AISC vice president retires

CHICAGO — The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) has announced the retirement of Louis F. Geschwindner, Ph.D., P.E. Geschwindner served as an AISC vice president for nine years. His distinguished career of service to the architectural engineering community tallied more than 40 years and culminated in his continuing service as professor emeritus of architectural engineering at Pennsylvania State University.

As an AISC vice president, Geschwindner was responsible for leading the development of the 2005 AISC Specification for Structural Steel Buildings and the 13th Edition AISC Steel Construction Manual, as well as all other technical activities of the Institute.

"Lou put a lot of himself into his role at AISC," said Charlie Carter, AISC vice president and chief structural engineer, and Geschwindner’s successor. "His skill at simplifying concepts and processes helped to transform our specifications, publications, and seminars."

In recognition of Geschwindner contributions — and his love of education — AISC has renamed its annual seminar series in his honor. The first AISC Louis F. Geschwindner Lecture will be given in the Fall of 2011 and will focus on the 2010 AISC Specification and 14th Edition Steel Construction Manual.

Before joining AISC, Geschwindner served as a faculty member in the Architectural Engineering Department at Penn State for more than 30 years. Although he formally retired from Penn State in 2004, he continued to serve as Professor Emeritus and taught his last formal class in 2009. His scores of students describe him with great affection as a dedicated educator and respected faculty member with high academic standards and a commitment to teaching.

Geschwindner is a recipient of numerous industry and professional awards including the Penn State Graduate School Alumni Society (GSAS) Lifetime Achievement Award and AISC’s prestigious T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award, which recognized his contributions as an outstanding lecturer and author for his paper "A Practical Look at Frame Analysis, Stability, and Learning Columns."

He is a past chairman of the Committee on Design of Steel Building Structures and the SEI Committee on Metals, co-chair of the Tension Membrane Structures Standards Committee, all of the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (SEI/ASCE). Geschwindner also serves as a member of several AISC committees, including the AISC Committee on Specifications, Committee on Manuals, and Connection Prequalification Review Panel.

Beyond his career, Geschwindner has been generous with his time and financial support of numerous charitable and philanthropic endeavors. In 2000, he and his wife Judy established the Louis and Judy Geschwindner Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship in the Architectural Engineering Department at Penn State. This scholarship provides annual tuition support to deserving undergraduate students.

Geschwindner received his bachelor’s degree in building science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and both his Master of Science in architectural engineering and his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Penn State.

For more information about the American Institute of Steel Construction, please visit www.aisc.org.