Thomas Christian Kavanagh

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Thomas Christian Kavanagh (August 17, 1912 – May 23, 1978) was a noted American civil engineer and educator, and a founding member of the National Academy of Engineering, [1] serving as its first treasurer from 1964–1974.

Civil engineering engineering discipline that deals with construction

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewerage systems, pipelines, structural components of buildings, and railways. Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines. It is considered the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering. Civil engineering takes place in the public sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the private sector from individual homeowners through to international companies.

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Research Council.

Biography

Kavanagh was born in New York City. His father, Patrick F. Kavanagh, was an Irish immigrant and laborer and electrical worker for a New York city streetcar company; his mother, Anna C. Unger, came from Germany. He attended the Technical University of Berlin for one year, received him B.S. and Master of Civil Engineering degrees from the City College of New York, and his Master of Business Administration degree in finance and science doctorate from New York University. He then started work as a structural designer for engineering firms in New York and Pennsylvania on railway and highway bridges, sanitary plants, power plants, electrical transmission towers, waterfront structures, floating docks, and refineries, and during World War II was an aircraft engineer.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and thus also in the state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

Technical University of Berlin German university in Berlin

The Technical University of Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1879 and became one of the most prestigious education institutions in Europe.

City College of New York senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY) in New York City

The City College of the City University of New York is a public senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY) in New York City.

After the war, he became assistant professor of civil engineering at New York University (NYU) for several years, then full professor at Pennsylvania State University and in 1948 head of its Structures Department. In 1952 he returned to NYU as chairman of its Department of Civil Engineering. In 1953 he began consulting for Praeger & Maguire, which was renamed Praeger-Kavanagh when he became partner, and later Praeger-Kavanagh-Waterbury. While consulting, he continued as adjunct professor at NYU until 1956, and at Columbia University thereafter. In 1975 Kavanagh joined Louis Berger International as vice president, and in 1976 he founded another consulting firm, Iffland Kavanagh Waterbury, remaining a partner until his death.

New York University private research university in New York, NY, United States

New York University (NYU) is a private research university spread throughout the world. Founded in 1831, NYU's historical campus is in Greenwich Village, New York City. As a global university, students can graduate from its degree-granting campuses in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, as well as study at its 12 academic centers in Accra, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Florence, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Sydney, Tel Aviv, and Washington, D.C.

Pennsylvania State University Public university with multiple campuses in Pennsylvania, United States

The Pennsylvania State University is a state-related, land-grant, doctoral university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania, the university conducts teaching, research, and public service. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education offered through resident instruction and online delivery. Its University Park campus, the flagship campus, lies within the Borough of State College and College Township. It has two law schools: Penn State Law, on the school's University Park campus, and Dickinson Law, located in Carlisle, 90 miles south of State College. The College of Medicine is located in Hershey. Penn State has another 19 commonwealth campuses and 5 special mission campuses located across the state. Penn State has been labeled one of the "Public Ivies," a publicly funded university considered as providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.

Columbia University private Ivy League research university in New York City

Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in Upper Manhattan, New York City. Established in 1754, Columbia is the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It is one of nine colonial colleges founded prior to the Declaration of Independence, seven of which belong to the Ivy League. It has been ranked by numerous major education publications as among the top ten universities in the world.

Kavanagh was responsible for several major engineering projects, including the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, the Hawkins Point Floating Bridge on the St. Lawrence River, plans for the Caracas (Venezuela) subway system, and the Long Island Sound bridge crossing. He was a member of twenty professional societies, and chaired twenty different professional working groups. Among his many honors he received the Ernest E. Howard Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers; the David Steinman Medal for Structural Engineering from the City College of New York; the Gold Medal of the Architectural League of New York; and an Honorary Life Membership in the New York Academy of Sciences.

Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in the municipality of Arecibo, Puerto Rico

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Puerto Rico Unincorporated territory of the United States

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Caracas Capital City in Capital District, Venezuela

Caracas, officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and centre of the Greater Caracas Area. Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range. Terrain suitable for building lies between 760 and 1,140 m above sea level, although there is some settlement above this range. The valley is close to the Caribbean Sea, separated from the coast by a steep 2,200-metre-high (7,200 ft) mountain range, Cerro El Ávila; to the south there are more hills and mountains. The Metropolitan Region of Caracas has an estimated population of 5,297,026.

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References

  1. "Founding members of the National Academy of Engineering". National Academy of Engineering . Retrieved October 21, 2012.