“Before the Internet and being able to Google, my parents used textbook searches and found that structural engineering was a combination of my interests of math, physics and architecture, and they found it within the subdiscipline of civil engineering, so off I went in that direction...” recounts Ronald D. Ziemian, Ph.D., professor at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa., on beginning his studies in the civil engineering field.
Ziemian is featured in the latest episode of AISC’s Steel Profiles podcast series. Listen to his fascinating conversation with AISC’s Margaret Matthew, senior engineer and host of the Steel Profiles series, as he gives an inside look into his life and career, including his experience being mentored by legendary structural engineer and professor Bill McGuire at Cornell University, what he thinks is the most important concept for engineers to understand about stability, and his best advice for graduating engineering students.
Ziemian has authored several papers on the design and analysis of steel and aluminum structures. In addition, he’s the co‐author of the textbook Matrix Structural Analysis and the editor of the 6th edition of the Guide to Stability Design Criteria for Metal Structures. Currently he chairs AISC's Task Committee 10 on Frame Stability, and formerly served as chair of AISC's Task Group on Inelastic Analysis and Design. He’s also the treasurer and former chair of the Structural Stability Research Council and serves on the American Iron and Steel Institute and Aluminum Association Specification Committees, and is also active with the Steel Joist Institute. He was awarded the ASCE Norman Medal in 1994 for his paper on employing advanced methods of inelastic analysis in the limit states design of steel structures. He also received the AISC Special Achievement Award in 2006 and the ASCE Shortridge Hardesty Award in 2013 for his contributions to the profession related to the stability analysis and design of metal structures. He received his BSCE, MEng, and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell.
The Steel Profiles series provides an entertaining and enlightening look at the personalities behind the technical information used in design and construction. You can catch up on all 26 episodes at www.aisc.org/podcasts or on iTunes. In iTunes, simply search for "Steel Profiles" to access all of the episodes. You can also subscribe to the series for free, and each new episode will automatically be downloaded for you.