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Memorial Tributes Volume 13 (2010) / Chapter Skim
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ALEXANDER C. SCORDELIS
Pages 244-249

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From page 244...
... Final Tribute Vol 13.indd 244 3/23/10 3:42:33 PM
From page 245...
... Through publications, consulting activities, and public service, he extended these benefits to consulting engineers, national and international committees, commissions charged with assessing the safety of huge, complex structures, and fellow experts struggling to understand the behavior and dynamic loading of newly emerging structural systems of prestressed concrete and thin concrete shells. 245 Final Tribute Vol 13.indd 245 3/23/10 3:42:33 PM
From page 246...
... In the years immediately following World War II, there were three major developments in structural engineering that greatly influenced his career. The first of these was the great expansion of graduate education in engineering in the United States, which created a ready market for Alex's skills as a leader, lecturer, and innovative researcher.
From page 247...
... Alex was cited for nonlinear analysis of reinforced-concrete shells, the analysis of curved, prestressed, segmental bridges, and the analysis of slender, concrete bridge towers under cyclic lateral load, all of which were not only complex analytically but were also important to practical design and public safety. These were the overriding common denominators of Alex's work -- intellectually advanced and rigorous analysis for important engineering applications.
From page 248...
... He was the author of more than 170 papers and also served on a number of governmental boards assessing seismic safety -- including panels on the Golden Gate Bridge and the design of a new eastern span for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. He was one of 11 members appointed by the governor of California in 1989 to a Board of Inquiry into the Loma Prieta Earthquake, to issue the defining assessment of the quake's impact on California's infrastructure.
From page 249...
... He could be as dedicated in teaching the proper appreciation of a glass of ouzo as he was in explaining how to set up a proper finite-element analysis of a curved post-tensioned bridge. He was just as willing to teach important life lessons -- how to make an effective presentation, or win engineers over to your point of view, or achieve consensus on a report assessing the structural safety of a complex structure -- as he was to teach technical solutions.


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