Jerome Joseph Connor, Jr.

Jerome J. "Jerry" Connor Jr. (May 19, 1932 – March 31, 2024) was an American civil engineer and professor. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for over 50 years. and was an emeritus professor of the university. At MIT, Connor served in the US military's Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). He later obtained his master’s and doctor of science degrees in civil engineering from MIT.

Connor co-authored two textbooks with Carlos Brebbia on computational fluid mechanics. He also authored the textbooks Introduction to Structural Motion Control (2003) and Structural Motion Engineering (2014).

Awards and recognition

On April 29, 2009, Connor was awarded an honorary doctorate from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki The paper “A Sensing Skin for Large-Scale Surface Monitoring of Infrastructures,” which he co-authored received the Herzog Award from the Boston Society of Civil Engineers. In 2026, MIT created the Professor Jerome J. Connor Memorial Award in his honour.

Books Connor, J. J. Introduction to Structural Motion Control. Prentice Hall, 2003. Connor, J. J. Structural Motion Engineering. Springer, 2014. Connor, J. J., and Faraji, S. Fundamentals of Structural Engineering. Springer, 2012; 2nd ed., 2016. Brebbia, C. A., and Connor, J. J. Finite Element Techniques for Fluid Flow. Butterworths, 1976. Connor, J. J. Analysis of Structural Member Systems. MIT Press, 1976.

Selected articles

Brebbia, C. A., and Connor, J. J. “Geometrically nonlinear finite-element analysis.” Journal of the Engineering Mechanics Division 95(2), 1969: 463–483. Demosthenes C. Angelides, Connor, J.J. “Response of fixed offshore structures in random sea.” Earthquake Engineering Structural Dynamics, 503-526 Volume 8, Issue 6. 1980 Gantes, C. J., Connor, J. J., Logcher, R. D., & Rosenfeld, Y. “Structural analysis and design of deployable structures.” Computers & Structures 32(3–4), 1989: 661–669. Connor, J. J., and Gantes, C. J. “A Systematic Design Methodology for Deployable Structures.” International Journal of Space Structures, 1994. Connor, J. J. “New Structural Systems for Tall Buildings: The Space-Truss Concept.” Journal of Structural Design of Tall Buildings 4, 1995: 155–168. C. C. Pouangare, J. J. Connor. “A new method for the design of tall buildings: The mit design method.” Journal of Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings 4 1995: 169-184.