Special Issue In Honor of Professor Wilson H. Tang for Structural Safety

摘要

This special issue was organized to commemorate and honor the lifetime contributions of Professor Wilson H. Tang who passed away in January 5, 2012. Professor Tang was an international leader in the field of engineering uncertainties and reliability analysis. He led the profession in pioneering the use of reliability based methods for risk mitigation and design in various areas, particularly in geotechnical engineering. His expertise covered the application of probabilistic methods to the wide area of civil infrastructure engineering and management. Professor Tang had a distinguished academic career, having taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for 27 years before joining HKUST as Chair Professor and Head of Department of Civil Engineering in 1996. Under his leadership, the Department evolved as one of the best in Asia. Professor Tang had more than 250 technical publications and co-authored a book (with A. H-S Ang) on Probability Concepts in Engineering Planning & Design that has been widely adopted by top universities worldwide and has been published in two editions. He served on major international boards and committees in Hong Kong and around the world. He was a Fellow and Vice President of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences. Professor Tang received numerous awards included the State of the Art in Civil Engineering Award, T.K. Hsieh Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers UK, US Offshore Energy Center's Hall of Fame, Guggenheim fellow, Harza Best Paper Award, Natural Science Award from the Ministry of Education of China, and Honorary Professorships at several major universities. He had been elected a Fellow and a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.