Soong Receives Norman Medal

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Tsu-Teh Soong, Ph.D., Samuel Capen Professor of Engineering Science in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, has been named a recipient of the 1999 Norman Medal by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Soong was chosen to receive the distinguished medal from ASCE in recognition of his paper, "Structural Control: Past, Present, Future," which appeared in the Journal of Engineering Mechanics in September 1997. He will receive the award at the ASCE's annual convention in October.

The Norman Medal is awarded to an "author or co-author of a paper which shall be judged worthy of special commendation for its merit as a contribution to engineering science."

Soong is a leading researcher in engineering structural dynamics, reliability and control, and has focused much of his work on passive- and active-control systems for protecting structures against potential damage from earthquakes, strong winds and waves. His research has been applied to structures in the United States, Japan and China.

He was a co-principal investigator of the National Science Foundation grants that established UB's National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research in 1986 and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research in 1997.

In addition, Soong has authored seven books and more than 250 technical publications, and twice was awarded the Humboldt Foundation Senior U.S. Scientist Award.

A graduate of the University of Dayton, he earned master's and doctoral degrees in engineering science from Purdue University.

He is a resident of East Amherst.