Ahmed M. Abdel-Ghaffar, an internationally known University of Southern California civil engineering professor specializing in the analysis and monitoring long span flexible bridges,
died April 17, 2008, at the age of 61, after a long illness.
Abdel-Ghaffar’s 1974 investigation of the dynamic characteristics of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles, done when he was a graduate student, led to new standards on how to collect, analyze and interpret structural dynamic measurements from complex, three-dimensional, extended structures. His investigation allowed the development of high-fidelity computational tools used to reliably design such structures to resist the action of earthquake ground motion. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) used Abdel-Ghaffar’s computer program when it embarked on a major retrofit of the Vincent Thomas Bridge, and he served as a consultant, determining the damping characteristics of the bridge.
“Professor Abdel-Ghaffar’s excellence and innovation in the area of long span bridges was known internationally and he was much beloved by his students,” said Yannis C. Yortsos, dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. “He is greatly missed by all of his colleagues here and around the world.”
"Building tall bridges that span engineering frontiers and withstand great earthquakes was Ahmed Abdel-Ghaffar's passion. Ahmed was a gentleman engineer and a dedicated educator," said Jean-Pierre Bardet, chair of the USC Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering where Abdel-Ghaffar was on the faculty.
Abdel-Ghaffar also made major contributions to understanding and analyzing the behavior of structures interacting with soil during earthquakes. He was among the pioneers who conducted forced-vibration experiments on the Santa Felicia Earth Dam and interpreted its recorded seismic and dynamic response.
A meticulous writer with an eye for detail and eloquence, he was a gifted and dedicated teacher whose lecture notes continue to be used today by his students many of whom are professors at academic institutions worldwide.
A native of Egypt, Abdel-Ghaffar graduated in 1970 from Cairo University with a B.S. degree in civil engineering. He was the class valedictorian, earning a “first class honors” distinction. After working for two years as an instructor in structural engineering at Cairo University, he attended the California Institute of Technology, where he earned a master’s degree in civil engineering in 1973 and a Ph.D. with an emphasis on structural dynamics and earthquake engineering in 1976. His reputation at Cairo University as one of the most intelligent and attentive young lecturers led other aspiring Egyptian researchers to follow him to the United States.
Abdel-Ghaffar’s pioneering research at Caltech as a doctoral student under Prof. George Housner brought him international recognition in the then-emerging field of sensor-based monitoring of long span flexible bridges.
In 1978 Abdel-Ghaffar joined the Materials Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago-Circle and he moved to the Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department at Princeton University as an assistant professor the following year. He came to USC in 1987 as a full professor.
He served as a consultant to government agencies in the U.S., Japan, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Among Abdel-Ghaffar’s many notable projects, was one to monitor vibration of the Golden Gate Bridge and he hung a breathtaking photograph in his office showing him and his students standing near the top of the bridge while collecting sensor data.
During his long illness, he continued to interact from his bed with a number of international contacts and provide valuable advice on many projects, such as the long span bridge across the Gulf of Suez.
Abdel-Ghaffar, a resident of Rolling Hills Estate, was survived by his former wife and three children.
B F Spencer, Jr
Nathan M. & Anne M. Newmark Endowed Chair in Civil Engineering,
Director, Newmark Structural Engineering Laboratory
Director, Multi-Axial Full-Scale Sub-Structured Testing & Simulation Facility
Director, Smart Structures Technology Laboratory
Professor B.F. Spencer Jr. is the Nathan M. and Anne M. Newmark Endowed Chair in Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (University of Missouri – Rolla 1981), and M.S. and Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1983, 1985). He joined the faculty of the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois in 2002. Dr. Spencer served as a professor at the University of Notre Dame from 1985-2002, where he held the Leo E. and Patti Ruth Linbeck Professor of Engineering.
Dr. Spencer has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in structural mechanics, structural dynamics, and structural reliability. He is the author of two books. The first is a monograph entitled, On the Reliability of Nonlinear Hysteretic Structures Subjected to Broadband Random Excitation (Springer-Verlag 1986). The second book, coauthored with Prof. K. Sobczyk, is entitled, Random Fatigue: From Data to Theory (Academic Press 1992).
Dr. Spencer is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), was the founding chair of the Committee on Structural Control and is the past chair of the Committee on Fatigue and Fracture Reliability, both in the ASCE Structures Division. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Structural Control and has served as associate editor for the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. He is also a Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the North American Editor in Chief of Smart Structures and Systems, and the president of the Asia-Pacific Network of Centers for Research in Smart Structures Technology.
Lecture Title: TBA