Constantinou recognized with ASCE’s Walter P. Moore, Jr. Award

By Peter Murphy

ASCE’s Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) bestows the award to structural engineers with a demonstrated dedication and expertise in the development of structural codes and standards. According to ASCE SEI, the organization recognized Constantinou for his “outstanding and significant contributions to the practice of structural and earthquake engineering in the U.S., and abroad, with a focus on seismic protective systems, including 2D and 3D seismic isolation and damping systems, with applications to buildings, bridges and infrastructure, including giant telescopes and liquid natural gas storage tanks.”

Constantinou’s research on seismic protective systems has provided key contributions to U.S. guidelines, codes and standards for over 30 years. He continues to develop codes and specifications related to ASCE/SEI 7 and ASCE/SEI 4, widely used civil engineering standards, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ guide specification for seismic isolation. Constantinou has also made significant contributions to several Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) standards as well as the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program.

Constantinou, who is also the Samuel P. Capen Professor of Civil Engineering, has made significant contributions to several critical areas in civil and earthquake engineering, including the development, understanding and modeling of sliding seismic isolation systems; the understanding of lifetime behavior of elastomeric and sliding isolators; and developing the concept of property modification factors for performing bounding analysis of structures with seismic protective systems.

“This award to Michael Constantinou is a well-deserved recognition of his long-standing innovations in the field of seismic engineering,” said Alan Rabideau, professor and chair in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. “Our department is fortunate to have him teaching these lessons to the next generation of civil and earthquake engineers.”

This latest recognition is the sixth Constantinou has received from ASCE. He was a co-recipient of the society’s Charles Pankow Award for Innovation in 2005, he received the Moisseiff Award and the Nathan N. Newmark Medal in 2015, and he was elected fellow of both ASCE in 2019 and ASCE SEI in 2025.  Constantinou was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Patras in 2018, and he was recognized by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2022. Constantinou is also executive editor of the journal Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics.

Constantinou joined UB in 1987. He earned his doctorate and master’s degrees from RPI and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Patras.