020 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society of Earthquake Engineering of the Republic of China, Taiwan, and the Structural Engineering Society of the Republic of China, Taiwan.

In a statement for the achievement, officials from the organizations identified his nearly 60 years of research in mechanical performance of reinforced concrete structures as a key component for the honor.

“The Unified Theory of Concrete Structures (2010, John Wiley) proposed by Professor Hsu introduced the fundamental nonlinear relationship of constructional materials and has been implemented into existing finite element simulation software,” the statement reads. “Based on high-performance computing, the proposed theory can be applied to conduct design and analysis of various infrastructure systems, including buildings, highways, bridges, marine platforms and containments in nuclear power plants. The fundamental theory of shear and torsion performance of reinforced concrete structures is comprehensively established and the innovation in engineering structure design practice is promoted. This theory has a profound impact on the research and development of civil and structural engineering.”

Hsu thanked the societies for giving him the honor, as well as his colleagues at the University of Houston for providing an environment that allowed his research to flourish.

“This award is a result of more than 20 years of research cooperation between THSRL [Thomas T. C. Hsu Structural Research Laboratory] in Houston and NCREE [National Center for Research in Earthquake Engineering] in Taiwan,” he said. “I very much appreciate the strong support to this international cooperative research provided by Dean Joseph Tedesco of the Cullen College of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering Chairman Roberto Ballarini, as well as others. I have worked at University of Houston for 41 years and have many fond memories of cooperating with colleagues in and outside of the college.”

Officials also noted that Hsu has given lectures at the National Taiwan University in 1978 and 2010, and setup engineering courses that have contributed to the training of high-level technical talents in civil engineering in that country. Hsu also established collaborations between researchers in the United States, Taiwan and Italy on a long-term seismic engineering project.

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