Congratulations to Eduardo Montalto for being selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a recipient of the 2022 O.H. Ammann Research Fellowship in Structural Engineering!
Eduardo is a doctoral student in the Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials (SEMM) program at Berkeley CEE, where he also obtained his Master of Science degree in 2020. Before joining Cal, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Costa Rica, where he worked as an assistant at the Earthquake Engineering Laboratory and the Materials and Structural Models National Laboratory. He performed undergraduate research in the area of structural health monitoring of bridges using ambient vibration tests. He has professional experience as a structural designer, being involved in new design, seismic assessment and retrofit of residential and commercial buildings, and industrial facilities.
Eduardo’s current research interests lie in the development and implementation of innovative earthquake-resistant design technologies that can enhance structural performance and resilience in an affordable way. He is currently studying the mechanical behavior of fiber-reinforced elastomeric isolators, a low-cost isolation system that is viable for implementation in developing countries and ordinary structures.
The funds received by the O. H. Ammann Research Fellowship will be invested in material characterization tests to inform the development of detailed finite element models of these devices, used to improve the understanding of their behavior under quasi-static and dynamic lateral loading.
At Berkeley, Eduardo is also a part of Cal SEAONC Student Chapter and is currently the lead of a mentoring program that connects graduate students with professionals from academia and the industry to aid them in their early-career decisions. He has also served as an advisor for the undergraduate student group participating in EERI’s Seismic Design Competition.