Nicos Makris, Ph.D.

Nicos Makris, Ph.D.

Addy Family Centennial Professor in Civil Engineering

Office Location: 301 M Embrey Hall

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Education

  • Doctorate in Civil Engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo, January 1992 
  • Ph.D. Dissertation: Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Viscous Dampers in Applications of Seismic and Vibration Isolation
  • Master of Science in Civil Engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo, January 1990
  • Master Thesis: Analysis of Motion of Practical Sliding Isolation Systems
  • Diploma in Civil Engineering, National Technical University, Athens, Greece, June 1988
  • Diploma Thesis: Dynamic Stiffnesses of Pile Groups in Nonhomogeneous Soil Deposits 

Languages

  • Greek
  • English
  • French

Biography

Professor Nicos Makris, an internationally recognized expert in structural-earthquake engineering and structural mechanics-dynamics, is the Addy Family Centennial Professor in Civil Engineering at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. Makris received his Ph.D (1992) and Master of Science (1990) from the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA; while he holds a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University, Athens, Greece (1988). He has previously served on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana (1992-1996); the University of California, Berkeley (1996-2005); the University of Patras, Greece (2003-2019) and the University of Central Florida (2014-2018). He has published more than 130 papers in archival journals, while he has supervised 15 Ph.D thesis and more than 40 MSc and 5th year Diploma thesis. He has served as the Editor of the Journal Earthquakes and Structures; the Associate Editor for the Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, and the Chair of the Dynamics Committee on the same Journal. He is a member of Academia Europaea “The Academy of Europe”, a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, a member of the Congress Committee and General Assembly of the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM); while, he has been honored with several international prizes and awards including the George W. Housner Structural Control & Monitoring Medal and the J. James R. Croes Medal both from ASCE, the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from ASCE, the T. K. Hsieh Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers, U.K., the Shah Family Innovation Prize from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), USA and the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, USA. 

During the years 2003-2009, Professor Makris has served as the Director of Reconstruction of the Temple of Zeus in Ancient Nemea, Greece :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsxPSeWS52Q

Honors and Awards

  • George W. Housner Structural Control and Monitoring Medal, ASCE, “for his contributions to passive and semi-active structural control from supplemental energy dissipation and rocking isolation to pioneering development of electrorheological dampers and health monitoring and condition assessment of fluid dampers”, March 2023.
  • Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), August 2021.
  • J. James R. Croes Medal, ASCE, for the paper, “Effect of Supplemental Hysteretic and Viscous Damping on Rocking Response of Free-Standing Columns,” published in the Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, May 2020.
  • The Rotunda Outstanding Professor Award, Southern Methodist University, May 2020.
  • Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, March 2015. 
  • Member of the Academia Europaea “The Academy of Europe”, since September 2012.
  • Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, ASCE, “for his research on developing and characterizing energy dissipation devices and clarifying the role of damping for seismic protection of structures”, May 2001.
  • The Shah Family Innovation Prize from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), February 1999.
  • The T.K. Hsieh Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, U.K., for the best paper published by the Institution in the field of Structural and Soil Vibrations, November 1997.
  • The Henry Pusey Award from the Program Committee of the 67th Shock and Vibration Symposium (best paper out of 151 papers presented), May 1997.
    NSF CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, USA, July 1996.
  • Fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) under the JSPS Invitation Fellowship Program for Research in Japan, Spring 1996.
  • Research Assistant Scholarship, Department of Civil Engineering, University at Buffalo, September 1988-January 1992.
  • Scholarship for excellent academic performance, Institute of State Scholarships, Greece (IKY), 1984-1988.

Research

  • Structural/Earthquake Engineering and Applied Mechanics/Dynamics

Recent Publications

Personal website

https://www.smu.edu/Lyle/Departments/CEE/People/Faculty/MakrisNicos