AISC 2021 T. R. Higgins Lecture Hosted at UC Davis on March 11

The department is honored to be hosting Dr. Amit Varma as he delivers his 2021 T. R. Higgins Lecture "SpeedCore and Steel-Concrete Composite Construction: The Best of Both Worlds." This lecture will be held from 4-5 pm on March 11, 2022, in 1003 Giedt Hall. There will be a reception after the event.

His lecture will summarize the results of extensive research on SpeedCore steel-concrete composition construction conducted over more than 12 years, culminating in the development of design specifications, provisions, and guidelines for composite walls and systems for various applications. He'll highlight experimental behavior, numerical modeling, and design of composite walls and the SpeedCore system for wind loading, seismic loading, and fire loading conditions.

Dr. Varma is a professor at Purdue University and is the director of the Bowen Laboratory of Large-Scale CE Research at Purdue. His research interests center around the development of innovative steel-concrete composite structures for the built infrastructure including commercial and residential buildings, and industrial structures such as nuclear power plants. He has conducted fundamental research including large-scale experimental investigations and numerical analyses to evaluate and improve the structural behavior of steel-concrete composite members, connections and overall structural systems subjected to various extreme loading conditions including seismic, fire, blast, and missile impact loading.