2008 Richard S. Fountain Award Presented to William J. Wright

William J. Wright, Ph.D., P.E. (center) accepts the 2008 Richard S. Fountain Award from AASHTO-T14 Committee Chairman Ed Wasserman (left) and Dennis R. Mertz, Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Delaware. Photo credit: Dan Snyder, AISI

AISI's Steel Bridge Task Force and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Technical Committee for Structural Steel Design have named William J. Wright, Ph.D., P.E. of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia, as the winner of the 2008 Richard S. Fountain Award. The award is named for the founder of the AISI Steel Bridge Task Force.

The award, established in 2001, is presented annually to recognize leadership in steel bridge research and outstanding efforts to advance AASHTO specifications. Dr. Wright was selected for his contributions to the steel bridge industry through structural research, technical guidance and design code development, as well as his contributions to the introduction of high-performance steels, the 'Unified Approach,' and fatigue and fracture concepts in the design of steel highway bridges.

Wright is Team Leader for Bridge Design and Construction Research, Office of Infrastructure R&D at the FHWA's Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. He has 21 years of steel bridge research experience and has worked on several failure investigations involving bridge collapse. He is a key technical expert on issues related to the design, fabrication, construction and inspection of structural steel for highways.

AISI's Steel Bridge Task Force was formed to coordinate research that establishes safe, cost-effective steel bridges and to implement these developments into steel bridge design codes. Its members include steel producers, steel fabricators, the AASHTO Technical Committee for Structural Steel Design, university faculty, consultants and representatives from the FHWA and National Steel Bridge Alliance. For more information, contact Dan Snyder.