George Deodatis (Coordinator of PLENOSE unit at Columbia) is Professor at Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics of Columbia University. He received his Diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece in 1982. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from Columbia University, received in 1984 and 1987 respectively. He started his academic career at Princeton University in 1988 where he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow, Assistant Professor and eventually Associate Professor (with tenure). He moved to Columbia University in 2002 where he served as Associate Professor and Professor (both with tenure). Since 2007, he holds the Santiago and Robertina Calatrava Family Endowed Chair at the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics.
His research interests are in the area of probabilistic methods in civil engineering and engineering mechanics where he has contributed in developing theories and methodologies for simulation of stochastic processes and fields to model uncertain earthquake/wind/wave loads and material/soil properties, reliability and safety analysis of structures, stochastic mechanics, stochastic finite element analysis, earthquake engineering, structural dynamics, random vibrations, and risk assessment and management of civil infrastructure systems subjected to natural and technological hazards.
He has written over one hundred thirty technical papers published in journals and conference proceedings. In recognition of his scholarly contributions in the field, he has received the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, the International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability (IASSAR) Junior Research Prize, and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Walter Huber Research Prize. He has served as the Chair of the ASCE Probabilistic Methods Committee and as the Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Engineering Mechanics. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the following journals: Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Engineering Under Uncertainty: Hazards, Assessment & Mitigation, and Uncertainty Quantification. He is the Book Review Editor for the Journal of Structure and Infrastructure Engineering. In 2009, he was elected President of the International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability for a four-year term. He has served in the scientific and/or organizing committee of numerous national and international technical conferences.
Over his academic career at Princeton and Columbia, he has developed a number of courses at the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. levels. He has advised over seventy undergraduate and M.S.-level graduate students on independent research projects. He has graduated fourteen Ph.D students and is currently advising six Ph.D. students. In recognition of his teaching accomplishments, while on the faculty at Princeton University, he was awarded the Engineering Council’s Excellence in Teaching Award six times, the Engineering Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, Princeton’s highest teaching honor. At Columbia University, he has received the Engineering School Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award, the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching, and the Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates.
Professor George Deodatis
Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics – Columbia University
610 SW Mudd, Mail Code: 4709 – New York, USA
Phone: +1 212-854-9728
Fax: +1 212-854-6267
Email: deodatis@columbia.edu