Alumnus elected Distinguished Member of ASCE

By Peter Murphy

According to ASCE, Nagarajaiah is recognized for his “seminal contributions to seismic isolation, structural control, and structural sensing/monitoring and system identification, and for pioneering the development of nonlinear dynamic analysis techniques for base-isolated structures.”

Nagarajaiah was the first to validate the analytical modeling and mechanics of response to earthquake, and is recognized as a leading authority on nonlinear dynamic behavior structures and adaptive stiffness structures. He is one of the most cited researchers in the world, and has obtained over $20 million in research grants.

While a student at UB, Nagarajaiah, a professor of civil engineering, mechanical engineering and materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University, was advised by Professor Emeritus Andrei Reinhorn. Nagarajaiah worked with Reinhorn and SUNY Distinguished Professor Michael Constantinou on US Patent 8,857110,B2, Negative Stiffness Device and Method.

During and after earning his PhD, Nagarajaiah did substantial work with UB’s MCEER. From 1998 to 2014, Nagarajaiah co-authored nine technical reports for MCEER with Constantinou and Reinhorn on three different grants. Nagarajaiah developed the 3-D BASIS class of computer programs for the response-history analysis of seismically isolated buildings while conducting research through MCEER. These programs featured developments that were later adopted by Computers and Structures, Inc. to develop the widely-used programs, SAP2000 and ETABS.

Last year, Nagarajaiah earned the Nathan M. Newmark Medal from ASCE. To learn more about his status as a Distinguished Member, visit this link.