UK’s Leverhulme Trust awards Pitt’s Dr. Kent Harries with prestigious visiting professorship to University of Bath

PITTSBURGH (April 6, 2017) … Kent Harries, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and Bicentennial Board of Visitors Faculty Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, was awarded a Leverhulme Visiting Professorship by the Leverhulme Trust in the UK. Dr. Harries will serve as Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Bath from September 2017 – August 2018.  

Dr. Harries, whose research focuses on the use of nonconventional materials in construction, will utilize his professorship to develop curricula and other programs on fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) in collaboration with Bath researchers and instructors. Commonly used in the UK and EU for structural design and repair, FRPs are relevant to UK industry and to code/standards development, with implications for other types of nonconventional materials utilized around the world.

“The University of Bath is the pre-eminent institution for the study of nonconventional construction materials in the world, and so this expertise corresponds greatly with my research interests beyond FRP materials, such as the use bamboo in developing regions,” Dr. Harries said. “Both Pitt and Bath will benefit from this professorship through the exchange of our research expertise and curriculum development for students in the U.S. and UK.”

Established in 1925 by the will of William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers, the Leverhulme Trust provides grants and scholarships for research and education, and is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK. 

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