Professor Jamie PADGETT
The J.M. Ko Award Committee is proud to announce the two laureates of the J.M. Ko Award 2025. This honour is bestowed in recognition of their outstanding contributions of high originality and enduring importance that have advanced science and technology in the field of Structural Engineering.
Professor Jamie PADGETT
Professor Jamie PADGETT is the Stanley C. Moore Professor and Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil (Structural) Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, where her focus was on bridge seismic fragility and risk assessment. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida, showcasing a strong foundation in civil engineering principles.
Professor Padgett’s research agenda centres on advancing multi-hazard risk assessment frameworks that address structural fragility and infrastructure resilience against natural hazards such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Her comprehensive models capture the complex nature of infrastructure performance under multi-hazard loading, facilitating improved preparation and response efforts during disaster events. With over 300 publications, she has solidified her reputation as a leader in resilience research.
Active in national-scale initiatives, Professor Padgett serves in leadership roles within the NIST Centre of Excellence for Risk-based Resilience Planning, NHERI DesignSafe, and recently the launched Consortium for Enhancing Resilience and Catastrophe Modeling (CERCat). She emphasizes the importance of shared cyberinfrastructure and open-source platforms to democratize access to research tools and findings. Her commitment to enhancing disaster resilience significantly impacts both academia and industry practices.
Professor Dimitrios LIGNOS
Professor Dimitrios LIGNOS serves as Full Professor and Department Chair at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), leading the Resilient Steel Structures Laboratory. He obtained his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Stanford University, where his doctoral work focused on the sidesway collapse of deteriorating structural systems under seismic excitations. His educational journey also includes a Master’s degree from Stanford University and a 5-year diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece.
His research focuses on advancing the seismic performance of steel structures through innovative experimental and computational methods. His research work has transformed the way engineers predict and minimize the risk of structural collapse. Notably, he has developed and standardized models that account for strength and stiffness deterioration during seismic events. His work on structural steel systems is significantly influencing international standards, including the Eurocode 8, AISC and ASCE 41. His contributions have set a benchmark in performance-based earthquake engineering.
Professor Lignos is committed to fostering collaboration and resource accessibility in research. He established the RESSLab Hub, an open-access database supporting engineers and researchers globally. His dedicated work addresses contemporary challenges in structural engineering, advocating for a resilient built environment that minimizes seismic risk and enhances structural safety.
The J.M. Ko Award, established in 2023, is named after Professor Jan-Ming Ko, the first Chair Professor of Structural Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the founding Editor-in-Chief of the international journal “Advances in Structural Engineering”, in honour of his remarkable contributions as a scholar, teacher and mentor to young people in Structural Engineering.
The Award aims to promote and recognise excellence in Structural Engineering research by honouring young individuals aged 45 or under who have made outstanding contributions to science and technology in the field of Structural Engineering. The laureates are expected to have substantially advanced Structural Engineering science and technology through outstanding and systematic research of high originality and enduring importance in a well-defined focus area. For each biennial round, two young researchers aged 45 or under on the 1st of January of the nomination year will be honoured by the Award.
Each laureate of the J.M. Ko Award will receive a certificate, a medal and a cash reward of USD 5,000. In addition, each laureate will be invited and financially supported to visit The Hong Kong Polytechnic University together with his/her spouse for up to a week, and to deliver a J.M. Ko Distinguished Lecture in Hong Kong or a city in the Greater Bay Area. Each laureate will also be invited to submit a paper based on the Distinguished Lecture for possible publication in the ASE journal.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Award Selection Committee for their dedicated efforts and invaluable contributions in recognizing and promoting excellence within the field of Structural Engineering. Their commitment to supporting emerging talent is vital in shaping the future of this discipline.
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