Dr. Paul Zia was a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering and Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Emeritus. For more than 50 years, he was engaged in teaching, research and consulting in many areas of concrete materials, reinforced and prestressed concrete structures, and construction. He advised more than 60 masters and doctoral students. He conducted sponsored researches on many aspects of prestressed and reinforced concrete, including torsion and shear, bond and development length, loss of prestress, applications of high performance and high strength concrete, self-consolidating concrete, jointless bridge deck, and cracking in large prestressed concrete girders. His studies also included fatigue strength of cracked prestressed concrete girders, assessment of high performance concrete bridges, development of a non-destructive test method for measuring air permeability of concrete, the use of self-consolidating concrete in highway structures, and application of corrosion-resistant high-strength MMFX steel for concrete structures, and structural applications of new proprietary materials called Grancrete and Elimix Admixture.

Dr. Zia was a registered professional engineer in North Carolina and an honorary member of both American Concrete Institute (ACI) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and a Fellow of Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI). He served as chairman and member of many technical and administrative committees of these organizations, including a term as president of ACI in 1989-1990.

For his achievements in teaching, research, and professional activities, Dr. Zia received numerous honors and awards including election to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering (1983); NCSU Alcoa Foundation Distinguished Engineering Research Award (1978-80); University of Florida Distinguished Alumnus Award (1983); ASEE Lamme Medal (1986); and NCSU Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal of Excellence (1993), the highest honor bestowed on a faculty member by the NCSU Board of Trustees. In 1999, the National Park Service presented him the Citizen’s Award for Exceptional Service in recognition of his role as an adviser and consultant for the relocation of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. In 2004, he was honored by PCI with the Distinguished Educator of the Year Award.

~Bio from NCSU CCEE website.