John P. Klus, PhD, PE

John  Klus
  • MS Civil Engineering 1961
  • BS Civil Engineering 1957

Dr. John Klus is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He completed his baccalaureate degree in civil engineering in 1957. Prior to returning to Michigan Tech to complete a master's degree in civil engineering in 1961, he served in the U.S. Army as a Research Engineer. John went on to earn his doctoral degree in civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1965. Dr. Klus embarked on his academic career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he went on to serve as Chair of the Engineering Professional Development Department. In addition to his academic career, in 1988 he co-founded Stress Photonics, specializing in instrumentation for measuring stress/strain in engineered systems. In 1994 Stress Photonics was selected for the R&D 100 Award.

In the course of his career, Dr. Klus has received many national and international awards including; the 1996 Joseph Biedenbach Distinguished Service Award, and the 1995 Certificate of Merit, both from the American Society for Engineering Education; the 1987 Leonard da Vinci Medal of the European Society of Engineering Education; and in 1966 and 1985 the Fulbright Research Award. In 1994 he received an Honorary Doctorate from Helsinki University of Technology for contributions to the field of continuing education, technology transfer, and new product development and is also a member of the Finnish Academy of Technology.

Dr. Klus is active in the community and serves on the Board of Directors of the First Business Bank of Madison. He is also involved with numerous other professional associations. John is originally from Armstrong Creek, Wisconsin, he and his wife, Geri, have four children and live in Madison, Wisconsin.

From 2002 Induction to the Civil and Environmental Engineering Academy