News Release

Faculty member named ‘Outstanding Alumni’ by Taiwan university

April 8, 2010

Since his 1979 graduation with a bachelor’s degree from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, Penn State Harrisburg Professor of Civil Engineering Y. Frank Chen has built an international reputation.

His alma mater recognized his accomplishments recently when it presented him with its Outstanding Alumni Award.

After earning his undergraduate degree, Chen went on to earn a master’s and doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and embarked on an award-winning professional and teaching career. He joined the Penn State Harrisburg faculty in 1989.

A Professional Engineer and Certified Bridge Inspector in Pennsylvania, Chen is active in the American Concrete Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers, and American Institute of Steel Construction. He has been a research fellow at the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences in Tokyo, a visiting professor in civil engineering at National Cheng Kung University, and is currently the coordinator of the civil engineering program at Penn State Harrisburg. In 2004, he conducted a pilot study related to blast-resistant design for bridge structures and investigated the current condition of major bridges in the United States to find practical and economical ways to make them more resistant to earthquake or explosive loads.

Chen also specializes in load and resistance factor design of buildings and bridges and structural design for wind, earthquake, impact, and blasts, long-span bridges, structural stability and reliability, innovative use of engineering materials, and material performance under extreme conditions.

He has received awards from PennDOT, the Prestressed Concrete Institute, the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences, the National Sciences Council of Taiwan, and other foreign institutions and is the author of more than 60 technical papers and articles.