Why? Why Not? What If?
March 16, 2007
Sinclair Lab Auditorium, 4:10pm
Man-Chung Tang
Chairman of the Board, T.Y. Lin International

Dr. Man-Chung Tang is Chairman of the Board of T.Y. Lin International, a consulting engineering firm with headquarters in San Francisco. He is an honorary professor of Tsinghua, Tongji, Southeast, and other universities.

	Dr. Man-Chung Tang

He received a Doctorate in Engineering degree from Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany in 1965. He has also been conferred honorary degrees of Dr. of Engineering and Dr. of Literature. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and an honorary member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Dr. Tang is a structural engineer. His work includes bridges, buildings and other types of structures. He has been involved with the design, design review and/or construction engineering of over 100 major bridges in various parts of the world. According to some, “the sun never sets on his bridges.”

According to Dr. Tang, today’s civilization is the accumulation of past innovations. As engineers, he says, we must be innovative so tomorrow’s world will be better.

Innovation starts with the questions “Why?” and “Why not?” The question “Why?” gives us the opportunity to challenge the status quo. The question “Why not?” gives us the opportunity to introduce new ideas or overcome restrictions. The question “What if?” keeps us humble and conservative. Dr. Tang will present these ideas from the viewpoint of a bridge engineer.

 

     

P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science
Lehigh University • Packard Laboratory, 19 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015 • (610) 758-4025