Mr. David Sommer, Chairman of the Haller Award Subcommittee of The Masonry Society’s (TMS) Design Practices Committee, presented the 2019 Paul Haller Structural Design Award to Thomas A. Gangel, of Wallace Engineering – Structural Consultants, Inc. Sommer noted during the presentation of the Award at the November Awards Luncheon in Scottsdale, Arizona that Gangel’s masonry experience has included all types of masonry construction throughout the United States using brick, stone and concrete block, in areas of high wind loading and high seismic loading. He noted that Gangel’s practical approach to design has been noted by a number of other designers, and he readily shares that knowledge to students and young designers.
Gangel has been an active member on the Masonry Standards Joint Committee and TMS 402/602 as a voting member, the Chair of the Limit States Design Subcommittee that introduced the new chapter on Strength Design of Masonry in the TMS 402-2002 document, and past Chair of the Seismic Subcommittee. Tom is the current Secretary for the Design of Masonry Infills Subcommittee.
He is a past Director of TMS’s Board. Gangel also served brief advisory roles for masonry testing under Benson Shing at the University of California in San Diego and for masonry testing under Max Porter at Iowa State University. In 2014, Tom coauthored a paper with Gregory Kingsley and P. Benson Shing titled, “NEHRP Seismic Design Technical Brief No. 9: Seismic Design of Special Reinforced Masonry Shear Walls”, published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Other professional society participation includes serving on the Task Committee on Earthquake Loads for ASCE 7-2002 as a Masonry Standards Joint Committee liaison and a member of the 2009 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions Update Committee representing the Technical Subcommittee 5, Masonry Structures.
The Haller Award is given to an individual engineer or an engineering firm that has enhanced the knowledge of masonry in practice. This award recognizes the beauty, elegance, and economy of structural masonry projects. Additional information on the on the Award and past winners is available here.
