CEE Assistant Professor Mark Denavit was among the top twelve leaders across the structural steel design, construction, and academic communities honored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) in 2021.
Denavit received the Terry Peshia Early Career Faculty Award for demonstrating promise in the areas of structural steel research, teaching, and other contributions to the structural steel industry.
Denavit has conducted research over a range of topics on steel and steel-concrete composite structures. His PhD work, which included studies of the axial compressive strength of encased and filled composite columns, led to new and more accurate design equations that were included in the 2016 Specification for Structural Steel Buildings.
His work on ponding has the potential to transform the way this condition is evaluated in practice, leading to more efficient roof designs. His work on strongback systems, for which he was recently awarded a major grant from the National Science Foundation, may lead engineers to more frequently include strongbacks in building seismic force-resisting systems.
AISC’s mission is to make structural steel the material of choice by being the leader in structural steel-related technical and market-building activities, including specification and code development, research, education, technical assistance, quality certification, standardization, market development, and advocacy.