Benjamin Schafer, professor of civil and systems engineering and director of the Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortium, has been appointed the Willard and Lillian Hackerman Professor of Civil Engineering.
This endowed professorship, created in 1981 through a gift from Margaret Whiting in honor of Lillian and Willard Hackerman ’38, supports outstanding Whiting School faculty members in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering (formerly, the Department of Civil Engineering). The professorship previously was held by Robert A. Dalrymple, now an emeritus professor of civil engineering at the Whiting School.
Schafer and his team utilize an array of experimental and computational tools that enable structural engineers to build more resilient and efficient steel buildings and wind turbine towers, particularly for earthquakes. He led the first full-scale seismic tests on a cold-formed steel framed building and will be testing a ten-story cold-formed steel framed building in 2022.
Schafer is deeply involved in translating his team’s findings to the nation’s codes and standards. He chairs the national standard for stainless steel structures and serves on the main committees and numerous subcommittees for all aspects of cold-formed and hot-rolled steel structures.