Illustration of mechanisms affecting the axial response of piles in liquefiable soils
Illustration of mechanisms affecting the axial response of piles in liquefiable soils. Taken from Sinha et al., 2023.

Sinha, Ziotopoulou, and Kutter receive ASCE Norman Award

  • by UC Davis CEE

A paper by former UC Davis graduate student Sumeet Sinha, along with Professor Katerina Ziotopoulou and Professor Emeritus Bruce Kutter, has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the ASCE Norman Medal. The Norman Medal recognizes one paper from across all ASCE publications that makes a contribution to either practical or research aspects of engineering disciplines, with the practical value of the work and its impact on practice particular considerations. 

The paper, titled "Displacement-Based Design of Axially Loaded Piles for Seismic Loading and Liquefaction-Induced Downdrag," highlights a new design procedure that can help improve infrastructure resilience to earthquakes. 

Past Norman Award winners from UC Davis include Prof.'s Sashi Kunnath, Yannis Dafalias, Amit Kanvinde, and Ross Boulanger. Notably, this is the second time work by Prof. Kutter has been honored with the Norman Award.