C. Allin Cornell
Born(1938-09-19)19 September 1938
Mobridge, South Dakota, U.S.[1]
Died14 December 2007(2007-12-14) (aged 69)
Stanford University Medical Center[2]
Alma materStanford University
Known forProbabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1981)​
Children5, including Eric Allin
Awards
  • Norman Medal (1983, 2003)
  • CERRA Award (1987)
  • Harry Fielding Reid Medal (2001)
  • George W. Housner Medal (2003)
  • William B. Joyner Memorial Lecture (2005)
Scientific career
Institutions
Doctoral advisorJack Benjamin

Carl Allin Cornell (September 19, 1938 – December 14, 2007) was an American civil engineer, researcher, and professor who made important contributions to reliability theory and earthquake engineering and, along with Luis Esteva,[3] developed the field of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis by publishing the seminal document of the field in 1968.[4][5]

Biography

Cornell was born in Mobridge, South Dakota in 1938. He received his B.A. in architecture in 1960 and M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering in 1961 and 1964 respectively, all from Stanford University. He held a professorship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1964 to 1983, and in 1983 became a research professor at Stanford.

He was awarded the Moisseiff Award (1977), two Norman Medals (1983 and 2003), and the Freudenthal Medal (1988), all from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He also received the Harry Fielding Reid Medal of the Seismological Society of America, their highest honor (2001)[6] and their William B. Joyner Memorial Lecture award (2005),[7] as well as the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's highest honor, the Housner Medal, in 2003.[8] He was a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2002) and member of the National Academy of Engineering (1981).[9][10][11] His wife was Elisabeth Pate-Cornell, formerly chair of Stanford's Department of Management Science and Engineering, and one of his five children is Eric Allin Cornell, Nobel Laureate in Physics.[12]

He is best known for his 1968 seminal paper "Engineering Seismic Risk Analysis" that started the field of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis; his work in reliability especially on second moment methods and reliability-based code calibration, and his development of the probabilistic framework for performance-based earthquake engineering that became the unifying equation of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center. His 1971 book, Probability, Statistics, and Decision for Civil Engineers (coauthored with Jack Benjamin), exposed an entire generation of civil and structural engineering students to the field of probabilistic modeling and decision analysis,[13][14] and remains in use for classroom curriculum to this day.[15]

At the quadrennial International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering, the International Civil Engineering Risk and Reliability Association (CERRA) awards the C. Allin Cornell Award to one individual. In 2009, the award was renamed from the CERRA Award to the C. Allin Cornell Award in honor of its first recipient, and was awarded under its new name in 2011.[16] Cornell received the award in 1987.[17]

He died aged 69 at Stanford University Medical Center he had been struggling with cancer for two years.[18]

Students

Jack Baker (Ph.D.) Hugh Banon (M.Sc.) Paolo Bazzurro (Ph.D.) Jorge Carballo (Ph.D.)
Peter Chu-Chuan Tsai (Ph.D.) Ross Corotis (Ph.D.) Rabi De (Ph.D.) Mike Fardis (M.Sc.)
LeRoy Fitzwater (Ph.D.) Mircea Grigoriu (Ph.D.) Yves Guenard (Ph.D.) Ron Harichandran (M.Sc.)
Shou Nien Hou (Ph.D.) Yaacob Ibrahim (Ph.D.) Iunio Iervolino (M.Sc.) Takashi Inoue (M.Sc.)
Fatemeh Jalayer (Ph.D.) Ashish Karamchandani (Ph.D.) Bob Kilcup (Ph.D.) Rich Larrabee (Ph.D.)
Nicolas Luco (Ph.D.) Lance Manuel (Ph.D.) Yuji Nakamura (M.Sc.) Robin McGuire (Ph.D.)
Hanz Merz (M.Sc.) Jong Peir (Ph.D.) Douglas Schmucker (Ph.D.) Robert Sewell (Ph.D.)
Nilesh Shome (Ph.D.) Keto Soosaar (Ph.D.) Gabriel Toro (Ph.D.) Polsak Tothong (Ph.D.)
Dimitrios Vamvatsikos (Ph.D.) Erik Vanmarcke (Ph.D.) Daniele Veneziano (Ph.D.) Steve Winterstein (Ph.D)
Shen-Chyun Wu (Ph.D.) Gee Liek Yeo (Ph.D.) Alejandro Barrios (M.Sc) John A (Bert) Sweetman (PhD)
Gregory B Baecher (Ph.D.)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Carl Allin Cornell". American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological, and Related Sciences. Gale. 2008. Gale K3099023492.
  2. ^ "Quake specialist taught at Stanford". Los Angeles Times. 23 December 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  3. ^ Zanetti, Luca; Chiffi, Daniele; Petrini, Lorenza (2023). "Philosophical aspects of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA): a critical review". Natural Hazards. 117 (2): 1193–1212. doi:10.1007/s11069-023-05901-6. hdl:11311/1234145. ISSN 0921-030X.
  4. ^ Cornell, C. Allin (1968). "Engineering Seismic Risk Analysis" (PDF). Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 58 (5): 1583–1606. doi:10.1785/BSSA0580051583. ISSN 1943-3573. S2CID 129235564.
  5. ^ Baker, Jack W. (2013). "Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis" (PDF). White Paper Version 2.0.1.
  6. ^ "Dr. C. Allin Cornell". National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Allin Cornell". Seismological Society of America. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  8. ^ "C. Allin Cornell". Lasting Memories. Palo Alto Online, "C. Allin Cornell". Lasting Memories. Almanac Online.
  9. ^ Corotis, Ross B. (2008). "In Memoriam – C. Allin Cornell". Structural Safety. 30 (3): 181–182. doi:10.1016/j.strusafe.2008.01.001. ISSN 0167-4730.
  10. ^ McGuire, Robin K.; Hanks, Thomas C.; Baker, Jack W. (2008). "In Memoriam: C. Allin Cornell". Earthquake Spectra. 24 (2): 559–562. doi:10.1193/1.2932171. ISSN 8755-2930.
  11. ^ Corotis, Ross B.; McGuire, Robin K.; Baecher, Gregory B. (2009). "Eminent Structural Engineer: Dr C. Allin Cornell (1938–2007)" (PDF). Structural Engineering International. 19 (2): 220–221. doi:10.2749/101686609788220060. ISSN 1016-8664. ResearchGate:233510307 Academia:85717145.
  12. ^ Levy, Dawn (10 October 2001). "Stanford's physics Nobel connection continues". Stanford News. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  13. ^ "C. Allin Cornell (1938-2007)" (PDF). EERI Newsletter. 42 (1): 3. January 2008.
  14. ^ Kupper, Lawrence L. (1971). "Review: Probability, Statistics, and Decision for Civil Engineers". Technometrics. 13 (1): 211–211. doi:10.1080/00401706.1971.10488770. ISSN 0040-1706.
  15. ^ "CE 810 - Reliability-Based Design in Civil Engineering". Michigan State University. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  16. ^ "Awards". ICASP13. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  17. ^ "Awards". ICASP14. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  18. ^ McGuire, R. K.; Hanks, T. C.; Baker, J. W. (1 May 2008). "C. Allin Cornell (1938-2007)". Seismological Research Letters. 79 (3): 382–383. Bibcode:2008SeiRL..79..382M. doi:10.1785/gssrl.79.3.382. ISSN 0895-0695.

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