Emily Williamson, recent CvEEN Ph.D. graduate, has been selected to receive the 2023 Wood Engineering Achievement Award for Young Engineer. A presentation of her award will be held at this year’s Forest Products Society‘s International Conference from June 6-8 in Morgantown, West Virginia.

The Wood Engineering Achievement Award recognizes accomplishments and innovations in the discipline of wood engineering including structures, structural elements, building codes, consensus standards, design procedures and education.

The Award alternates each year between three categories: Lifetime Achievement, Young Engineer, and Engineering Innovation. The 2023 category is Young Engineer, and we’re happy to congratulate our very own Emily Williamson on achieving the honorable distinction.

Williamson earned her Ph.D. in structural engineering in Spring of 2023 after successfully defending her dissertation, titled “Mass Timber Frame with Mass Timber Buckling Restrained Braces or Seismically Resilient Mass Timber Buildings.” Her research, under the mentorship of Dr. Pantelides, focused on the design and testing of a mass timber frame with timber buckling restrained braces. Her project aimed to develop a ductile timber lateral force resisting system to promote the resilience of timber buildings during seismic events.

She begins working as a Project Engineer at Reaveley Engineers in Salt Lake City, Utah, this Fall. She is excited to continue the problem solving and critical thinking involved in structural engineering and is pleased to pursue her passion for promoting the use of mass timber as a structural material.