CTBUH Board of Trustees member Dennis Poon was recognized as a 2012 Distinguished Alumni of the University of Texas El Paso. The award was officially given to Mr. Poon, class of 1977, at the Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner on October 19.

Every year, The University of Texas at El Paso honors men and women whose achievements stand out as monuments to dedication, integrity and hard work as Distinguished Alumni.

Mr. Poon is the vice chairman of Thornton Tomasetti, the New York-based international engineering firm that has designed some of the world’s tallest buildings, including 1,667-foot (508-meter) Taipei 101 and the future 3,280-foot (1,000-meter) Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Poon is currently leading the structural design teams for two of the tallest buildings in development in China: Shanghai Tower (121 stories and 632 meters tall) in Shanghai and the Ping An International Finance Center (115 stories and 660 meters tall) in Shenzhen

At the CTBUH 2012 Awards Symposium and Dinner on October 18, Charles Thornton and Richard Tomasetti, founding principals of the firm, were bestowed with the Fazlur R. Kahn Lifetime Achievement Medal.