CGS News

Call for nominations for CGS Awards

Nominations for CGS awards are to be submitted to the Canadian Geotechnical Society cgs@cgs.ca by not later than June 1, except where noted. The nomination letter must include reasons why the individual merits the award relative to the nomination criteria, and any other pertinent information on the nominee, and attach the C.V. of the nominee. Letters from other Society members supporting the nomination add strength to the nomination. 

Members are invited and encouraged to submit nominations for the following CGS Awards:

   - R.F. Legget Medal - the highest CGS honour
   - R.M. Quigley Award
   - G. Geoffrey Meyerhof Award
   - Thomas Roy Award
   - Roger J.E. Brown Award
   - John A. Franklin Award
   - Geosynthetics Award
   - Geoenvironmental Award
   - Robert N. Farvolden Award (nominations required on or before April 1)
   - A.G. Stermac Awards for Service to the Canadian Geotechnical Society

Nominators are recommended to review the full award details before preparing nominations – the award details can be obtained from the Society’s Awards and Honours Manual, which is available to CGS members in the CGS Members Section of the CGS Website. CGS members can log-in at http://cgs.ca/login.php then proceed to Online Member Resources, find CGS Manuals, and proceed to the Awards and Honours Manual. Information can also be obtained from Division Chairs, Section Directors, and the Secretariat. Funding for the Society's awards is provided by generous support from the independent charitable body, The Canadian Foundation for Geotechnique.

CGS Student Awards

CGS offers student awards each year in two categories.

The Graduate Student Award recognizes the best paper authored or co-authored and presented by a geotechnical graduate student at an accredited Canadian University. The winning paper each year is presented by the student at the annual Canadian Geotechnical Conference.

There are two Undergraduate Student Awards that endeavor to increase student awareness of the Society and their involvement in it:

  - The Undergraduate Student Report, Individual Submission Award recognizes excellence in the preparation of a
     geotechnical report by an individual full time undergraduate student in an accredited engineering program or a
     geoscience program in a Canadian University;
  - The Undergraduate Student Report, Group Submission Award recognizes the best report prepared by one or more  
     undergraduate students in an accredited engineering program or a geoscience program in a Canadian University.

All submissions and accompanying documentation must be received by the Chair of the Student Awards Subcommittee on or before May 21. The contact information for the Chair is Nicholas Vlachopoulos, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Royal Military College of Canada, Box 17000 Station Forces, Kingston, ON, K7K 7B4, Tel: 613-541-6000, Ext 6398; Email: vlachopoulos-n@rmc.ca.

Call for Nominations for Awards from the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC)

Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS) members are invited to submit nominations for EIC Awards to the Society Secretariat (cgs@cgs.ca) or the Secretary General (vsowacgs@dccnet.com) by no later than July 1,   2020122012. Members of the Society are eligible for awards, prizes and honours from the Engineering Institute of Canada, from any of the member societies of EIC www.eic-ici.ca, and from other institutions.  By EIC Policies, all candidates nominated by CGS members to EIC awards must be members of the CGS.

More information on the procedure, details and schedule for EIC honours and awards can be found in Section D-3 of the Canadian Geotechnical Society’s Awards and Honours Manual. This information is available to CGS members in the Members Section. CGS members can log-in at http://cgs.ca/login.php then proceed to Online Member Resources, find CGS Manuals, and then proceed to the Awards and Honours Manual. 

Members of CGS are eligible for the following EIC honours and awards:

  - The Sir John Kennedy Medal is the most senior award of the Institute. This medal is awarded in recognition of
    outstanding merit in the engineering profession, or of noteworthy contributions to the science of engineering or to the  
    benefit of the Institute.
  - The Julian C. Smith Medal, established in 1939 by a group of senior members of the Institute to perpetuate the name of a
    Past President of the Institute. The medal is awarded for “achievement in the development of Canada”.
  - The John B. Stirling Medal was established in 1987 through the generosity of E.G.M. Cape and Company Ltd. to honour 
    a former President of the Company who was President of the Institute in 1952.  It is awarded “in recognition of leadership
    and distinguished service at the national level within the Institute and/or its Member Societies”.
  - The Canadian Pacific Railway Engineering Medal was established in 1988. The medal is presented “in recognition of
    leadership and service over many years at the regional, branch, section or equivalent levels, within the Institute or its
    Member Societies”.
  - The K.Y. Lo Medal was created in 1998 and is awarded “to a member of the EIC who has made significant engineering
    contributions at the international level. Such contributions may include:
            - promotion of Canadian expertise overseas;
            - training of foreign engineers;
            - significant service to international engineering organizations;
            - advancement of engineering technology recognized internationally”.
   - Fellowship of EIC (FEIC).  A member of CGS, of at least 45 years of age, can become a Fellow of the Institute on the    
     grounds of excellence in engineering practice and exceptional contributions to the well being of the profession and to the
     good of the society.
   - Honorary Membership. The Council of the EIC may elect to Honorary Membership in the Institute, non-members who  
     are not engineers but who have achieved distinction through service to the profession of engineering.

Schuster Medal

Nominations are now being accepted for the Schuster Medal, a joint award from the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists and the Canadian Geotechnical Society that recognizes excellence in geohazards research in North America.

