Wight was cited, “For improving the behavior of reinforced concrete structures through research, for dedicated service to the American Concrete Institute, and for outstanding education of students.”

Throughout his 34-year career on the faculty of the University of Michigan, Wight has won numerous awards for his teaching, research and service.  He is the co-author of a widely-used textbook on the design of reinforced structures.  Wight’s primary research interests are earthquake-resistant design of reinforced concrete structures and design of concrete structures utilizing high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete.  He was instrumental in the development of the strut and tie method for analysis and design of concrete members.

Wight earned his bachelor’s (1969) and master’s (1970) degrees in civil engineering from Michigan State University and his Ph.D. (1973) in structures from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.