Henry Petroski to Receive the ASME Barnett-Uzgiris Product Safety Design Award

NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2012 – Henry Petroski, CEng, P.E., Ph.D., a resident of Durham, N.C., and Aleksandar S. Vesic professor of civil engineering at Duke University, will be honored by ASME. He is being recognized for distinguished career contributions that have influenced and promoted safety in design, including 17 books, and writings and lectures that have raised awareness of design safety among fellow engineers and the public at large. He will receive the Barnett-Uzgiris Product Safety Design Award.

The award was established as the Triodyne Safety Award by the Design Engineering Division and operated as a division award until 2008, when it was elevated to a Society award and renamed the Barnett-Uzgiris Product Safety Design Award. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the safe design of products through teaching, research and professional accomplishments. It will be presented to Dr. Petroski during the International Design Engineering Technical Conferences to be held in Chicago, Aug. 12 through 15.

Petroski, who is also a professor of history at Duke University, has written broadly on the topics of design, success and failure, and the history of engineering and technology. His 17 books on these subjects include To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (1985), Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering (1994), Invention by Design: How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing (1996) and To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure (2012). In addition to his books, Petroski has written many general-interest articles and essays for newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal; and he writes regular columns for American Scientist, ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) Prism and Design News magazines. He lectures frequently to audiences ranging from the technical to the general in the U.S. and abroad, and has been interviewed often on radio and television.

An ASME Fellow, Petroski has participated as a speaker at various local, regional and national Society meetings. He has published articles in the Society’s refereed journals and Mechanical Engineering magazine. He received the Ralph Coats Roe Medal in 1991.

Among his extensive list of honors and awards, Petroski is a presidential appointee to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (2004; reappointed 2008).

Petroski received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Manhattan College (Riverdale, N.Y.) in 1963. He earned his master’s degree and his Ph.D. in theoretical and applied mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1964 and 1968, respectively. He holds honorary doctoral degrees from Missouri University of Science and Technology, Manhattan College, Valparaiso University, Trinity College and Clarkson University. Petroski is a registered professional engineer in Texas and a chartered engineer in Ireland.

About ASME ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world.