All nominees for the Schuster Medal must meet at least two of the following criteria:

   - Professional excellence in geohazards research with relevance to North America
   - Significant contribution to public education regarding geohazards
   - International recognition for a professional career in geohazards
   - Influential geohazards research or development of methods or techniques
   - Teacher of students who work on geohazards issues

Nominations are due April 15 and should be sent to Becky Roland at AEG Headquarters:

AEG
PO Box 460518
Denver, CO 80246
(303) 757-2926
broland@aegweb.org

Recent EIC Awards to CGS Members

Several CGS members were recently recognized for their contributions and received various awards from the Engineering Institute of Canada.

Dr. R. Kerry Rowe has been awarded the Sir John Kennedy Medal, EIC’s highest award, in recognition of outstanding merit in the engineering profession, or of noteworthy contributions to the science of engineering, or to the benefit of the Institute.

M.A.J. (Fred) Matich has been awarded the Julian C. Smith Medal for achievement in the development of Canada.

Dr. C. Derek Martin has been awarded the John B. Stirling Medal in recognition of leadership and distinguished service at the national level within the Institute and/or its Member Societies.

Dr. Doug Stead and Dr. M. Hesham El Naggar were awarded Fellowships of the Engineering Institute of Canada (FEIC) in recognition of excellence in engineering practice and exceptional contributions to the well-being of the profession and to the good of the society.

Canadian Foundation for Geotechnique

The Canadian Foundation for Geotechnique is a registered charitable organization that works at arm’s length from the Canadian Geotechnical Society to recognize and foster excellence in the geotechnical field in Canada. It funds the annual CGS’ student awards and prizes, the annual Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium, the travel costs associated with the two Cross Canada Lecture Tours each year, and offers its own annual $5000 National Graduate Scholarship.

The Foundation is managed and overseen by 15 volunteer Trustees who typically serve for one or more three-year terms. The 2012 Canadian Foundation for Geotechnique Trustees (in alphabetical order) are:

   - Dennis Becker (Golder Associates, Calgary, AB) Vice President
   - Kevin Biggar (BGC Engineering, Edmonton, AB)
   - Michael Bozozuk (retired NRC, Ottawa, ON) Special Advisor
   - Robert Chapuis (Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal, QC)
   - David Cruden (emeritis University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB)
   - David Harding (WESA, Carp, ON) Treasurer
   - Jean Hutchinson (Queen’s University, Kingston, ON)
   - Suzanne Lacasse (Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway)
   - Bob Patrick (EBA Engineering, Nanaimo, BC)
   - Ryan Phillips (C-CORE, St John’s, NL)
   - Siva Sivathayalan (Carleton University, Ottawa, ON) Secretary
   - Brian Taylor (Stantec Consulting, Dartmouth, NS)
   - Jean-Pierre Tournier (Hydro-Québec, Montreal, QC)
   - Doug VanDine (VanDine Geological Engineering, Victoria, BC) President
   - Gerry Webb (Golder Associates, Ottawa, ON)

Important additions to the CGS Heritage Archives

The history and archives of the Canadian Geotechnical Society are valuable to the Society and we believe they are important to you. So, the CGS Heritage Committee is pleased to announce that it has amassed a treasure-trove of interesting and useful “new” archives. You can find these on the Heritage Archives of the CGS website at: http://www.cgs.ca/heritage-archive.php?lang=en. Alternatively, you can use the drop-down boxes on the CGS homepage until you reach: About the CGS - Heritage Archives.

The Documents and Lectures section now includes: The Bilingual Glossary of Landslide Terms, produced by the CGS Landslides Committee; and Principles and Practice of Road-Making as Applicable to Canada, written by Thomas Roy and published in Toronto in 1841. This is one of the earliest engineering publications in Canada.

The Photographic Collections section now includes: Collapse of the Bridge over the Peace River at Taylor, British Columbia, in 1957; and Failure and Righting of the Transcona Grain Elevator in 1913.

The Information and Location for Archival Records’ section now includes: Comments and Correspondence on the background of Thomas Roy; Documents and papers by and about Dr. Geoffrey Meyerhof, which are stored at the Archives of the Dalhousie University Library in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Documents and Papers by Dr. R.F. Legget, which have been sent to the University of Ontario Institute Of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa, Ontario, for safe storage.

The Recommended Reading section now includes: Additional lists of reference publications, which are considered worth reading on the selected topics.

The Online Member Resources section (you have to be an active CGS member and log-in to access this material) now includes: The audio-video record of the Hardy Lecture from the 2010 Annual CGS Conference; and The proceedings of each annual Canadian Geotechnical Conference from 1947(first) to 2010. Our colleagues at the University of Alberta, especially Sally Petaske, and the Geotechnical Society of Edmonton, deserve an accolade for their important contribution in recovering and scanning all the previously printed proceedings of the CGS annual conferences, which contain a wealth of valuable case studies.

New material from on-going projects currently being undertaken by the members of the Heritage Committee will be uploaded to the CGS website as soon as these projects are completed. Please contact the new Chair of the CGS Heritage Committee, Dr. Mustapha Zergoun, at mustapha.zergoun@metrovancouver.org if you know of any opportunities to acquire material that is at risk of being lost or if you have any suggestions for material that should be considered as welcome addition to our heritage archives on the CGS web site.