CEE Professor Emeritus Neil M. Hawkins passed away in Seattle, Wash. on Wednesday, February 25, 2026.
Born in Sydney, Australia, Dr. Hawkins earned a BS (Mathematics and Physics, 1955) and B.E. (1957) from the University of Sydney and an MS and PhD (59 and 61) in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He served on the faculty at Illinois beginning in 1991, serving as Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 1991-1996 and Interim Head from 2001-2002. He also served on the faculty of the University of Sydney, from 1961-1968 and the University of Washington from 1968-1991 where he was Chair of Civil Engineering, 1978-1987 and Associate Dean for Research, 1987-1991. In 1966-67 he was a development engineer with the Portland Cement Association in Skokie, Ill.
Dr. Hawkins taught graduate and undergraduate courses in structural analysis, reinforced and prestressed concrete design, steel design, earthquake engineering, and bridge design. He authored the book Reinforced Concrete Structures in Seismic Zones (American Concrete Institute, 1977).
A Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers 2011 and Fellow of the Structural Institute of ASCE, Honorary Member 2012 and Fellow of the American Concrete Institute, Titan and Fellow of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, and Dr. Hawkins was also a past Director of the American Concrete Institute, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and Legend of the Post-Tensioning Institute. He was a member of the US Building Seismic Safety Council’s Provisions Update Committee, of the American Concrete Institute Building Code Committee, and the American Society of Civil Engineers, Design Loads on Buildings Committee. Hawkins was also on the Editorial Boards of Engineering Structures and Progress in Structural Engineering and Materials.
Dr. Hawkins will be greatly missed by the CEE family and remembered for his contributions to structural engineering, and perhaps even more so for the support he provided to the department faculty, staff, and alumni. Hawkins was recently honored by the CEE Alumni Association with the 2025 CEE Distinguished Faculty Award.
Dan Abrams, CEE Donald Biggar Willett Professor in Engineering and Professor Emeritus shared the impact Hawkins' leadership had not only on earthquake research, but on his own career as well.
Neil was like an older brother to me. We shared the same dissertation advisor, Mete Sözen. Though Neil had left campus before I arrived in 1973, his name became known to me through his research in reinforced and prestressed concrete. In 1978, he invited me to interview as an assistant professor at the University of Washington, but he and his colleagues (and me) felt that my thesis needed some more work. Eight years later and relocations from Urbana and Boulder for me, I invited Neil to attend a US-PRC Conference on Masonry Structures in Harbin, and traveled by train throughout China with he and his wife, Ann. Subsequently as we all know, Neil and Ann returned to Urbana. But many of us don’t know that Neil made the most significant impact on directorship of the Mid America Earthquake Center. For over seven years, he directed me how to become and sustain as Director. He was wise on concrete and earthquake research, but also on how to direct and motivate people.
Beyond his mentorship and leadership, Dr. Hawkins is also remembered for his generousity. CEE Professor Emeritus Leslie Struble illustrated both he and his wife Ann's kindness while she was on faculty.
More importantly, all the time I served on the faculty I lived in Springfield and commuted back and forth, sleeping in Champaign one night a week. For many months, when Neil was on a sabbatical, he and Ann let me use their house for that purpose. Even more importantly, I grew up in Olympia, Washington, and we spoke of many places in Washington that we both treasured, so they once opened to me their small beach house on Orcas Island in the San Juans, which my husband and I much enjoyed.
Professor Emeritus and former CEE Department Head (2009-2014) Amr S. Elnashai added to this sentiment.
He is truly a wonderful person who retained his humanity under the pressure of a demanding job.
If would like to share a memory or story about Neil Hawkins, we would love to hear it. Please contact CEE to share your remembrances at msphilli@illinois.edu.