Bernardo Deschapelles

Bernardo Deschapelles is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. He has authored many technical papers and discussions, both in English and Spanish, and presented contributions at the 1980 and 1992 ACI Fall Conventions.

He was co-founder of the Pan American Academy of Engineers at Panama City in 2000 and was the first recipient of the category of Honorary Member of the Dominican Society of Engineers and Architects. He is a Fellow Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and President of the Earthquake Committee in the Puerto Rican Society of Engineers and Surveyors.

In 2007, he received the ACI Alfred E. Lindau Award. During 2010, the Government of the Dominican Republic asked him to serve as Special Advisor in the upgrading of the seismic code of that country. His research interests include the development and promulgation of methods related to the analysis and design of concrete structures, particularly in the area of shear wall buildings.

He is a licensed professional engineer in Puerto Rico, Florida, and the Dominican Republic. He received his BS in chemical engineering and civil engineering in 1952 and 1954, respectively, from the University of Havana, Cuba. He received his PhD in engineering from the California Coast University, Santa Ana, CA, in 1982. He has served since 1955 in professional and professorial positions.

Neil M. Hawkins

Neil M. Hawkins retired from the University of Illinois in 2002 as Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is currently an Affiliate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and consults. 

He received ACI’s Wason Medal for Materials Research in 1970, the Wason Medal for Most Meritorious Paper in 2009, the Reese Award in 1978 and 1981, Structural Research Award in 1991, the Kelly Award in 1996, the Turner Medal in 2005, and the Reinforced Concrete Research Council’s Boase Award in 2005.

He is a consulting member of ACI Committee 318, Structural Concrete Building Code, and is also a member of its technical subcommittees on Precast and Prestressed Concrete and Seismic Provisions. He is a member of ACI Committees 215, Fatigue of Concrete; 355, Anchorage to Concrete; and Joint ACI-ASCE Committees 408, Bond and Development of Reinforcement; 445, Shear and Torsion; 446, Fracture Mechanics of Concrete; and 550, Precast Concrete Structures, and he is a member ACI’s Scholarship Council. He has served as a Director of ACI and as a member of the International Activities Committee, the Committee on Awards for Papers, the Fellows Nomination Committee, and ACI Committee 443, Concrete Bridge Design (discharged). He was the principal author for ACI ITG-1 (Innovation Task Group 1) on Precast/Prestressed Concrete Special Moment Frames and ITG-5 on Precast/Prestressed Concrete Special Structural Walls.

His research interests are in the performance of concrete structures and he has authored or co-authored over 240 technical papers and reports.

He received his BE in civil engineering in 1957 from the University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and his MS and PhD in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1959 and 1961, respectively. He is a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and a Titan of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI).

Thomas T. C. Hsu

Thomas T. C. Hsu is Moores Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX. Before joining the University of Houston as Department Chair in 1980, he served as Professor and Department Chair at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, for 11 years, and as an Engineer at Portland Cement Association (PCA), Skokie, IL, for 7 years.

Hsu has authored three books and numerous publications. He was the recipient of the ACI Authur J. Boase Award, 2007; the Arthur R. Anderson Award, 1991; and the Wason Medal for Materials Research, 1965. He also received the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 1974, and the Research Medal from the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) in 1969.

He was honored jointly by ACI and ASCE with the Thomas T. C. Hsu Symposium on Shear and Torsion in Concrete Structures at the ACI Convention in New Orleans in 2009; and the publication of the symposium volume, ACI SP-265, which contains 29 papers presented by authors from around the world.

Hsu is a member of ACI Committees 215, Fatigue of Concrete, and 349, Concrete Nuclear Structures, and Joint ACI-ASCE Committees 343, Concrete Bridge Design, and 445, Shear and Torsion. He has also served on ACI Committee 358, Concrete Guideways (discharged); the Committee on Nominations; the Committee on Awards for Papers, and the Publications Committee.

He received his BS from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, 1957; and his MS and PhD from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, in 1960 and 1962, respectively.

José M. Izquierdo-Encarnación

José M. Izquierdo-Encarnación is a Principal of PORTICUS, a consulting firm located in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.

Izquierdo was elected ACI President in 2003. He is a Fellow of the Institute, a member of ACI Committees 314, Simplified Design of Concrete Buildings, of which he chaired the review of IPS-1; 118, Use of Computers; 369, Seismic Repair and Rehabilitation; 375, Performance-Based Design of Concrete Buildings for Wind Loads; and E705, Educational Computer Activities. He also has served on the Educational Activities Committee, the Financial Advisory Committee, the Hot Topic Committee, the TAC Metrication Committee, and the Task Group on Centennial Activities. He co-chaired the Local Chapter Convention Committee for the ACI Fall Conventions in 1992 and 2007 in Puerto Rico and served as President and Board member of the ACI Puerto Rico Chapter.

He has held several professional, civic, and public positions in Puerto Rico, including serving as Secretary of State and Secretary of Transportation and Public Works for the Commonwealth; President and Board member of the Institute of Engineers and Land Surveyors; and serving on numerous committees during the last 27 years. He has also served as Board member and Vice President of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce and Trustee of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

Izquierdo received his bachelor’s (1980) and master’s (1982) degrees in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico. He joined Capacete-Martin & Associates, Architects and Engineers, San Juan, in 1980, serving as a Senior Structural Engineer for 5 years. He founded and worked for 15 years in the consulting firm Izquierdo, Rueda and Associates, providing services in the areas of structural engineering, infrastructure development, and historic preservation.

He has chaired the structural engineer’s continuous education program in Puerto Rico for the last 25 years. He has written many papers and spoken extensively on structural engineering and analysis in over 15 countries, promoted the use of simplified methods for structural design, and has worked in numerous restoration projects.