Professor Manolis Chatzis appointed Chair of ASCE’s Engineering Mechanics Institute Dynamics Committee

Professor Manolis Chatzis has been appointed Chair of the Dynamics Committee for the American Society of Civil Engineer’s Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI). Professor Chatzis has been involved with the Institute for a number of years, having been elected by the Committee’s members as Secretary in 2020, as vice-Chair in 2023 and most recently as Chair for the next two years.

The purpose of the ASCE EMI Dynamics Committee is to provide expertise and service to the Civil Engineering profession regarding all aspects of Structural Dynamics, and in particularly: Soil-Structure Interaction, Earthquake Engineering, Active and Passive Structural Control, Computational Algorithms, System Identification, Wind-induced Vibrations, etc. These topics align with the work of Professor Chatzis’ research group (Non-Linear Dynamics).

He says, “My group has been contributing to ASCE EMI conference, one of the leading international conferences on mechanics conference, since 2010, where I have also served multiple times as a presenting author, mini-symposium organiser and session chair. The ASCE EMI conference was the first conference where I presented to as a PhD student, and the Dynamics committee is a thriving community whose members are world-leading experts on Dynamics. Hence, I am truly honoured to have been given the opportunity to serve as the Chair of the Committee.”

The conference is also directly connected to the ASCE journal of Engineering Mechanics, one of the leading international journals on Mechanics. The Non Linear Dynamics group routinely contributes to the journal through publications, and Professor Chatzis is an active reviewer, being acknowledged as 'an Outstanding Reviewer' for the journal in 2019. As a mentor for the Committee, he is available to support young academics with questions or concerns about career evolution.

As Chair, he will preside over the meetings of the Leadership Group of the committee and represent the Dynamics Committee during the Board of Governors meeting of ASCE EMI. As well as electing new members and organising meetings during the EMI conference, the committee’s regular activities include organising online seminars throughout the year as well as an annual Student competition, Fellow nominations and EMI and Society Awards.

He adds, “Over the next 2 years, together with the vice-chair and secretary of the committee, we plan to expand the excellent initiatives of the previous Leadership Groups and serve the members of the committee who have honoured us with their votes.”