James O. Jirsa has been on the faculty of the Department of Civil Engineering since 1972 and has served as department chairman since 1996. He has held the Janet S. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering since 1988. He was named to the Phil M. Ferguson Professorship in 1984 and served as director of the Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory from 1985-88. Prior to his move to Austin, Jirsa taught at Rice University and the University of Nebraska, where he received his BS degree in Civil Engineering. He has graduate degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Jirsa?s teaching and research specialization areas are design, behavior, and durability of reinforced concrete structures; earthquake engineering; and repair and strengthening of structures. He is a registered professional engineer and became a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1988. Jirsa has received many honors and awards over the span of his career, beginning as a Fullbright Scholar to France in 1963-64. More recently he received the Hocott Award for Research from the College of Engineering in 1994 and the Joe W. Kelly Award in 1997 from the American Concrete Institute, "in recognition of a creative career as a teacher, researcher, and author." Currently, Jirsa serves as vice president of the American Concrete Institute and will assume the duties of president in 2000. He is on the board of directors of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and chairs the National Research Council?s Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment.