Dr. White’s research covers a broad area of design and behavior of steel and composite steel-concrete structures, as well as computational mechanics, methods of nonlinear analysis, and applications to design. Dr. White is a member of the AISC Technical Committees 4, Member Design, and 3, Loads, Analysis and Stability, the AISI Bridge Design Advisory Group, the AISC Specification Committee, the NSBA Technical Committee, and several AASHTO/NSBA Steel Bridge Collaboration Task Groups. He is the past Chair of the SSRC Task Group 29, Second-Order Inelastic Analysis of Frames, and 4, Structural Members.
Dr. White has served as a major contributor to the design and structural analysis sections of the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications and the ANSI/AISC Specification for Structural Steel Buildings during the past 30 years. Dr. White received the 2005 Special Achievement Award and the 2009 T.R. Higgins Award from AISC for his research on design criteria for steel and composite steel-concrete members in bridge and building construction. He received the 2006 Shortridge Hardesty Award from ASCE for his research on advanced frame stability concepts and practical design formulations. For efforts leading to a comprehensive update to the AASHTO LRFD provisions for steel I- and box-girder bridge design, White received the 2007 Richard S. Fountain Bridge Task Force Award from AISI and, with M. Grubb and W. Wright, and the 2006 Richardson Medal from the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania. White received the Lifetime Achievement Award from AISC in 2018 and is the 2022 recipient of the Lynn S. Beedle Award from SSRC.
Dr. White has researched various a wide range of topics relating to stability design and construction engineering of steel bridge structures. He was one of several researchers privileged to be involved closely with curved steel bridge experimental testing at the FHWA Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center and other laboratories from 1997 through 2005. Dr. White served as PI on NCHRP 12-79 Guidelines for Analytical Methods and Construction Engineering of Curved and Skewed Steel Girder Bridges and 20-07/355 Guidelines for Reliable Fit-Up of Steel I-Girder Bridges, which have resulted in numerous improvements to AASHTO Specifications and NSBA Guidelines related directly to the proposed research. During 2014-2019, White was the PI on a significant FHWA-funded research effort leading to the modernization of various AASHTO box-section member and steel arch bridge structural design provisions.
Beyond his direct contributions as part of the development of the AASHTO and AISC Specifications, Dr. White has actively introduced the results of his research to practice. He co-authored the AISC (2013) Design Guide 28, Stability Design of Steel Buildings, and the AISC (2011 & 2021) Design Guide 25, Frame Design Using Nonprismatic Members. These documents provide extensive practical guidance on the engineering of steel building structural systems. In addition, he is the author of Volume 4 of the FHWA (2012) and AISC/NSBA (2021) Steel Bridge Design Handbook, Strength Behavior of Steel, which provides an extensive overview of the background to the AASHTO LRFD provisions for steel design.
Dr. White's research interests include Computer Aided Engineering, Bridge Engineering, Steel Building Design, and Structural Stability.
| Ph.D. in Structural Engineering | Cornell University | 1988 |
| M.S. in Structural Engineering | Cornell University | 1985 |
| B.S. in Civil Engineering | North Carolina State University | 1982 |
Dr. White teaches courses in Engineering Statics, Strength of Materials, Structural Steel Design, Bridge Engineering, and Structural Stability.
- 2025 Donald W. White Award for Excellence in Structural Engineering, inaugural recipient, International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) Ecuador Group
- 2024 Elevation to ASCE Fellow membership
- 2022 Lynn S. Beedle Award, Structural Stability Research Council, Annual Stability Conference, Denver, CO, March.
- 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award, American Institute of Steel Construction, presented at the North American Steel Construction Conference, April.
- Runner-Up, Sarada M. and Ramulu S. Vinnakota Award (Best Student Paper), for Subramanian, L.P. and White, D.W. (2016). “Improved Stability Design of Longitudinally Stiffened Plate Girders,” Proceedings, Annual Stability Conference, Structural Stability Research Council, March.
- Runner-Up, Sarada M. and Ramulu S. Vinnakota Award (Best Student Paper), for Subramanian, L.P. and White, D.W. (2015). Evaluation of Lateral Torsional Buckling Resistance Equations in AISC and AASHTO,” Proceedings, Annual Stability Conference, Structural Stability Research Council, March.
