William G. Corley
Dr. William Gene Corley, P.E. earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D from the University of Illinois and served on the Civil Engineering Alumni Association board of directors from 1988-1994. After graduating, he received the Civil Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award and was a member of the Presidents' Council. In the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Corley assisted in designing and developing military bridging. He then worked for the Portland Cement Association, where he researched projects on prestressed and reinforced concrete structures subject to various loading conditions. Additionally, Corley served as the team leader of both Murrah Federal Building (Oklahoma City, 1995) and the World Trade Center bombings. From 1987-2010, Corley served as CTLGroup's senior vice president, where he specialized in analyzing and investigating buildings damaged by bombs, earthquakes, fire, tornadoes, and terrorist attacks. His main job was to determine the causes of failure and to develop procedures for retrofitting deficiencies. In 2006, he was awarded the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Award for Design. Corley passed away on March 1, 2013 at the age of 77, but his contributions and research on the behavior of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures are forever engrained in civil engineering practices.