22
Geotechnical News March 2011
CGS NEWS
College of Canada, Box 17000 Station
Forces, Kingston, ON, K7K 7B4,
Tel: 613-541-6000, Ext 6398; Email:
CGS Undergraduate Student
Awards
There are two undergraduate student
awards that endeavour to increase
student awareness of the Society and
their involvement in it.
a)
The Undergraduate Student
Report
, I
ndividual Submission
Award
was established in
1987 with the main purpose
of recognizing and rewarding
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.
b)
The Undergraduate Student
Report,
Group
Submission
Award
was added in 1990 to
recognize and reward excellence
of a 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 Sub-
Committee
on or before May 21
of
the competition year. The contact in-
formation for the Chair is: - Nicholas
Vlachopoulos, Dept. of Civil Engineer-
ing, Royal Military College of Canada,
Box 17000 Station Forces, Kingston,
ON, K7K 7B4, Tel: 613-541-6000, Ext
6398; Email:
A.G. Stermac Awards for
Service to the Canadian
Geotechnical Society
Before 1999, these awards were
known as the CGS Service Plaques.
A.G. Stermac Awards are presented
to members of the Society who have
contributed specific or special, worthy
and significant service(s) to the
Society. All submissions must reach
the Society’s Secretariat not later than
June 1
.
Schuster Medal
Nominations are nowbeing accepted for
the
SchusterMedal,
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 Med-
al must meet at least two of the follow-
ing criteria:
• Professional excellence in geohaz-
ards research with relevance to
North America
• Significant contribution to public
education regarding geohazards
• International recognition for a pro-
fessional career in geohazards
• Influential geohazards research or
development of methods or tech-
niques
• Teacher of students who work on
geohazards issues
The first Schuster Medal was
awarded to the namesake of the award,
Robert L. Schuster, on June 7, 2007, at
the 1st North American Landslide Con-
ference held in Vail, Colorado.
An awards committee containing
representatives from the Association of
Environmental & Engineering Geolo-
gists and the Canadian Geotechnical
Society will select future candidates.
The award will be presented at the an-
nual or special topical meetings of ei-
ther society, as deemed appropriate by
the awards committee.
Nominations are due April 15
and should be sent to Becky Roland at
AEG Headquarters. She will forward
all nominations to the selection com-
mittee.
AEG
PO Box 460518
Denver, CO 80246
(303) 757-2926
Recent Awards
Several CGS members were recently
recognized for their contributions
and received various awards from the
Engineering Institute of Canada
(EIC).
Dr. W. D. Liam Finn has been
awarded the K. Y. Lo Medal for signifi-
cant engineering contributions at the
international level.
Dr. W. D. Liam Finn is a gifted edu-
cator and researcher dedicated to un-
derstanding the behaviour of geological
materials during and after earthquake
shaking, and to transferring that under-
standing into engineering practice.
He has promoted Canadian earth-
quake engineering expertise abroad
through his consulting activities in off-
shore structure foundations and seismic
design of tailings dams and water sup-
ply dams, with such agencies as Exxon
Production Research and the US Army
Corps of Engineers.
His international reputation in-
cludes teaching and practice in Canada,
the USA, Japan, China, and Europe.
On faculty at UBC since 1961, he has
mentored over 30 Ph.D. students, many
from Japan, Sri Lanka, and China. He
has also been a prolific author with
over 260 refereed Journal Papers, and
over 35 refereed Conference Papers.
Following his official retirement,
while Anabuki Professor at Kaga-
wa University, in Japan, from 1999
to 2005, he was made an honorary
member of the Japanese Geotechni-
cal Society, for efforts in transferring
his knowledge and experience to his
Japanese students. He has been pre-
sented with many awards, including
a Churchill Fellowship, Cambridge
University, UK; R. M. Quigley Award;
G.G. Meyerhof Award; and the Presi-
dent’s Prize, Association of Profes-
sional Engineers and Geoscientists of
British Columbia. He also was the 10
th
Mallet-Milne Lecturer on Earthquake
Liam Finn.
