JoAnn Browning, Ph.D., P.E.

David and Jennifer Spencer Distinguished Chair for the Dean of Engineering

Dean, Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design

Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

JoAnn Browning’s research interests include structural engineering, earthquake engineering, engineering materials, and reinforced concrete design and analysis. She is actively involved in research to improve the durability of concrete bridge decks through studies of corrosion protection systems and low-cracking high-performance bridge decks. Her work also is aimed at improving the design and performance of concrete bridges subjected to earthquake motion. She received the American Concrete Institute's Young Member Award for Professional Achievement in 2008 and was named an ACI Fellow in 2009. 

Browning earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from the University of Kentucky. She earned her Ph.D. in civil engineering from Purdue University and joined the faculty at KU as assistant professor in 1998, earning tenure in 2004 and promotion to full professor in 2010. 

Her career at KU has included service on the University Senate, as a faculty mentor for Student Athlete Support Services, and as a member of the Campus Historic Preservation Board and Bay View Alliance KU Leadership Group, among numerous department, college and university committees. She twice was awarded the university's Miller Award for Distinguished Professional Service (2004 and 2011) and was the 2012 recipient of the Henry E. Gould Award for Distinguished Service to Undergraduate Education.