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Geotechnical News • March 2012
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
Lecturer by the British Geotechni-
cal Association – widely regarded as
the highest honour for Geotechnical
Scholarship.
His extraordinary professional contri-
butions include the training of many
high level technical experts, his lead-
ership as President of the Canadian
Geotechnical Society and President of
the Engineering Institute of Canada,
and his work as one of the leading
researchers in Canada (both in terms
of personal productivity and during his
ten years as Vice-President Research
of Queen’s University).
For his contributions, the CGS has
awarded Dr. Rowe the R. F. Legget
Medal, CGS’s highest award. Dr.
Rowe has also been awarded both
the Casimir Gzowski Medal and the
Thomas C. Keefer Medal from the
Canadian Society for Civil Engineer-
ing, has been elected as Fellow of both
the Canadian Academy of Engineer-
ing and the Royal Society of Canada,
and was awarded the Killam Prize
for Engineering. The International
Geosynthetics Society has recognized
Dr. Rowe with his presentation of the
Giroud Lecture and also awarded him
the International Geosynthetics Soci-
ety Award and Gold Medal.
Dr. Rowe’s status as one of the lead-
ing Civil Engineers internationally
was recently recognized when he was
appointed as an International Fellow
of the Royal Academy of Engineers in
the United Kingdom.
M.A.J. (Fred) Matich
has been
awarded the
Julian C. Smith Medal
for achievement in the development of
Canada.
Since his arrival in Canada in the
mid 1950’s M.A.J. (Fred) Matich has
made enormous contributions to the
development of geotechnical engineer-
ing. His exceptional service continues
today with his own geotechnical engi-
neering consulting practice at MAJM
Corporation Ltd.
Fred has over 50 years of experi-
ence in Canada and internationally
in applying geotechnical engineering
expertise to challenging and high-
profile projects. He has been involved
with in excess of 5,000 significant
projects across Canada and in more
than 25 other countries.
He has provided service to several
important research, technical and stan-
dards committees, reviewing geotech-
nically sensitive operations. He’s been
involved in countless mining develop-
ment projects across Canada and for
Canadian mining companies operat-
ing abroad in several countries. Fred
was not only an engineering expert
for those projects, but also notably a
goodwill ambassador representing the
provision of Canadian experience.
Many of our outstanding professionals
have at one time or another worked
with, and been tutored by, Fred. He
has made substantial contributions
to setting the standards of geotechni-
cal practice in Canada, and provided
invaluable mentoring to scores of
young engineers.
Fred has been the recipient of many
honours throughout his career,
including an Engineering Medal
from the Association of Professional
Engineers of Ontario; the R.F.
Legget Medal from the Canadian
Geotechnical Society and the K.Y. Lo
Medal; all of which are indicative of
his standing among his peers.
Dr. C. Derek Martin
has been
awarded the
John B. Stirling Medal
in recognition of leadership and dis-
tinguished service at the national level
within the Institute and/or its Member
Societies
.
Dr. Derek Martin, Professor, Uni-
versity of Alberta, is internation-
ally sought for his expertise in rock
M.A.J. (Fred) Matich
Dr. C. Derek Martin
Dr. R. Kerry Rowe
