Wael El-Dakhakhni, Ph.D., P.E., FASCE, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada was presented with the John B. Scalzi Research Award from The Masonry Society at TMS’s Annual Meeting in October. Dr. Arturo Schultz presented the award on behalf of the Research Committee.

Dr. El-Dakhakhni holds the Martini, Mascarin and George Chair in Masonry Design at McMaster University, Canada. He has more than 18 years of experience in masonry research and design under extreme loading including seismic and blast events. An ASCE Fellow, Dr. El-Dakhakhni serves on the TMS Research Committee and the 2016 TMS 402/602 Seismic Subcommittee. He has also chaired the Seismic Design Subcommittee of the Canadian Masonry Design Standards (CSA S304-14) and has been a voting member of CSA A165-14 (Standards on Concrete Masonry Units). He is the Director of the McMaster Applied Dynamics Laboratory and an Associate Editor (Masonry) of the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. Dr. El-Dakhakhni is actively involved in masonry research and education with more than 150 technical papers and teaching three undergraduate and graduate masonry courses on a regular basis at the Department of Civil Engineering at McMaster University. He also was recently approved as a Representative of the TMS’s Board of Directors.