Academy of Distinguished Alumni
Roger L. Brockenbrough, P.E.,
1954 B.S. Civil Engineering
1956 M.S. Structural Engineering

Roger Brockenbrough graduated from Virginia Tech in 1954 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He continued with graduate school and received a master’s degree in structural engineering in 1956. He served as 1st Lt. in the Army Corps of Engineers for two years and then worked as an engineer for Pittsburgh Des Moines Co., for four years. With this experience, he joined U.S. Steel in its Research Technical Center, retiring as a research consultant after 30 years (1961-1991). From 1991 to the present, he has worked as an independent structural engineer with R. L. Brockenbrough & Assoc., Inc.



At U.S. Steel he conducted research studies on various steel applica-tions such as bridge girders, pressure vessels, connections in weathering steel, and connections in structural tubing. He developed new designs for corrugated metal pipe that have become widely used. He represented U.S. Steel on national technical committees, served as technical advisor to vari-ous product groups, and authored numerous technical papers.



As an independent consultant, Mr. Brockenbrough has continued to be involved in the development of technical information to facilitate improved designs in steel. He is the editor of two current, widely used handbooks published by McGraw-Hill, Structural Steel Designer’s Handbook and Highway Engineering Handbook, and a contributor to a third, Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers. The books have been translated into Span-ish and Chinese for international use.



He is a member of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Specifications Committee, which develops the national design specifications for high-rise steel-framed buildings, serving as the chair of the Subcommittee on Materials, Fabrication, Erection, and Inspection. For over 16 years he has chaired the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Committee on Specifications for the Design of Cold-formed Steel Structural Members, a 50-member group that develops national design specifications for the application of sheet steels in buildings and other applications. He is also a member of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Subsurface Soil-Struc-ture Interaction, a member of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee on Corrugated Steel Pipe Specifications, and a fellow and life member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).



Projects he completed for AISC in recent years include a statistical survey using over 60,000 data items to establish typical mill properties of plate steels used in seismic structures, the development of a Design Guide for rehabilitation and retrofit of steel framed buildings, and the development of a Design Guide for steel piling. He conducted a study for AISI to evaluate the potential use of high performance steels for bridges, materials that have since been specified by American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) for construction. He also led a study for AISI to de-termine cold-forming limits for various grades of plate steels, limits that have since been included in ASTM specifications.



A resident of Mt. Lebanon, Pa. and a retired structural engineer with U.S. Steel, Mr. Brockenbrough did not start running until he was 51 and has never stopped. Since entering his first triathlon (swim-bike-run) in 1985, he has devel-oped into one of the world’s best senior triathletes. He is a three-time age group winner (2000, 2004, 2005) of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship (140 mile event) in Hawaii by margins of up to nearly two hours, and has placed in the top three in each of his five finishes (2000-2006). A nationally competitive runner, in June 2005 at the National Senior Olympics held in Pittsburgh, he won gold medals on three consecutive days for the 5k road race, triathlon, and 10k road race. Over the last 20 years he has amassed a plethora of gold medals in a variety of long distance events. He is the only three-time winner of the prestigious Grandmaster Athlete of the Year award by USA Triathlon. In 2007 he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Western Chapter.



Roger and his wife, Nancy, live in Pittsburgh, Pa., where they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year. They have four children — John, Allan, Elaine, and Roger — and seven grandchildren