Amin Hariri Receives USSD Exceptional Young Professional of the Year Award
Amin Hariri, a part-time Finite Element Modeling analysis technical advisor based in HDR’s Denver office, has been named the 2022 Exceptional Young Professional of the Year by the United States Society on Dams.
This annual award recognizes young professionals who make exceptional contributions to the dams and levees industry. Candidates were vetted based on how they demonstrate the USSD mission goals of Advocate, Educate, Collaborate and Cultivate in their careers and through community involvement.
“Amin’s efforts and success at connecting with key technical and leadership committees within USSD is exemplary," said Keith Ferguson, HDR’s senior technical advisor and former president of USSD. "He is building strong recognition for both his technical and leadership skills across the dam industry and is highly deserving of this award.”
As an active member of USSD for more than eight years, Hariri has served as YP Vice Chair of the Dam Safety committee. He is also a member of the USSD Education & Training Committee and chairs the Academic and Research Collaboration Subcommittee, where he connects USSD members with researchers at different universities working on dam-related projects. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal papers on dam engineering. He has also published several edited books and co-authored a book on dams titled “Aging, Shaking and Cracking of Infrastructures.” Hariri also organized workshops for USSD and the International Commission on Large Dams.
Hariri has 15 years of research and development experience related to dam engineering, including expertise in seismic analysis of concrete dams, fragility and risk assessment, advanced nonlinear models and alkali-aggregate reaction in concrete. Hariri holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in civil engineering (hydraulic structures) from the K.N. Toosi University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. He also has a second master’s degree in structural engineering and mechanics and a Ph.D. in earthquake engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
