Faculty Spotlights Archives

Tracy Kijewski-Correa

Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences

Leo E. and Patti Ruth Linbeck Associate Professor

A Triple Domer, Tracy Kijewski-Correa's  expertise in civil infrastructures, particularly in her dedication to enhancing the understanding of natural hazards and their impacts upon the built environment, was acknowledged by the American Society of Civil Engineers. She and Robert M. Moran Professor Ahsan Kareem were presented with the 2008 State-of-the-Art Civil Engineering Award for the work they conducted in the Chicago full-scale monitoring program.

While investigations in Chicago have provided information needed to improve the performance, economy, and efficiency of tall building design, the University team expanded its efforts to include new types of construction in Seoul, South Korea; Toronto, Canada; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.    

In each location, buildings representing different structural systems and occupancies (residences vs. offices) were instrumented with accelerometers and, in some cases, global positioning systems to record each building's response to the wind every tenth of a second on a continuous basis. Although structures have been monitored in seismic zones in the past, such a long-term and comprehensive monitoring effort had not been previously undertaken for high-rise construction most vulnerable to wind. In fact, the study was the world's first systematic full-scale validation of tall building design practice and provided unique insights which are being applied to building codes.

For details about this work and more information about the challenges in modern civil infrastructure and natural hazard assessment and mitigation, click here.