Structural Expert Named Drummond Chair in Civil Engineering

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — With more than 30 years of experience, Dr. Michael E. Kreger recently joined the faculty at The University of Alabama as the Garry Neil Drummond Endowed Chair in Civil Engineering.

He is recognized internationally as a leader in reinforced concrete structures and earthquake engineering, and will also serve as the director of the Large-Scale Structures Laboratory, or LSSL. Also, Kreger will be associate director of the UA Center for Sustainable Infrastructure, established to be a focal point for research and development of sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including mitigating the effects of natural hazards.

Kreger’s research, which has resulted in more than 150 technical publications, has focused on earthquake resistance and rehabilitation of structural concrete buildings, behavior of pre- and post-tensioned concrete bridge structures and durability of structural concrete.

“Dr. Kreger is a recognized international leader in the area of earthquake engineering research, but he is also a highly regarded teacher, well known for his exceptional work both in the classroom as well as in the lab,” said Dr. Kenneth Fridley, interim associate dean for academic programs and department head of civil, construction and environmental engineering.

“I know I speak for the entire faculty here when I say we are happy Mike is now a part of our program,” Fridley said. “He has already had tremendous positive impact in the short time he has been on faculty here.”

Kreger will lead research in the LSSL, which is part of the South Engineering Research Center on campus. The LSSL is designed to study natural hazards on loading of structures through a unique set of features inside the lab, including an earthquake simulator, or shake table, and other equipment that can simulate disasters.

His work has been recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers’ T.Y. Lin Award in 1991 and 2009 and the American Concrete Institute Foundation’s Concrete Research Council Arthur J. Boase Award in 2011. He is also a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute. His research has influenced changes in the ACI Building Code, AASHTO Design Specifications along with engineering practices for the transportation departments in Indiana and Texas.

Kreger is heavily involved in the American Concrete Institute where his technical committee work focuses on development of design codes and technical documents used by practicing engineers. He is a member or past member of several ACI committees including those focusing on building codes, disaster reconnaissance, concrete structures and seismic design for concrete buildings.

Prior to joining the faculty in the College of Engineering, Kreger was a professor for more than 10 years in the School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University where he was also the first director of the Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research.

Before his tenure at Purdue, he was a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin for 20 years where he was the Dewitt C. Greer Centennial Professor in Engineering and the director of the Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory.

He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois in 1979, 1981 and 1983, respectively, and he is a registered professional engineer in Texas.

The Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama established the Garry Neil Drummond Endowed Chair of Mining Engineering in 1977 with gifts from Garry Neil Drummond, the coal mining companies in the state of Alabama and Drummond’s colleagues in the mining industry. In 1997, the board amended the Garry Neil Drummond Endowed Chair, and it was transferred to the department of civil, construction and environmental engineering. It was renamed the Garry Neil Drummond Endowed Chair of Civil Engineering.