Carin Roberts-Wollmann honored with emerita status
Carin Roberts-Wollmann, professor of civil and environmental engineering and associate department head for graduate studies in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of professor emerita by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The emerita title may be conferred on retired faculty members who are specially recommended to the board by Virginia Tech President Tim Sands in recognition of exemplary service to the university. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board receive a copy of the resolution and a certificate of appreciation.
A member of the Virginia Tech community for more than 26 years, Roberts-Wollmann has made significant research contributions to the study of structural concrete, and she is a nationally recognized expert. She secured more than $11.8 million in external research funding and authored a substantial body of scholarship, including 46 journal articles, 33 conference papers, 39 research reports, and multiple chapters in American Concrete Institute (ACI) design guides. Several of her research-based design recommendations have been incorporated into Virginia Department of Transportation bridge standards.
Roberts-Wollmann received many professional honors and awards, including recognition as a fellow of the American Concrete Institute and a fellow of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute. At Virginia Tech, she held numerous leadership roles, including associate department head for graduate studies, coordinator of the structural engineering and materials program area, director of the Thomas M. Murray Structures Laboratory, and member of the promotion and tenure committee. She also chaired the College of Engineering Certificate of Teaching Excellence Selection Committee for 12 years and the department's Teaching Review Committee for three years.
Nationally, she served on three major ACI code-writing committees, including two six-year terms on ACI Committee 318, the institute’s most prestigious and influential committee. This committee writes the concrete building code that is used in the United States and several other countries.
Roberts-Wollmann served as an outstanding advisor for graduate students, mentoring over 100 master’s degree and doctoral students, many of whom have become leaders in academia and industry. In the classroom, she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in structural engineering; developed transformative courses such as Bridges, Builders, and Society; and led study abroad programs exploring engineering in Europe.
Roberts-Wollmann has also been a trailblazer for women in structural engineering, a field where women make up only about 15 percent of the profession. She was the first female construction engineer hired by Austin Bridge Company, the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in structural engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, and the first woman hired in the structural engineering and materials program area at Virginia Tech. She later chaired major national committees, including the Transportation Research Board Committee on Concrete Bridges and the ACI Committee on Prestressed Concrete, and served as one of the few women on ACI Committee 318.
Roberts-Wollmann received her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in structural engineering from the University of Texas.
Written by Emily Southern, a senior majoring in multimedia journalism and student writer for Virginia Tech Marketing and Communications
