Wu honored with two prestigious ASCE awards

By Peter Murphy

“My research has progressed from fundamental studies of structural response under wind loading to a broader, system-level perspective on performance-based wind engineering and infrastructure resilience,” Wu says. “More recently, I have been exploring multi-hazard interactions and AI-enabled approaches to address increasingly complex challenges.”

According to ASCE, Wu earned the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize for his “fundamental contributions to the development of analytical and computational methods for nonlinear and transient bridge aerodynamics, performance-based wind engineering, and hurricane-resilient infrastructure.”

Wu’s contributions in all three of the highlighted areas are notable. He is using AI technologies such as reinforcement learning, generative models, and other smart decision-making technologies to enhance the resilience of infrastructure before, during, and after it experiences a hurricane. These tools enable adaptive planning, real-time response optimization and post-event recovery strategies.

Wu’s work also addresses an important but often overlooked piece of performance-based wind design. His novel hurricane modeling techniques estimates the wind duration under current and future climate conditions — a critical information for predicting accumulated damage of structures. He also uses Volterra theory — a way of understanding how bridges behave when blown by wind — to more accurately and efficiently predict wind-induced instabilities of bridges and other slender structures.

“These awards reflect the significant impact of Teng's work on civil engineering, and his commitment to advancing resilient infrastructure,” says Alan Rabideau, professor and chair in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. “He is an emerging leader tackling complex, multi-hazard challenges.”

According to ASCE, the prize is one of the most significant research awards in civil engineering.

“The Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize is the highest-level mid-career research award in all areas of civil engineering. Past award recipients acknowledge the importance of winning the Walter Huber Award, saying it helped establish their careers,” the society says. 

Wu is also part of a writing team that received the ASCE State-of-the-Art of Civil Engineering Award, presented to “the industry’s most gifted practitioners who review and interpret state-of-the-art methods, theories, and ideas for the benefit of their colleagues,” according to ASCE.

Wu and the other authors studied how climate change affects bridges and buildings in their 2024 book, “Effects of Climate Change on Life-Cycle Performance of Structures and Infrastructure Systems.”

“We study how climate change will effect bridges and buildings — not just today, but over their entire lifespan,” Wu says. “As extreme weather becomes more common, our goal is to help engineers design infrastructure that can continue to perform safely in the future.”

Performance-based wind engineering and infrastructure resilience continue to be a topic Wu investigates. He is currently working on a $2.3 million Department of Energy-funded project, Enhancing hardening and resilience of solar trackers under strong winds.