- Runner-Up, Sarada M. and Ramulu S. Vinnakota Award (Best Student Paper), for Toğay, O., Jeong, W.Y., Bishop, C.D. and White, D.W. (2015). “Toward a More Comprehensive Approach for Design using Buckling Analysis,” Proceedings, Annual Stability Conference, Structural Stability Research Council, March.
- Raymond C. Reese Research Prize, 2010, American Society of Civil Engineers.
- T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award, 2009, American Institute of Steel Construction.
- Richard S. Fountain Bridge Task Force Award, 2007, American Iron and Steel Institute and American Society of State Highway and Transportation Officials Steel Structures Committee.
- Shortridge Hardesty Award, 2006, American Society of Civil Engineers.
- George S. Richardson Medal, 2006, Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania International Bridge Conference.
- 2005 Special Achievement Award, American Institute of Steel Construction.
- Sarada M. and Ramulu S. Vinnakota Award (Best Student Paper), for Maleck, A.E. and White, D.W. (2001). “A modified elastic approach for the design of steel frames,” Proceedings of Annual Technical Session, Structural Stability Research Council, May.
- White, D.W., Reichenbach, M.C., Helwig, T.H., and Grubb, M.A. (2026). Nonprismatic Girder Design Guide, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, DC (in final review by the AASHTO Committee on Bridges and Structures).
- White, D.W. (2025). “Strength Behavior and Design of Steel,” Steel Bridge Design Handbook, Vol. 4, American Institute of Steel Construction and National Steel Bridge Alliance, 3rd Edition.
- White, D.W., Jeong, W.Y. and Slein, R. (2021). Design of Frames Using Nonprismatic Members, AISC/MBMA Design Guide 25, 2nd Edition, American Institute of Steel Construction and Metal Building Manufacturers Association, 405 pp.
- Kamath, A., White, D.W., and Sherman, R.J. (2026). “Subway Tile Stagger Framing Arrangements for Straight Steel I-Girder Bridges with Parallel Skew,” Journal of Bridge Engineering, ASCE, (accepted).
- Slein, R., Kamath, A.M., Phillips, M., Toğay, O., Sherman, R.J., and White, D.W. (2024). “Flexural Resistance of Thin-Web Singly-Symmetric Steel I-Sections Exhibiting Early Tension Flange Yielding,” Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 221, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2024.108831.
- Phillips, M., Slein, R., Sherman, R.J., and White, D.W. (2024). “Experimental Database for Lateral-Torsional Buckling of Built-Up I-Section Members”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/v2pr9rbxyk.1.
- Phillips, M., Slein, R., Sherman, R.J., and White, D.W. (2024). “Proposed Improvements to AISC 360-22 Chapter F for Built-Up I-Section Members,” Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 217, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2024.108657.
- Deshpande, A.M., Sherman, R.J., and White, D.W. (2024). “Influence of Transverse Stiffening on the Lateral-Torsional Buckling Resistance of Built-Up I-Girders,” Thin-Walled Structures, 195, February, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2023.111320.
- Slein, R., Kamath, A.M., Phillips, M., Sherman, R.J., Scott, D.W., and White, D.W. (2023). “Experimental and Analytical Assessment of the LTB Resistance of Built-Up Steel I-Section Members,” Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 204, May https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2022.107771.
- Phillips, M., Slein, R., Sherman, R.J. and White, D.W. (2023). “Experimental Investigation of Doubly-Symmetric Built-Up I-Girders Subjected to High Moment Gradient),” Engineering Structures, 283, May, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.115724.
- Phillips, M., Kamath, A.M., Sherman, R.J. and White, D.W. (2023). “Influence of Web Distortion and Onset of Yield on Doubly Symmetric Built-Up I-Girders Subjected to High Moment Gradient,” Thin-Walled Structures, 185, April, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2023.110545.
- Slein, R., Jeong, W.-Y. and White, D.W. (2022c). “Critical Evaluation of Moment Gradient (Cb) Factor Procedures for Singly-Symmetric I-Section Members,” Engineering Journal, American Institute of Steel Construction, 59(4), 239-274.
