Robert Connor, Ph.D., a professor at Purdue University's Lyles School of Engineering and a renowned expert on the fatigue and fracture of steel bridges, was recently ratified as Purdue's Jack and Kay Hockema Professor in Civil Engineering, one of the school's named faculty positions.
Connor, whose research on steel bridge fracture, fatigue, failure analysis, and design has led to many important technical standards, also serves as the director of Purdue's Center on Aging Infrastructure and the Steel Bridge Research, Inspection, Training, and Education Engineering Center (S-Brite) and is the associate director of the Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research as well.
Connor received the George S. Richardson Medal in 2016 and an AISC Special Achievement Award in 2012, and was the first recipient of the Robert J. Dexter Memorial Lecture Award in 2005. He was also AISC's 2018 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award winner.
Connor currently serves on AISC's Committee on Research and the NSBA Technical Committee. To read more about his contributions and recent achievement, visit https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2019/Q2/purdue-trustees-approve-faculty-promotions,-new-iupui-degree.html.