Wilson Tang has Died

1/12/2012

Former long-time faculty member died at age 68.

Written by

Yeh Center
Yeh Center
Wilson Tang
Wilson Tang
Wilson H. Tang, a former, 27-year faculty member in the department, died Jan. 5 in Chicago.  He was 68.
Born in Hong Kong, Tang earned bachelor’s (1966) and master’s (1967) degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate (1969) from Stanford University, all in civil engineering.  He taught in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for 27 years, until joining the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering in 1996.  Under his leadership, the department evolved into one of the best in Asia. Tang loved his students, and had mentored numerous graduate students and younger colleagues at both universities. He retired in 2009, but remained active in research, teaching and public service.
 
Tang had a distinguished academic career in which he made significant contributions in the areas of safety and reliability analysis in civil engineering. He had led the profession in promoting and pioneering the use of reliability-based methods for risk mitigation and design in various areas, particularly in geotechnical engineering. His expertise covered application of probability methods to the wide area of civil infrastructure engineering and management. He had more than 250 technical publications and his co-authored book (with A. H-S Ang) on Probability Concepts in Engineering Planning & Design, revised in 2007, has been widely adopted by top universities worldwide. The book has also been translated into five languages, including Japanese and Korean, and the Chinese translation is currently in progress.
 
Tang led and served on several major international boards and committees, including local professional societies and government boards. Selected awards received included the State of the Art award, Fellow and Distinguished Member from the American Society of Civil Engineering, T.K. Hsieh Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers U.K., U.S. Offshore Energy Center’s Hall of Fame, Guggenheim fellow, Harza Best Paper Award, Natural Science Award from the Ministry of Education of China, Fellow and Vice President of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, and Honorary Professorship at several major universities.
A prestigious keynote lecture, the Wilson Tang Lecture, of the serial conferences of International Symposium on Geotechnical Safety & Risk, was inaugurated in 2009 to recognize and honor Tang’s significant contributions.
 
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Bernadette; a son and daughter-in-law, Tze-John and Ann; a daughter and son-in-law, Joyce and Michael; three grandchildren; his parents, Tang Shu Chuen and Chan Shui Kuen; and five siblings.
 
A private service was held on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 in Chicago.
 
An online tribute for Tang is at the following website: http://www.ultimatetributes.com/pages/explore-tributes.asp?id=6175.
 

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This story was published January 12, 2012.