COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Dr. David V. Rosowsky has been named head of the Department of Civil Engineering and holder of the A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair in Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University. Rosowsky comes to Texas A&M Engineering from Oregon State University, where he was professor and holder of the Richardson Chair in Wood Engineering. He previously taught at Clemson University from 1994 to 2000 and Purdue University from 1990 to 1993. Rosowsky’s specialization is in structural reliability and wood engineering -- specifically, structural engineering and design for natural hazards; probabilistic modeling; reliability-based design; and performance-based design. "We are excited to welcome Dr. Rosowsky to the helm of one of the largest civil engineering departments in the nation," said Dr. G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of engineering. "Dr. Rosowsky is an internationally recognized scholar and brings a valuable combination of theoretical and practical experience to the department. He will serve our students, faculty and college well, and we are indeed fortunate to have him join our leadership team." Rosowsky has been active in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Structural Engineering Institute, having served on a number of committees and task groups. He has been a member of the Committee on Safety of Buildings and the Committee on Performance of Structures and chaired the Committee on Reliability-based Design of Wood Structures. He is active in a number of standards committees and served most recently as a task group leader on loads and load combinations for the new ASCE standard on design loads during construction. He also has served as associate editor for the Journal of Structural Engineering and Natural Hazards Review. Rosowsky also serves as United States or North American representative to a number of international organizations working in the fields of structural reliability and probability-based codes and standards. Among his honors and awards are the 1998 ASCE Norman Medal (for work with B.R. Ellingwood on load combinations) and the 2001 Institution of Civil Engineers’ T.K. Hsieh Award (for work with C.H. Juang and W.K. Tang on liquefaction risk analysis). In 2001, he received the ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize for his work in probabilistic modeling of wood structures subject to wind and earthquake loading. He was named inaugural holder of the Richardson Chair in Wood Engineering at Oregon State in 2000 and honored with the Clemson University Board of Trustees Award for Faculty Excellence in 1998 and 1999. Rosowsky holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tufts University and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, all in civil engineering.
