University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG)

Bojidar Yanev was born in 1947, Sofia. He studied in public schools # 20 and # 22, graduating from the latter with a gold medal in 1965. At the same time, for 10 years B. Yanev has performed as violinist with the Children’s Philharmonic Orchestra under Prof. Vladi Simeonov.
In 1970 Bojidar Yanev received the degree of Structural Civil Engineer from the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia and joined the Computer Center at the Ministry of Construction.
In 1972 Eng. Yanev entered the Graduate program at the Department of Civil Engineering of Columbia University, New York, as his father had done in the 1930s. After obtaining his Doctorate in 1976 Dr. Yanev resumed work at the Computer Center in Sofia.
In 1978 Dr. Yanev joined the Earthquake Engineering Research Center of the University of California in Berkeley as a research engineer testing structures under simulated seismic excitations.
From 1980 to 1989 Eng. Yanev has worked in civil engineering consulting firms in New York City. He is licensed to practice Civil Engineering in the States of New York and California.
In 1989 Eng. Yanev was invited to join the newly founded Bridge Bureau at the New York City Department of Transportation. There he established the Bridge Inspection and Management Unit which he has heading till his retirement in 2018.
During the last 30 years Dr. Yanev has taught courses in structural stability, bridge design and management at the Civil Engineering Department of Columbia University as an Adjunct Professor. For the last 10 years he teaches bridge management at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, New York University. Dr. Yanev has lectured repeatedly in China, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, occasionally in Indonesia and Australia. He gave brief Bridge management courses at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Tong-ji University in Shanghai. Yanev’s many publications are primarily on the subjects of dynamic structural analysis and bridge management. His book Bridge Management (656 pgs., J. Wiley & Sons, 2007) was translated into Japanese (2009) and Chinese (2017). A copy is available at the library of the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia.
Dr. Eng. Yanev was recognized as the Administrative Civil Engineer of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 1994, and as Engineer of the Year by the American Bridge Constructors and Designers (ABCD) in 1995. He serves on the Bridge Maintenance and Seismic Design Committees of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). From 2014 to 2017 he chaired the sub-committee on Structural Safety & Security.
In 2008 the University for Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia awarded to Dr. Eng. Bojidar Yanev an Honorary Doctorate.
In 2009 Yanev exhibited his photographs at the National Art Gallery in Sofia. Photography allows Yanev to retain his many unique experiences and to maximize their benefits professionally, as well as in reaching a more general audience. He views the bridges of the physical infrastructure as the material equivalents of ideas in the human brain. The former, as well as the latter accelerate human progress so long as they are not forgotten. Similarly, his images seek to bridge the gap between aesthetics and information, between form and content, between the focused professional and the enchanted amateur.
Dr. Yanev’s book “A Constructive View” (in Bulgarian) was published in 2018 by “Stefan Dobrev Publications”, Sofia.