Dr. James Hanson is a past Roland Hutchins Faculty Chair in Civil Engineering and a consultant to various industrial clients and has previously been a structural designer and a U.S. Army Engineer Officer. Dr. Hanson is a registered professional engineer and fellow of the American Concrete Institute, has received awards from the American Society for Engineering Education and ACI for excellence and innovation in teaching, and also has earned Rose-Hulman’s Outstanding Teacher Award. He helped establish the graduate degree program in civil engineering.In 2004, Dr. Hanson started a National Science Foundation-sponsored project to interview 35 of America's leading practicing structural engineers and author a first-of-its-kind civil engineering textbook, Structural Analysis: Skills for Practice, that introduces basic and advanced structure analysis techniques with an emphasis on developing intuition and explicit training on tools for evaluating analysis results.
Academic Degrees
- PhD, Cornell University, 2000
- M.Eng., Cornell University, 1996
- BS, Cornell University, 1991
Awards & Honors
- Outstanding Service, American Society for Engineering Education’s Illinois-Indiana Section, 2016
- Dean’s Outstanding Teacher, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 2012
- Fellow, American Concrete Institute, 2012
- Faculty Honorary Alumni Designation, Alumni Association, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 2010
- Outstanding Paper Award, All Zones Nationwide, American Society for Engineering Education, for "Preliminary Results from Teaching Students How to Evaluate the Reasonableness of Results," 2009.
- Excellence in Service, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 2009
- Outstanding Teaching, American Society for Engineering Education’s Illinois-Indiana Section, 2008
- Publication Award of Merit, Structural Engineers Association of Illinois, 2008
- Walter P. Moore, Jr. Faculty Achievement, American Concrete Institute, 2007
- Ferdinand P. Beer and E. Russell Johnston, Jr., Outstanding New Mechanics Educator, American Society for Engineering Education, 2006
- Young Member Award for Professional Achievement, American Concrete Institute, 2006
- Daniel V. Terrell Award, Outstanding Paper, District Nine, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2005
Research Experiences
- Using metacognition to teach evaluation of results in structural analysis courses
- Implementing writing-to-learn methods in technical courses to promote deeper understanding
- Measuring effects of vibration on concrete at early ages
- Numerical modeling of cohesive crack behavior
- Measuring fracture mechanics properties of concrete
Select Publications & Presentations
- Hanson, J. H., 2022, “Teaching Students How to Evaluate the Reasonableness of Structural Analysis Results,” Journal of Civil Engineering Education, American Society of Civil Engineers, Volume 148, Issue 1, Jan.
- Hanson, J. H., 2021, “How Structural Engineers Find Errors in Analysis and Design Results,” Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, American Society of Civil Engineers, Volume 26, Issue 2, May.
- Hanson, J. H., 2020, Structural Analysis: Skills for Practice, Pearson, Hoboken, NJ, 909p.
- Hanson, J. H. and Brophy, P. D., 2012, “The Critical Incident Technique: An Effective Tool For Gathering Experience From Practicing Engineers,” Advances in Engineering Education, Volume 3, Number 1, Winter.
- Hanson, J. H. and Williams, J. M., 2008, “Using Writing Assignments to Improve Self-Assessment and Communication Skills in an Engineering Statics Course,” Journal of Engineering Education, American Society for Engineering Education, Vol. 97, No. 4, October, pp. 515-529.
Teaching Interests
- Structural analysis and design
- Construction management
- Professional skills