Instructor

Dr. Maria Garlock is a Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and also the co-Director of the Architecture and Engineering Program. She is the recipient of awards such as the 2012 President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching and the 2016 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award, which “recognizes an outstanding lecturer and author whose technical paper or papers… are considered an outstanding contribution to the engineering literature on fabricated structural steel.”  She is also a Fellow of the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), which“…distinguishes members as leaders and mentors in the profession.”

Dr. Garlock is also a Professional Engineer, having earned her license while working for Leslie E. Robertson Associates of New York City as a structural engineer.  She had the opportunity to participate in the design of many interesting buildings including several skyscrapers.  Dr. Garlock received her Bachelors of Science degree from Lehigh University, a Masters of Science degree from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. degree from Lehigh University.

Her research aims to bridge the gap between academia and practice, both as related to advancing the knowledge in structural engineering and as related to the education of future engineers.  She takes creative and innovative approaches to find structural solutions, in particular for extreme loading scenarios such as earthquakes, fires, and storm surges. She studies such loading scenarios both as isolated and as combined multi-hazard events.

In addition to multi-hazard resistant structural design, Dr. Garlock studies the best examples of structural designs of the present and past, which encompass the ideals of efficiency, economy, and elegance.  She has co-authored a book on the subject (Felix Candela: Engineer, Builder, Structural Artist), and co-curated several exhibitions with scale models and instructional displays that teach about exemplary structural engineering designs.  She has authored several book chapters on the subject and has recently developed two online courses (MOOCs) on the theme of “The Art of Structural Engineering.”