Speaker Bios
Stephen H. Cutcliffe
“Uncle John Fritz: A Perfectionist Engineer”
Stephen Cutcliffe is chair of the department of history at Lehigh. He specializes in the history of technology and industrial America. Currently he is co-editing an anthology entitled, “The Illusory Boundary: Environment and Technology in History,” to be published by the University of Virginia Press in 2010.
Mark Sarkisian
“Civil Engineering's 100-Year Influence on the Built Environment”
Mark P. Sarkisian, P.E., S.E., LEED AP, is a structural engineering director with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) and the head of the structural engineering design studio in SOM’s San Francisco office. His career has focused on developing innovative structural engineering solutions for building projects. He received his B.S. from the University of Connecticut and M.S. from Lehigh University, and is licensed to practice civil/structural engineering in 17 states. Sarkisian’s work includes the United States Embassy in Beijing; the NBC Tower in Chicago; The Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland; the St. Regis Museum Tower in San Francisco; and Shanghai’s Jin Mao Tower, currently the seventh-tallest building in the world. He holds two U.S. patents for The Pin-Fuse Joint® and five pending patents for structural seismic devices in building frames and environmentally sensitive structures. He has also recently completed a book, “Considering the Tower – Structure as Architecture.”
Kathy Caldwell
“The View from Now: Civil Engineering’s Next 100 Years”
Kathy Caldwell, P.E., is the president-elect of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She has served ASCE in multiple leadership roles since 1988, most recently as chair of the strategic planning committee and as a member of both the board of direction and the executive committee. She earned a Bachelor of Science in structural engineering and construction engineering from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, and has been honored as an outstanding alumni by its department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Caldwell brings nearly three decades of industry experience to the ASCE presidency, including 19 years with Jones Edmunds and Associates, Inc., her last position there as vice president. After leading the successful establishment of a new market sector for the firm, Caldwell was named president of JEA Construction Engineering Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Jones Edmunds. She is currently president of Caldwell Cook & Associates and serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Florida.
Stephen Pessiki
“Civil and Environmental Engineering at Lehigh in Our Day and Forward”
Stephen Pessiki is a professor of structural engineering and chair of the department of civil and environmental engineering at Lehigh. His research and scholarship focuses on the behavior and design of structures, including the fire and seismic response of structures, and also on the nondestructive evaluation of materials and structures. Pessiki’s project portfolio spans buildings and bridges to ships, dams and tunnels. He received his undergraduate degree from Drexel University and his graduate degrees at Cornell University.