Ronnie Medlock Selected to Receive 2025 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award

The American Institute of Steel Construction announced Ronnie Medlock, PE, of High Steel Structures, LLC, has been selected to receive the American Institute of Steel Construction’s 2025 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award for his contributions to the Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Welding Reference Manual.

An ‘Icon’ in Steel Bridge Fabrication and Construction

“Simply put, Ronnie Medlock is an icon within the bridge fabrication and construction world, and the impact of his contributions to the standards that guide the industry cannot be overstated. Ronnie Medlock has changed the way bridges are fabricated and constructed in the U.S.,” said AISC Vice President of Engineering and Research Christopher H. Raebel, SE, PE, PhD.

“Ronnie Medlock is without a doubt the face of steel bridge fabrication, period,” wrote Purdue University Jack and Kay Hockema Professor in Civil Engineering and Director of CAI and S-BRITE Robert J. Connor, PE, PhD. Connor underscored Medlock’s crucial role in developing first the Texas Steel Quality Council (an interdisciplinary group that became the model collaborative innovation) and then what is now the AASHTO/NSBA Steel Bridge Collaboration. “It is not an overstatement to say that the documents he has led the development of and/or shepherded through publication touch every aspect of steel bridge design, fabrication, and erection.

Medlock to Deliver Final Keynote at 2025 NASCC: The Steel Conference

Medlock will give the final keynote address at the 2025 NASCC: The Steel Conference, where he will also receive the $15,000 honorarium. He will present his work on request throughout the country over the course of the year, as well.

AISC would like to thank the members of the 2025 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award jury:

• Jordan Jarrett, Colorado State University
• Mike Kempfert, CSD Structural Engineers
• Brett Manning, Schuff Steel Company
• Jason McCormick, University of Michigan
• Thomas Murphy, Modjeski & Masters, Inc.
• Brian Volpe, Cives Steel Company

About Ronnie Medlock

Ronnie Medlock is vice president of technical services at High Steel Structures LLC in Lancaster, Pa. He is responsible for quality control and for fabrication and inspection technology advancements at High Steel, which produces fabricated steel for steel railroad bridges and other types of steel bridges.

Prior to joining High Steel in 2006, Ronnie worked for TxDOT, starting in 1988. Originally from El Paso, Texas, Medlock is a licensed professional engineer in Texas, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He received an AISC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

About the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award

AISC’s T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award recognizes an outstanding lecturer and author whose technical paper or papers, published during the eligibility period, are considered an outstanding contribution to the engineering literature on fabricated structural steel.

The award is named for Theodore R. Higgins, former AISC Director of Engineering and Research, who was widely acclaimed for his many contributions to the advancement of engineering technology related to fabricated structural steel. The award honors Higgins for his innovative engineering, timely technical papers, and distinguished lectures.