02/06/2004
Wilson Tang Elected ASCE Honorary Member
Prof Wilson Tang of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)'s Department of Civil Engineering has been elected an Honorary Member of the prestigious American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Prof Tang (right) at the Honorary Membership induction ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee
Prof Tang is cited for his significant contributions to safety and reliability analysis in civil engineering, with emphasis on application to geotechnical systems.
Honorary Membership is the highest distinction that can be bestowed upon an ASCE member. Of the Society's more than 130,000
members around the world, only 169 are Honorary Members, and Prof Tang is the only one of those from Hong Kong.
The honor adds to the impressive list of accolades Prof Tang has received through the years: Most recently, he was elected a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences for his eminent teaching and pioneering research in geotechnical engineering. In 2002, he was elected to the US Offshore Energy Center's Hall of Fame as a Technology Pioneer in Reliability-Based Design of Marine
Structures ¡V a plaque commemorating this achievement is on permanent display aboard the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum in Galveston, Texas ¡V and, in 2001, he was conferred the T K Hsieh Award by the United Kingdom's Institution of Civil Engineers for an acclaimed series of papers published in the Institution's technical journals.
For over 30 years Prof Tang has been widely respected for his work in the field of risk, reliability, and decision analysis. He is especially renowned for his expertise in geotechnical applications, with particular regard to landslides and both onshore and offshore foundations. His two widely cited co-authored texts, on probability concepts in engineering planning and design, have been translated into several languages. Here in Hong Kong, his most recent research encompasses loose fill slopes and soil nail stabilization, as well as the quality assurance and reliability of pile foundations.
Before joining HKUST in 1996, Prof Tang was Professor (1980-95) and Associate Head (1989-91) of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Upon joining HKUST in 1996 he served as Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, a role he fulfilled with distinction until 2001.
For media enquiries:
Jacky Tsang Tel: 2358-6306 email: patsang@ust.hk
