CHICAGO — In September, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named 24 new MacArthur Fellows for 2009. The new Fellows work across a broad spectrum of endeavors. They include an infectious disease physician, an ornithologist, a painter, a photojournalist, a bridge engineer, a climate scientist, an economist, a papermaker, a mental health lawyer, and a poet. All were selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future.
This past week, the recipients learned by a phone call out of the blue from the Foundation that they will each receive $500,000 in “no strings attached” support over the next five years. MacArthur Fellowships come without stipulations and reporting requirements and offer Fellows unprecedented freedom and opportunity to reflect, create, and explore. The unusual level of independence afforded to Fellows underscores the spirit of freedom intrinsic to creative endeavors. The work of MacArthur Fellows knows neither boundaries nor the constraints of age, place, and endeavor.
“For nearly three decades, the MacArthur Fellows Program has highlighted the importance of creativity and risk-taking in addressing pressing needs and challenges around the globe,” said MacArthur President Robert Gallucci. “Through these Fellowships, we celebrate and support exceptional men and women of all ages and in all fields who dream, explore, take risks, invent, and build in new and unexpected ways in the interest of shaping a better future for us all.”
Among this year’s recipients is Theodore Zoli is a structural engineer who is leading the design of elegant and enduring bridges around the world and making major technological advances to protect transportation infrastructure in the event of natural and man-made disasters. An expert in long-span, cable-supported bridges, he has played a key role in the creation of a number of bold contemporary structures, from the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston to the Blennerhassett Island Bridge over the Ohio River. Zoli’s recent work on the monumentally scaled Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge demonstrates his ability to respond to the contexts and challenges specific to each project. By dramatically reducing the weight and cost of the original design — involving a highly complex, horizontally curved surface — and devising solutions to address both wind- and pedestrian-induced vibrations, he ensured the success of the bridge’s striking “S” shape.
In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Zoli has focused, as well, on developing armoring strategies to retrofit iconic bridges across the United States to maintain their structural integrity against the possibility of damage from explosion. Drawing from military research on terrorist weapon technologies and tank armor, he developed a novel composite material that represents the state of the art in lightweight, blast-resistant coverings for a broad array of construction applications. In an era of aging infrastructure and catastrophic structural collapses, Zoli is safeguarding vulnerable links in the nation’s highway system and developing design principles for the construction of robust, new landmarks in the United States and across the globe.
Theodore Zoli received a B.S. (1988) from Princeton University and an M.S. (1989) from the California Institute of Technology. Since 1990, he has been affiliated with the HNTB Corporation, where he currently serves as a vice president and technical director of bridges. He is also a visiting lecturer in Princeton University’s Department of Civil Engineering and an adjunct professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University.
This is the second year in a row that the Foundation’s Genius Award was given to a structural engineer. In 2008 structural engineer John Ochsendorf was recognized for his work regarding restoring cathedrals and other structures of the distant past and identifying ancient technologies for use in contemporary constructions.
To learn more visit www.macfound.org.
