In his outstanding four-decade career as an Iowa State professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, Max Porter’s (’65 civil engineering, MS ’68, PhD 74 structural engineering) research and professional service have made the buildings all around us safer and stronger – and he’s educated thousands of the Cyclone Engineers working across the nation and world today.
In Porter’s research specialty, reinforced concrete, composites, and masonry systems, he’s been principal investigator for 97 research projects and authored more than 1,600 publications, reports, reviews and presentations on his discoveries. He taught 36 different engineering courses, advised nearly 100 graduate students, and mentored more than 500 students in his lab.
Porter has contributed his engineering expertise and leadership to numerous national building codes and standards committees for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), The Masonry Society (TMS) and the American Concrete Institute (ACI), developing the codes used for safe construction.
As national president of the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) in 2001, Porter oversaw the investigation of structural failures in the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and he examined buildings following major Iowa floods and tornados to ensure structures were safe to be re-occupied.
Porter’s exceptional impact has been recognized by numerous of top awards in the field of structural engineering, including distinguished member and fellow of ASCE, fellow of ACI, TMS, and SEI, along with many more research, teaching and professional service recognitions.
Porter is married to Monica, and they have a son Nathan. Between them, they have six degrees from Iowa State.
Porter belongs to the Order of the Knoll President’s Circle and is a life member of the ISU Alumni Association.