Michael Constantinou

Michael C. Constantinou is an American structural engineer who is a Samuel P. Capen Professor and State University of New York Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo. He also serves an editor of the Journal of Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics

Education Constantinou earned a diploma in civil engineering from the University of Patras, Greece in 1980. He received is M.S. in civil engineering in 1981, and his Ph.D. in civil engineering in 1984, both from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Research career Constantinou is the inventor of the highly effective energy dissipation apparatus (US Patent 6,438,905), Negative stiffness device and method (US Patent 8,857,110), Negative stiffness device and method (US Patent 9,206,616) and Motion damping system designed for reducing obstruction within open spaces (US Patent 9,580,924).

Constantinou developed the toggle, scissor-jack and open-space damping systems introduced fluidic self-centering systems. He has contributed to the development of standards and guidance related to seismic protective systems, including the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Recommended Provisions, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Standards 7 and 41, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide Specification for Seismic Isolation Design.

Honors and awards In 2019, Constantinou received an honorary doctorate from the University of Patras, the same University where he received his civil engineering diploma. He was also elected to Fellow status in the American Society of Civil Engineers in October of that year.

He received the Nathan M. Newmark Medal (2015), the Moisseiff Award (2015) and the Walter P. Moore, Jr. Award (2026) from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

In 2005, Constantinou received the Charles Pankow Award for Innovation from ASCE and the Civil Engineering Research Foundation. He received the Grand Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies and the New York Association of Consulting Engineering Companies Diamond Award in 2002. In 1994, he received the General Services Administration Design Award. He also received the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the U.S. National Science Foundation in 1988

Selected papers