Michael A. West, P.E., F.ASCE, has been named the 2014 recipient of ASCE’s Civil Government Award.
West, the vice president and treasurer at structural engineering consulting firm Computerized Structural Design, headquartered in Milwaukee, received the award for his service in elected and appointed office since 2000, his commitment to the civil engineering profession and his dedication to the local community.
West has had an extensive career in public service. A member of ASCE’s Standards Committee 37–Design Loads on Structures During Construction, he first got involved in his local community when he was appointed as a trustee to the Fox Point Village Board in 2000. Two years later he ran for Village president and was reelected for three subsequent terms; he is presently on the ballot for a fifth term. As a trustee, he was appointed to the North Shore Water Commission in 2000 and has since served continuously, including as chair. As Village president, West has served on the North Shore Fire Department Board of Directors since 2002 and was appointed to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission in 2008 by the Executive Committee of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council of Milwaukee County. In 2011 he was elected to chairman of the Commission and currently serves as it vice chair.
Professionally, West is the coauthor of AISC’s Design Guide 3: Serviceability Design Considerations for Steel Buildings and Design Guide 10: Erection Bracing of Low-Rise Structural Steel Frames, as well as AISC lectures on intelligent design and effective design. West is a member of AISC’s Committees on Manuals and Textbooks as well as the Code of Standard Practice and Specification Technical Committee, TC 13–Quality Control and Assurance; he also received an AISC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.