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Structural engineering expert Steve Kurtz, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, will give a presentation on the collapse of the World Trade Center noon tomorrow in Jaqua Auditorium, Hugel Science Center room 103. Those attending should bring their own lunch.
“The World Trade Center collapse provided lessons for the profession of structural engineering,” says Kurtz. “Just as security and intelligence have been permanently changed by September 11th, structural engineering has also been permanently affected.”
Kurtz will begin by describing and celebrating the unique engineering used in the 1960s-era design of the twin towers. He will then cover the cause of the collapse as detailed by the Federal Emergency Management Administration report. He will conclude with the lessons learned, along with a perspective on what changes may be anticipated in the future of building construction.
Kurtz played the lead role in obtaining a $243,000 National Science Foundation grant that will involve Lafayette civil and environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, and mathematics faculty and students in cutting-edge structural engineering research. A former board member of the Missouri Chapter of the American Concrete Institute, Kurtz co-developed the QuickFrame commercial structural optimization software. At Rutgers University, he earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and civil & environmental engineering (1993) and a master’s (1999) and Ph.D. (2000) in structural engineering. He is a former construction engineer at Turner Construction Company, Philadelphia.