Faculty Profiles

Professor Englekirk chairs the industry board supporting development of the Jacobs School's new earthquake and blast test center at Camp Elliott, featuring the world's first outdoor shake table. When it opens in the fall of 2004, the facility will deliver unprecedented abilities to gauge full-scale structural response to seismic and other convulsive activities. About $1 million for the facility has been raised from companies represented on the Camp Elliott Board of diredtors, which also is helping target research at important real-world problems. One pressing matter is defining the relationship between materials strength and performance during earthquakes. Englekirk became an adjunct faculty member here in 1998, but has collaborated with UCSD engineers since the 1980s. A couple of notable technologies developed by Englekirk in part at the Jacobs School are a hybrid beam system and the Dywidag Ductile Connector (DDC). The hybrid beam is an assembly of pre-cast elements that are joined by post-tensioning. It was first deployed in 2002 in the Englekirk-engineered Paramount apartments in San Francisco. The DDC flexes like a shock absorber to dissipate seismic energy normally released via material damage. Named for a German manufacturing firm that licenses the technology, it was incorporated into the landmark Hollywood Highlands project.

Capsule Bio:

Robert E. Englekirk is founder of the Englekirk Companies, responsible for more than $100 billion worth of construction including two recent Los Angeles landmarks: Hollywood and Highland with its centerpiece Kodak Theater and the billion-dollar Getty Center. Englekirk's mark can also be seen on San Diego's skyline. He was the structural engineer of the Emerald Plaza Center highrise and the Horton Plaza shopping mall downtown. Englekirk's first commission was the Hilton Hawaiian Village Complex in Honolulu. Since retiring from the day to day running of his companies in 2001, Englekirk has spent much of his time teaching and writing. He is the author of several seminal works in structural design and earthquake-resistant engineering. Englekirk was the recipient of the Jacobs School's Outstanding Executive Award in 2003.

Education:

• B.S., Tulane University, Civil Engineering, 1959
• M.S., UC Los Angeles, Civil/Structural Engineering, 1965
• Ph.D., UC Los Angeles, Civil/Structural Engineering, 1970

Awards:

• UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering Outstanding Executive Award, May, 2003
• Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Construction Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, 2001
• PCI’s Robert J. Lyman Award recognizing paper “An Innovative Design Solution for Precast Concrete Buildings in High Seismic Zones”, 1997; PCI Fellow “recognizing outstanding contributions to the precast prestressed concrete industry and to the institute”, 1998; PCI’s Harry H. Edwards Award: The Paramount residential apartment tower, 2002; PCI’s Robert J. Lyman Award recognizing paper “Design-Construction of the Paramount – a 39-Story Precast Prestressed Concrete Apartment Building” for the “…paper that offers the greatest contribution in the area of plant production, site erection, or general construction using precast and prestressed concrete”; PCI’s State-of-the-Art Award: Advancement of the state-of-the-art of precast & prestressed concrete, 1990; PCI’s Structural Design Award: Bellview Center, 1982; PCI’s Professional Design Award: Excellence in design using precast prestressed concrete, 1986; PCI’s Martin P. Korn
• Award “greatest contribution to the advancement of precast and prestressed concrete”, 1995; PCI’s Harry H. Edwards Industry
• Advancement Award: ideas and concepts that hold the potential to move the precast and prestressed concrete industry to the next generation of technology, 1996
• ACI’s Alfred E. Lindau Award: Innovative and constructible concrete structures, 1983, ACI’s Henry C. Turner Award: Design and engineering achievements in the concrete construction, 1985; ACI’s Outstanding Concrete Construction Project: Emerald Shapery Center, San Diego, California, 1990; ACI Fellow: Outstanding and distinguished service to the institute and the concrete industry, 1992
• ASCE’s Merit Award for Outstanding Civil Engineering Project: Rockwell Building 80 Base Isolation, 1991
• UCLA Civil Engineering Honor Society Outstanding Alumnus, 1993
• National Civil Engineering Honor Society Chapter Honor Member of Chi Epsilon with special honor by UC Los Angeles, in recognition of superior scholarship, character, practicality, and sociability, April, 1997
• Tulane University School of Engineering Outstanding Alumnus Award, September, 1997

Selected Publications:

• Englekirk, R.E., “Seismic Design of Reinforced and Precast Concrete Buildings,” (Textbook) John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.
• Englekirk, R.E., “Steel Structures: Controlling Behavior Through Design,” (Textbook) John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1994.
• Englekirk, R.E., Nakaki, D., Hart, G.C. “Concrete Shear Wall and Ductile Frame Buildings,” (Design Manual), Portland Cement Association, 1982.
• Englekirk, R.E., and Hart, G.C. “Earthquake Design of Concrete Masonry Buildings,” (Two-volume series), Prentice-Hall, 1984.