About our author
Anil K. Chopra received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Banaras Hindu University, India, in 1960, the Master of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1963, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree, also from Berkeley, in 1966.
He joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969 where he has served as Vice Chair (1980–83) and Chair (1991–93, 1994–97) of the Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He has been responsible for the development and teaching of courses in structural engineering, structural dynamics, and earthquake engineering.
His research activities have included studies of structural dynamics, various problems in earthquake analysis and design of buildings, dynamic soil structure interaction, dynamic fluid structure interaction, and earthquake analysis and design of concrete dams. He has authored more than 380 published papers on this work, a monograph, Earthquake Dynamics of Structures, A Primer, 2005, and a textbook, Dynamics of Structures: Theory and Applications to Earthquake Engineering, first published in 1995. The S.I. edition of this book was published in 2015. The book has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Greek, Turkish, Spanish, and Farsi.
He serves as a consultant on earthquake engineering problems to numerous governmental and private organizations in several countries. He has served several professional societies in various positions: Chairman (1986) of the Engineering Mechanics Division Executive Committee, and Chairman (1991) of the Structural Division Executive Committee, American Society of Civil Engineers; Board of Directors of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (1990–93), Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (1987–89), the Seismological Society of America (1982–83), and the Applied Technology Council (1972–74); and Chairman of the National Research Council Committee on Natural Disasters (1982–83). Currently, he serves as Executive Editor of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, the journal of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering.
He has received the following honors: the University Gold Medal (1960) and the Distinguished Alumnus Award (1980) from Banaras Hindu University; the Ernest E. Howard Award (1998), the Nathan M. Newmark Medal (1993), the Norman Medal four times (2013, 2001, 1991, and 1979), the Raymond C. Reese Research Prize (1989), and the Walter L. Huber Research Prize (1975), all of the American Society of Civil Engineers; the Housner Medal (2002) from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute; and the AT&T Foundation Award of the American Society for Engineering Education (1987). At the University of California at Berkeley he was appointed Miller Research Professor for the Fall Semester, 1990, and for the 2003‑2004 academic year, was named to the Horace, Dorothy, and Katherine Johnson Chair in Engineering in 1992, and received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1999. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1984, as an Honorary Member of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering in 2004, Fellow of the Structural Engineers Association of California (2004), and an Honorary Member of the Structural Engineers Association Northern California (2010). He received the Doctor Honnoris Causa from the Technical University of Engineering, Bucharest, Romania in 2007, and the Honorary Professor title from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2009. In 2009 the magazine < cite>International Water, Power & Dam Construction listed him among the "60 most influential people in the hydropower and dams industry" who "helped shape the course of the global hydro and dams business over the last 60 years." In 2011 the same magazine listed him among "Influencing Engineering…the 20 people who have made the biggest difference in the dam engineering sector over the past ten years." In 2012 he received the "National Award for Significant Contributions in Science and Technology," from SENACYT: La Secretaria Nacional de Ciencia, Technologia & Innovacion, Panama. In 2013 he was honored by the American Society of Civil Engineers twice; he received the Norman Medal and was elected as a Fellow in the Engineering Mechanics Institute. In 2014, he was elected as an Honorary Fellow by the Indian Society for Earthquake Technology. He was awarded the Berkeley Citation, University of California, Berkeley, 2016, "for distinguished achievement and for notable service to the University." In March 2017 he was elected as an Honorary Member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute in recognition of his sustained and outstanding contributions in the field of earthquake engineering. He presented the Newmark Distinguished Lecture for 2017 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2017 he was elected to the Academy of Civil and Environmental Engineering Distinguished Alumni, the University of California, Berkeley. Finally he received The Nigel Priestley Prize (formerly the Rose School Prize), 2018, Pavia, Italy, to honor individuals for creativity, innovation, research, and professional achievements and excellence in education in the field of earthquake engineering and engineering seismology.
