AISC

T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award

Congratulations to the 2025 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award recipient, Ronnie Medlock, PE!

Keep an eye out in the spring of 2025 for information about nominating someone for the 2026 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award.

What is the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award?

Each year, AISC's T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award recognizes an outstanding lecturer and author whose technical paper or papers, published during the eligibility period, are considered an outstanding contribution to the engineering literature on fabricated structural steel.

The award is named for Theodore R. Higgins, former AISC Director of Engineering and Research, who was widely acclaimed for his many contributions to the advancement of engineering technology related to fabricated structural steel. The award honors Higgins for his innovative engineering, timely technical papers, and distinguished lectures.

Winners will receive a framed certificate, which is presented at NASCC: The Steel Conference. Winners receive a $15,000 cash award and will present their lecture, upon request, at professional association events.

Bridge Fabrication Expert Ronnie Medlock, PE Selected for 2025 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award

Ronnie Medlock, PE, of High Steel Structures, LLC, has been selected to receive the American Institute of Steel Construction's 2025 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award for his contributions to the Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Welding Reference Manual.

“Simply put, Ronnie Medlock is an icon within the bridge fabrication and construction world, and the impact of his contributions to the standards that guide the industry cannot be overstated. Ronnie Medlock has changed the way bridges are fabricated and constructed in the U.S.,” said AISC Vice President of Engineering and Research Christopher H. Raebel, SE, PE, PhD.

Medlock will give the final keynote address at the 2025 NASCC: The Steel Conference, where he will also receive the $15,000 honorarium. He will present his work on request throughout the country over the course of the year, as well.

About Ronnie Medlock

Ronnie Medlock is vice president of technical services at High Steel Structures LLC in Lancaster, Pa. He is responsible for quality control and for fabrication and inspection technology advancements at High Steel, which produces fabricated steel for steel railroad bridges and other types of steel bridges.

Prior to joining High Steel in 2006, Ronnie worked for TxDOT, starting in 1988. Originally from El Paso, Texas, Medlock is a licensed professional engineer in Texas, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He received an AISC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

2024 Lecturer: Benjamin Schafer, PhD

Benjamin Schafer presented "Review of Local Buckling Width-to-Thickness Limits" as the final keynote of NASCC: The Steel Conference in San Antonio in March 2024.

He is the director of the Ralph O'Connor Sustainable Energy Institute and Hackerman Professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He is also active in engineering consulting and is currently a consulting principal at Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger. He holds master's and doctoral degrees from Cornell University in structural engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Iowa. Schafer has led numerous research projects on the behavior and design of thin-walled steel structures.

He is dedicated to the codes and standards process with over 20 years of service to AISC, AISI, and ASCE, and currently serves as Chair of AISC TC4 on Members, Vice Chair of the AISC Committee on Structural Stainless Steel, and Chair of ASCE 8 on cold-formed stainless steel. He has previously served as Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering at Johns Hopkins, Chair of the Structural Stability Research Council, President of the Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute, and North American Editor of the journal Thin-Walled Structures.

SCHEDULING A LECTURE

If your organization is interested in hosting a T.R. Higgins lecture, contact Christina Harber, director of education, at harber@aisc.org. AISC reimburses the speaker's travel expenses for qualifying events.

ABOUT T.R. HIGGINS

Theodore R. Higgins joined the Institute in 1940 as chief engineer and was its director of Engineering and Research from 1945 to 1968. During his tenure, he was involved in all aspects of the Institute's wide variety of research activities. He played an especially prominent role in the more than 20 years of research, which led to the development of plastic design techniques for steel structures. Theodore authored the Institute's first manual on plastic design, Plastic Design in Steel.

A resolution adopted by the Institute's Board of Directors honored Higgins for his unparalleled service to the structural steel industry. The resolution defines him as a pioneer in developing the research and engineering principles which form the basis of steel design and construction today. "Theodore Higgins possessed that unique ability to translate research results into practical applications," the resolution reads.

JURY

Each year AISC invites a distinguished panel of industry experts to judge the nominations for the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award. The jury reflects a blend of professional insight, industry experience, and academic excellence.

AISC thanks the following jurors for evaluating the nominations for the 2025 award:

Jordan Jarrett
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colo.

Mike Kempfert
CSD
Milwaukee

Brett Manning
Schuff Steel
Stockton, Calif.

Jason McCormick
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Mich.

Thomas Murphy

Modjeski & Masters, Inc.

Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Brian Volpe
Cives Engineering Corporation
Alpharetta, Ga.