Dr. Antonio Nanni, the Vernon and Maralee Jones Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, is the 2005 winner of the University of Missouri System Presidential Award for Research and Creativity.

The award is intended to recognize a UM faculty member for a sustained record of nationally and internationally prominent research or creativity.

UM System award winners are selected from nominations submitted by the university s four campuses and University Outreach and Extension. The awards were presented May 25, in conjunction with the University of Missouri Board of Curators meeting in Columbia, Mo.

With hundreds of thousands of the nation s bridges nearing the end of their design lives, Nanni is working to rehabilitate existing structures, as well as to construct new bridges, using composite materials. In conjunction other UM researchers, Nanni has developed a fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite material that could work in the place of concrete and steel.

As the most recent example, under Nanni s direction, a new composite FRP deck and guardrail system will be installed later this fall for a decaying Greene County bridge. By combining the corrosion resistance of FRP internal reinforcement with the speed of installation of stay-in-place modular FRP forms, the technique promises to benefit bridge owners by minimizing maintenance costs and reducing disruption of traffic during construction.

Nanni joined UMR in 1997 after serving as a professor of architectural engineering at Pennsylvania State University. He leads UMR s Center for Infrastructure Engineering Studies.

Nanni earned a bachelor s degree in civil engineering from the University of Bologna in Italy in 1978 and received a master s degree in civil engineering from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1980. He obtained a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Miami-Coral Gables in 1985.