Kara Peterman Wins Milek Fellowship from American Institute of Steel Construction

Assistant Professor Kara D. Peterman of the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department has been awarded the distinguished Milek Fellowship from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). The fellowship is a four-year, $200,000 award.

Image

Peterman's proposed research, to be supported by the fellowship, is “Holistic Design and Behavior of Adhesive Steel-to-Steel Connections.” Her research is designed to provide the fundamental knowledge needed to enable structural adhesive steel-to-steel connections, with a particular focus on applications in bridge girder splices, anchorages, reinforcing slip-critical bolted connections, and prefabricated modular construction.

For her AISC project, Peterman will investigate several aspects of utilizing adhesives in steel structures, including installation procedure, structural behavior, creep performance, and performance under elevated temperatures.

Peterman will conduct a large suite of experimental testing, utilizing the state-of-the-art Brack Structural Testing Facility at UMass Amherst, beginning with base-material testing, leading to connection-level, and culminating in full-scale modular diaphragm testing. The project team will investigate using adhesives not only as the primary connecting element, but also as the secondary connecting element, working in tandem with bolts, welds, and fasteners.

Peterman will also develop design recommendations that provide clear guidance on selecting and designing with a structural adhesive. In addition to the recommendations and experimental data, her project will create a centralized and searchable database of available structural adhesives for use by the structural steel community.

Peterman has served in the UMass CEE department since 2016. Before her current position, she worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Northeastern University.

Peterman’s current research interests also include experimental and analytical behavior of cold-formed and hot-rolled steel structures, full-scale experimentation, and creating and implementing sustainable design methods. In addition to her research, she is active in various STEM outreach activities and is an accomplished musician.

Peterman earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in structural engineering from Johns Hopkins University and her B.S. degree in engineering from Swarthmore College.

Each year, AISC selects a promising non-tenured university faculty member as the AISC Milek Fellow, named after William A. Milek Jr., former AISC vice president of engineering and research, to recognize his invaluable contributions to AISC and the structural steel industry as a whole.