Geotechnical News • December 2017
19
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
between applied research and prac-
tice. I was put in charge of the mine’s
soil testing laboratory, an experience
which was to prove invaluable in my
future career. The mine consultants
included Oscar Steffen a founder
of SRK,
Dick Stacey
,
Allan Moss
and
Professor Jeremiah Jennings
of the University of Witwatersrand.
This is when I was first introduced to
unsaturated soils, unloading tests, cave
mechanics and importantly rock slope
stability, step-paths and rock bridges.
The late Canadian engineering geolo-
gist,
Doug Piteau
, (Piteau and Associ-
ates) had previously worked at this
mine so there was a strong connection
with Canadian geotechnics which was,
at that time, at the forefront of open
pit geomechanics with publication of
the CANMET open pit manuals. One
of the important experiences learned
during this period was the need to
understand the important relationships
between the geology, structure, hydro-
geology and geotechnics of the pit.
After leaving Zambia, my career
involved periods as a soils engineer
working on site investigation projects
for motorways in the UK (Midland
Road Construction Unit) and in
Hong Kong working as an engineer-
ing geologist with consultants
Scott
Wilson Kirkpatrick
on rock slopes
and foundation projects. During my
time in Hong Kong I attended several
short courses by Canadian engineers
including a course on tunneling by a
previous Legget winner,
Professor
K.Y. Lo
. It was at this time I decided
to go back to university to obtain a
PhD. Following on the rock slope
stability theme of my early career, my
doctoral research at the University of
Nottingham was to focus on slope sta-
bility in UK surface coal mines under
the supervision of
Professor Malcolm
Scoble
, now at UBC Mining.
At that time, there were very few com-
mercial software codes available and
it was necessary to develop one’s own
software from first principles. It was
then that I became keenly aware of the
leading role of Canadian geotechnical
engineers in the development of limit
equilibrium methods including yet
again several previous Legget award
recipients. I still recall as a new PhD
student receiving a large package of
papers in the mail from
Professor
Fredlund
at the University of Sas-
katchewan in a response to a letter.
After completing my PhD, I immedi-
ately left to take up an appointment
as a Lecturer in Applied Geology at
the University of Papua New Guinea
in Port Moresby where I continued to
work on slope stability along high-
ways and in open pits. The importance
of intense weathering, high precipita-
tion (up to 8m per year), geomorphol-
ogy and geological structure on slope
stability were all keenly apparent.
In 1986, I moved to Canada to join
the Geological Engineering program
at the University of Saskatchewan
teaching rock mechanics, site investi-
gation and structural geology. During
ten years at the U of S, I was very
fortunate to teach first year “Geology
for Engineers” to many hundreds of
engineers, possibly to some of you in
the audience now. My research over
this 10-year period was wide-ranging
including surface and underground
rock engineering, experimental rock
mechanics, and landslides. Under-
ground potash mine geomechanics
was a major focus of our research
working with
Professors Malcolm
Reeves
and
Don Gendzwill
; this is
also when I first met Past CGS Presi-
dent,
Michel Aubertin
. I look back
on daily research discussions with my
colleague and friend
Zig Szczepanik
rock mechanics technician at U of S as
a major source of inspiration over this
time. As an Associate member of the
U of S Geotechnical Group, I obtained
a great appreciation of unsaturated
soils and soil slope analysis from
Pro-
fessors Fredlund
and
Barbour
and
also fondly remember spending time
in the field with the late
Professor
Karl Sauer.
It was during this period
of time I was very fortunate to teach
and supervise my long-time friend and
colleague
Dr. Erik Eberhardt
from
a 1st year student, through his MSc
and PhD. In the following 25 years,
we have continued to collaborate on a
wide variety of rock engineering proj-
ects, something I hope will continue
for some time with my recent appoint-
ment as an Affiliate Professor at UBC.
Early research at the University of
Saskatchewan was to highlight the
importance of considering progressive
brittle fracture in rock engineering and
also the important need to consider
time-dependent constitutive criteria.
In 1996, I commenced a position as
Chair of Geotechnical Engineering at
the University of Exeter, UK, based
at Camborne School of Mines, CSM.
Research between 1996 and 2000
focussed on experimental acoustic
emission, characterisation of altered
granites, three-dimensional modelling
of soil and rock slopes, coastal slope
instability, risk analysis, quarry slope
stability and longwall coal mining.
Research at CSM in 1999, showed
the significant future potential of
ground-based LIDAR in rock slope
characterisation and the need to move
to brittle fracture modelling of slopes.
At this time, I began a long time work-
ing collaboration with my colleague
and friend
Associate Professor John
Coggan
of CSM which continues to
this day through my appointment as
an Honorary Visiting Professor at the
University of Exeter.
In 2000, I returned to Canada as For-
est Renewal of BC, FRBC Chair and
Professor in Forestry Geotechnics in
the Department of Earth Sciences,
Simon Fraser University. This position
initially focussed on the influence of
forest harvesting on slope stability.
With a change of government and the
termination of FRBC, the mandate
of the chair was changed to Resource
Geotechnics. Over the last 17 years
I have been fortunate to be involved
in the application of new engineering
geology, remote sensing and numeri-
cal modelling technologies to natural
slopes, open pits and underground
mines both in Canada and internation-
ally. A particular focus of research at
