Created in 2011, the Aftab Mufti Medal honors experts in SHM for their individual contributions to the field, lifetime achievements or best papers published in the Journal of Civil Structural Health Monitoring (JCSHM).  This year, seven authors of two scholarly papers published in the JCSHM in 2011 (Volume 1) and 2012 (Volume 2) were awarded the Aftab Mufti Medals at a special presentation during SHMII-6.

The review and selection process was intense, conducted by two international committees.  The criteria are definitive and demanding.  Each paper must successfully exhibit creativity, originality and rigor and included new information, new interpretations, innovations, methods, and applications.  Each must make a contribution to the field through its scientific or technical significance and be useful to the practicing professional and the interests of civil engineering.  As a research paper, each also had to be highly readable, presented with effective organization, be clear, concise, comprehensible, and use jargon-free language in its presentation of its concepts and facts.

Two papers stood out to the reviewers.  With great pleasure, ISHMII extends congratulations to Dr. Koichi Kobayashi and Dr. Nemkumar Banthia for their paper, “Corrosion detection in reinforced concrete using induction heating and infrared thermography,” published in June 2011 in Volume 1, Issue 1-2, and to Dr. P. Rathish Kumar, Dr. Toshiyuki Oshima, Dr. Tomoyuki Yamazaki, Dr. Shuichi Mikami, and Dr. Yasunori Miyamouri for their paper, “Detection and localization of small damages in a real bridge by local excitation using piezoelectric actuators,” published in September 2012 in Volume 2, Issue 2.

 

Dr. Toshiyuki Oshima and Dr. P. Rathish Kumar (pictured left) and Dr. Koichi Kobayashi (not-pictured) received the Aftab Mufti Medal at SHMII-6, and Dr. Baidar Bakht accepted the Medal on behalf of Dr. Nemkumar Banthia. Pictured right, Dr. Yasunori Miyamouri, Dr. Shuichi Mikami and Dr. Tomoyuki Yamazaki with Dr. Oshima (second from right) during the Medal presentation at Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan. 

The skill and attention of the committee members are recognized and acknowledged with thanks to Dr. Al Gharbanpor and Dr. Asif Usmani, Chairs for the 2011 and 2012 selection committees, respectively, and committee members Dr. John Newhook, Dr. Hong-Nan Li, Dr. Ayaho Miyamoto, and Dr. Su Taylor (2011) and Dr. Tripp Shenton, Dr. Baidar Bakht, Dr. YQ Ni, Dr. Dagmar Svecova, and Dr. Mark Green (2012).