The Structural Stability Research Council (SSRC) has recently announced that Todd Helwig, professor in the Fariborz Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, was selected as the 2025 Lynn S. Beedle Award Recipient.

Texas CAEE professor Todd Helwig

Helwig holds the Jewel McAlister Smith Professorship in Engineering. His primary research interests include the design and behavior of steel structures with an emphasis on full-scale testing, field monitoring, structural stability, fatigue and stability bracing requirements. He is also a contributing faculty member at the UT Austin Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory.

Helwig is a member of several technical committees within the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the AASHTO/National Steel Bridge Alliance Collaboration (NSBA), the Design Advisory Group and Steel Bridge Task Force for AASHTO, and the Structural Stability Research Council (SSRC). He is also a member of the AISC Committee on Specifications. He served on the Executive Committee for SSRC from 2002 to 2019 and as Chair from 2016 to 2019.

His research has been recognized with several awards, including the 2023 George Richardson Medal presented at the International Bridge Conference, the 2022 Richard S. Fountain Award given by AASHTO/ AISI/NSBA, the 2022 AISC Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2017 AISC T. R. Higgins Lectureship Award, the AISC Special Achievement Award, the ASCE Collingwood Research Prize, the ASCE Moisseiff Award, and the ASCE Shortridge Hardesty Award.

Helwig will be honored by the SSRC at the 2025 Annual Stability Conference in the spring. The Beedle Award identifies SSRC members who have contributed to the field of structural stability globally and who are leading figures in the industry.

About the Lynn S. Beedle Award

The Beedle Award was established in honor of the late Lynn S. Beedle, an international authority on stability and the development of code criteria for steel and composite structures. He was a leader and outstanding contributor to the work of the Structural Stability Research Council for a period of more than 50 years, establishing the council as the preeminent organization worldwide in the area of structural stability. Through Lynn Beedle’s dedicated work and leadership in the national and international arenas, the structural engineering profession has seen advanced concepts developed into practical engineering tools. He consistently and successfully endeavored to advance collaboration between researchers, engineers and code writers worldwide. It is the highest honor awarded to contributing SSRC members.