Building a Bridge for the Future with Professor Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl

Abstract

Building a Bridge for the Future with Professor Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl B S J By: Ali Palla, Kuntal Chowdhary, Jingyan Wang, Joshua Hernandez, Kaitlyn Kraybill-Voth, Mariko Nakamura, Jessica Evaristo Although stress is primarily interpreted from the psychological or biological perspective, the term stress is widely used in the realm of civil and structural engineering as well. Buildings and bridges must be able to withstand a wide variety of stressors, ranging from natural phenomena such as earthquakes to blasts and terrorist attacks. Individuals like Professor Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, are leading the charge in making our buildings and bridges safe from whatever stressors they may face. Professor Astaneh-Asl also had the privilege of being one of the few researchers who had access to the engineering blueprints for the World Trade Centers following their tragic collapse in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This past semester Professor Astaneh-Asl was in Turkey conducting research as a Senior Fulbright Scholar; he graciously took time out of his busy schedule to speak with us over Skype. Currently, Profession Astaneh-Asl added an additional focus on blast protection. In conjunction, he works with a large team of UC Berkeley undergraduates to create an archive of the information gathered from the collapse of the World Trade Centers. BSJ: How did you first get interested in your line of research? Prof. Astaneh-Asl: It goes back to how I got interested in structural engineering, specifically bridge engineering. The research you get interested in is specific to your background and your education. My background and my education are in structural engineering. My interest was sparked in the first undergraduate course I took, which was a statics course, where we looked at stresses and equilibrium and forces. When I went to this class, this was the first time that I saw buildings and bridges. I thought, “Wow, this is amazing!” Imagine, you come into a classroom and sit there with the Bay Bridge and all these wonderful structures. Everyone is fascinated with buildings and bridges. Taking that course was a defining moment where I decided, “This is it. I’m going to be a structural engineer.” I got my undergraduate degree and started working. I had 10 years of practice in design of structures. Then I came to the United States in 1978, I’m originally from Iran. I completed my Masters and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in Structural Engineering, and of course, that was my life by then. I did design work on buildings and bridges. Then, I went to University of Oklahoma for 4 years, where I was a professor. I came to Berkeley in 1986. I was still working on buildings, but not so much on bridges. I started working on building bridges specifically in the Bay Area. My friends were in structural engineering, so I got involved. Just three years after I joined this “super group”, there was a big earthquake. This earthquake collapsed a small part of the Bay Bridge. The Bay Bridge was closed for a month. As a faculty member who specialized in steel bridges, I was the only one in Berkeley working on steel, long standing bridges. Other faculty in our group were working on concrete bridges. Therefore, I was in a unique position as the only professor in California, not just Berkeley, who knew something about steel bridges. Berkeley 50 • B erkeley S cientific J ournal • S tress • F all 2013 • V olume 18 • I ssue 1