Academy of Distinguished Alumni
G. Wayne Clough Ph.D., P.E., Hon. M.ASCE, N.A.E.
Inducted to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni on
G. Wayne Clough (Wayne) received his Ph.D. (1969) degree in Civil (Geotechnical) Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He also received B.S.C.E. (1964) and M.S.C.E. (1965) degrees in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Clough is presently Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. From 1994 through 2008, he held the position of President at Georgia Tech and prior to that he held academic positions at Duke, Stanford, Virginia Tech, and the University of Washington.
Secretary Clough has achieved national prominence at three distinctly different stages of his career. First, he achieved prominence as a teacher and researcher in geotechnical engineering while on the faculty of Duke, Stanford, and Virginia Tech. His focus was in the areas of soil-structure interaction, finite element methods applied to geotechnical problems, and geotechnical characterization of cemented sands. Second, he became a renowned university administrator and leader, first as Dean of Engineering at Virginia Tech, then as Provost at Washington, and finally as President of Georgia Tech. Third, since 2008, he has served as Secretary of the Smithsonian where he has had a substantial positive impact on this major institution and national treasure.
Among his many honors are: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2010); National Science Board (2004); President's Council of Science and Technology (2001); National Academy of Engineering (NAE,1990); NAE Arthur M. Buesche Award (2008); U. C. Berkeley Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award (2004); Georgia Institute of Technology Joseph M. Pettit Distinguished Service Award (2009); American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Outstanding Projects and Leaders Award (2004); Distinguished Member (2002); Collingwood Prize (1972 and 1975), Huber Research Prize (1977), Norman Medal (1982 and 1996), and Terzaghi Lecture (1994); and, George Westinghouse Award, American Society of Engineering Education (1986). Among his many publications, Prof. Clough chaired the National Research Council (NRC) committee that produced the ground breaking 2004 report "The Engineer of 2020, Visions of Engineering in the New Century."
While serving as President of Georgia Tech, Prof. Clough provided guidance and support during the start-up of the Berkeley CEE Advisory Council. While at Stanford, Prof. Clough supported Berkeley through frequent guest lectures, and, in concert with Berkeley CEE faculty, he fostered collaboration and relationship building between a generation of Berkeley and Stanford CEE students that endures today. Prof. Clough was a contributing author to the H. Bolton Seed Memorial Symposium held at Berkeley in 1990 and he participated in the CEE Geoengineering Distinguished Lecture Series in 1995.