The Academy of Distinguished Alumni in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering was established in 2003 to recognize the professional achievements and contributions of its graduates. Twenty-seven charter members were inducted into the academy in 2003, and 58 additional members have been selected since.
J. Stephen Ford
M.S. '74, Ph.D. '77
Ford began his career in academia and later co-founded Zahl-Ford Inc., a firm specializing in structural condition assessments, strength and serviceability failure investigations, and repair and strengthening projects. Within the organization, Ford leads technical teams and serves as an "internal consultant" to his peers and younger engineers. Many of his projects involve evaluation and/or renovating existing buildings and designing repairs for buildings that have strength or serviceability problems. Several of his projects have received state or national awards. Ford, along with Donald C. Chang and John E. Breen, received the ACI Wason Medal for Most Meritorius Paper in 1983 for a series of four papers.
Bilal Hamad
M.S. '79, Ph.D. '90
Hamad has served as the mayor of Beirut, Lebanon, since June 2010, and is also professor of structural engineering and concrete technology in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the American University of Beirut. His research interests include design and behavior of reinforced concrete structures, bond and development of reinforcement, and concrete technology. He has more than 80 publications and received the ACI Structural Research Award in 1995 and was named ACI Fellow in 2003. Hamad is the founder and general manager of CODE Consultants and Designers, and has designed several commercial, educational, recreational, religious and residential projects in Lebanon, Jordan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states.
H.S. Lew
Ph.D. '68
Lew is a senior research engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he participates in research programs in the fields of structural, earthquake and materials engineering. For 10 years, Lew served as chief of the Structures Division of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory. Prior to NIST, Lew was an assistant professor at UT. He has published more than 150 articles, papers and reports, and has received two ACI Wason Medals and the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal. Lew has also had a role in contributing to the development of codes and standards by serving the various committees of ACI, ANSI, AISC and ASCE/SEI.
Leo Linbeck III
M.S. '87
Linbeck is president and CEO of Aquinas Companies LLC, which has three main business lines: construction management, life science pre-venture technology development and real estate development. After earning a master's degree from UT, Linbeck obtained a MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business, and currently teaches MBA students as an adjunct professor at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business and as a lecturer at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Linbeck is also very involved with PreK-12 education reform, especially the expansion of high-performing charter schools in low-income communities.
Donald F. Meinheit
Ph.D. '77
Meinheit worked for Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. (WJE) for 27 years before retiring in 2006. He is currently an affiliated consultant with WJE and mentors young staff on concrete related problems and is known for always being available to staff for thoughtful discussion on technical topics. Meinheit is active in ACI, PCI and CRSI. He has been elected a Fellow of ASCE and ACI and is co-author of the PCI Design Handbook procedures for design of headed stud anchors.
Alexis S. Sacre
M.S. '77
Sacre served as a structural engineer with Middle East Consultants in Beirut before coming to UT to earn his master's in civil engineering (geotechnical). Sacre then went to work for the European office of D’Appolonia Consulting Engineers in Brussels. In 1983, he graduated with a MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and spent the next 14 years working for the Abela Group of Companies. He then joined Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co. and was promoted to various positions throughout Europe. From 2008-11, Sacre served as president of the Middle East Business Unit, a complex operation serving 13 countries.
Jerald L. Schnoor
M.S. '74, Ph.D. '75
Schnoor is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has testified several times before Congress on the environmental effects of acid deposition and the importance of passing the 1990 Clean Air Act. Since 2003, he has served as editor-in-chief of Environmental Science and Technology, and currently serves on the EPA Science Advisory Board and National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. His research areas include environmental observatories, water quality modeling, global change and sustainability and phytoremediation.
Grant R. Thompson
B.S. '75, M.S. '77
Thompson joined Mobil Oil's Offshore Engineering Group after completing his graduate studies at UT. Starting out as a geotechnical engineer in a small group of offshore specialists, Thompson helped build a staff capable of designing and building production systems that could safely produce hydrocarbons in deepwater, offshore regions. He also played a key role in the development of new design methodologies for mudslide resistant offshore platforms in the Gulf, iceberg gravity based structures offshore Canada and large diameter driven pile foundations for North Sea Platforms. Thompson retired from ExxonMobil in 2011 after 35 years of service.
Dean Van Landuyt
B.S. '82, M.S. '91
Van Landuyt began work in the Bridge Division of TxDOT, where he was a member of the San Antonio "Y" segmental team. While earning his master's degree, he built and tested the first curved prestressed box girders subjected to lateral tendon breakout. After returning to TxDOT, he maintained a presence in research by actively promoting and directing experimental testing of bridge deck behavior at free edges, full-scale shear testing of reinforced concrete beams and innovative bridge railings. He designed the first concrete banister railing — the Texas Classic — which is used throughout the country, and his design of the W. 7th Street Bridge in Ft. Worth will be the world's first precast concrete network arch when completed in 2013.
