The Brown & White

World-renowned structural engineer, Dr. Fazlur Rahman Khan, best known for his work on the Sears Tower, was honored in the first of a series of three lectures Friday in Sinclair Laboratory.

The series, sponsored by the civil and environmental engineering department and department of art and architecture, includes three guest speakers: Dr. Richard Tomasetti, Dr. Jeremy Isenberg and Dr. John W. Fisher.

Khan, known for his progressive skyscraper construction during the second-half of the 20th century, is credited with many design accomplishments, said Dan Frangopol, professor of civil and environmental engineering.

Designs include Chicago's 100-story John Hancock Center and the 110-story Sears Tower, the tallest building in the U.S. at its completion in 1974.

Khan's structures have remained foundations for skyscrapers.

His innovations improved construction of high-rise building, allowing the large structures to withstand outside forces, Frangopol said.

Khan is recognized for shifting engineering into a collaborative effort.

He believed that creativity could prosper when engineers, architectures and artists worked together for a common goal, Frangopol said.

Lehigh officials appointed Dan Frangopol as holder of the Khan endowed chair structural engineering and architecture.

Frangopol, an expert in structural reliability, optimization and life-cycle engineering, set up new research directions in life-cycle engineering and the maintenance and management of bridges and other structures.

Frangopol, who organized the lecture series, said the series focus is to educate students in Khan's achievements and innovative thinking.

The first lecture by Tomasetti, "Engineering of Major Architecture, Then and Now," explained the contribution structural engineering has made to architecture over time.

Tomasetti, chairman of Thorton Tomasetti, Inc., said he has done structural design work on some of the tallest buildings in the world.

To illustrate the changing natures and processes of engineering, Tomasetti showed architecture from the Parthenon, an ancient Greek temple, to the modern Taipei 101, the world's tallest completed skyscraper, located in Tawain.

Playing off Khan's accomplishments, Tomasetti said people will continue building as high as they want.

"The only limitation is how high they want to build it," he said.

Tomasetti said he had great respect for Khan, labeling him as "one of the few engineers who was very innovative."

There is a rebirth of integrating art, architecture and engineering, because of what Khan envisioned, he said.

The focus of aligning architecture and engineering design interested students.

"Although his area of expertise is outside of my disciple of study, his lecture was fascinating," Robert DeVito, '10, said.

Civil engineering major Alla Miroshnik, '10, said Tomasetti's lecture inspired her.

"In addition to being interesting in general, the lecture provided me with motivation to pursue my major," Miroshnik said.

Future lectures will be given by Isenberg, past president and CEO of Weidlinger Associates, Inc. and Fisher, professor emeritus of civil engineering at Lehigh and previous director emeritus of ATLSS engineering research system.

Isenberg works with soil-structure interaction and structural response to explosions, earthquakes and absorbing boundaries, Frangopol said.

The lecture, "Structural Design for Security - Past Accomplishments and Future Directions," will examine the U.S.'s response to the threat of terrorism by instituting a structural hardening program to protect U.S. posts, Frangopol said.

Isenberg will discuss the balance between technological advancements and retaining a building's architectural elements, Frangopol said.

The lecture will touch on technology that protects civilian buildings from explosive threats; the process of creating guidelines to resist building collapse; a form of risk-assessment, along with other security engineering criteria, Frangopol said.

Isenberg's lecture will be held March 14 at 4 p.m. in Sinclair Laboratory.

The third lecture will be given by Fisher, an engineer specializing in structural connections, fatigue and fracture of riveted, bolted and welded structures, the behavior and design of composite steels-concrete members and performance steel bridges.

Fisher's lecture, "Overcoming Barriers to Durable Steel Bridge Systems" will focus on the development of rational fatigue resistance knowledge, Frangopol said.

While working with steel bridges, Fisher learned that a major barrier to durability was the failure in introducing appropriate stress-minimizing ranges, Frangopol said.

Fisher will also discuss enhancing the fatigue-resistance of existing structures from the 1970s to now.

He will also introduce future practices, like high-performance steels to provide reliable fracture resistance, Frangopol said.

Fisher's lecture will be held April 18 at 4 p.m. in Sinclair Laboratory.