Steven Baldridge: 2026 Distinguished Achievement Award recipient

BSCE ’82
Principal and founder, Baldridge & Associates Structural Engineering, Inc.

A civil engineer whose contributions to structural engineering practice and service have impacted lives and made buildings safer and more resilient.

Steven Baldridge learned engineering lessons at UW-Madison that have endured for more than 40 years.

Baldridge came to the university seeking a change of pace after two years as a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The College of Engineering’s faculty members quickly made an impression on him. “They were great teaching professors,” he says. “They wrote a lot of textbooks and started you out with theory, but a lot of the focus after that was on how you actually apply what you learn.”

Few personified that approach like Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Charles Salmon, who helped Baldridge secure a scholarship through the American Institute of Steel Construction. Salmon remained a mentor long after Baldridge graduated.

“He was easy to be around,” Baldridge says. “Very down to earth. In the middle third of the semester, we’d start looking at real-world problems and how to solve them.”

Those lessons proved crucial when Baldridge graduated into a difficult job market during the economic downturn of the early 1980s. He found work at a small engineering consulting practice in Chicago before shifting to attend graduate school. “My first boss was actually surprised at how well prepared I was to be in a consulting practice,” he says. “That’s all attributable to the University of Wisconsin.”

Baldridge has responded to disasters around the world, including the 2009 earthquake and tsunami in Samoa and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Those responses, funded by the National Science Foundation with support from the U.S. military, allowed him to assess structural failures and see communities unite after disasters.

After a decade in private practice, he founded Baldridge & Associates Structural Engineering, where he has spent 30 years on projects ranging from luxury high-rises and affordable housing to Department of Defense base housing, schools and health clinics.

Of what professional accomplishment are you most proud?

Right now, we’re heavily involved in public housing projects—some through state agencies and many through private companies that specialize in affordable housing. Some of the work we do in the high-end luxury space is really cool, but the affordable housing work is critical. I remember one project where families talked about the impact it had on their lives and their children’s lives.

What advice would you give to today’s students?

You only have so much time as a student. Think like a builder about how what you learn in class applies in the real world. After graduation, learn from senior engineers and use design guides and trade-association articles to take your university education to the next level.

What do you like best?

Sweet Caroline or Jump Around?
Jump Around. It gets the whole crowd going. Back when I was there, they didn’t do either song—they did the Budweiser song, which they stopped playing because its pace was similar to the natural frequency of the upper decks and would make the stadium shake. Years later, Jump Around does the same thing.

Favorite campus spot?
Memorial Union. Professor Salmon and some of the TAs would sometimes meet us there. It was a great place to meet people and study.

UW Arboretum or Picnic Point?
Picnic Point. You get a great view of the city and campus, and you can take a breather and stare for a while.