Geotechnical News • September 2018
25
COMPUTING IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
From the GS Board
Associate Editor of the
Canadian Geo-
technical Journal.
Anna was the Chair
of the Calgary Branch of the Engineer-
ing Institute of Canada in 1980 and
Chair of the ASTM Subcommittee on
Peats and Related Materials in 1987
and 1988. She became the first woman
to chair an ASCE Executive Commit-
tee. In 1999, Anna was recognized by
the ASCE for making “outstanding
and unusual contributions towards the
advancement of professional relation-
ships between engineers in the US and
Canada”.
Dr. Suzanne Lacasse
Suzanne originally hails from Noranda
in northern Québec, where she grew
up in a family of civil engineers who
would tour her around construction
sites. This early influence led her to
the field of civil and geotechnical
engineering at École Polytechnique
de Montréal where, in 1971, she was
the only woman in her graduating
class of 45. She later obtained her
Master’s (1973) and Doctorate (1976)
from MIT, where there were only
two women among the 50 graduate
students.
Suzanne has worked in academia as
a Lecturer at MIT, École Polytech-
nique and University of Oslo, and in
industry for Ardaman & Associates,
Exxon and Total in the US and Labo-
ratorium voor Grondmechanica (LGM
now Deltares) in the Netherlands. She
is, perhaps, most well known as the
Managing Director (1991-2011) of
the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute
(NGI), where she now serves as their
Expert Adviser. Suzanne’s career has
provided her opportunities to work in
countries all over the world.
Suzanne has continuously been
involved in the CGS since 1970. In
1994, she gave the fall Cross-Country
Lecture Tour. From 2003 to 2004,
Suzanne served as CGS’s first and,
to date, only female President. She
received the CGS’s R.F. Legget Medal
(2007) and the EIC’s K.Y Lo Medal
(1999) and John B. Stirling Medal
(2009), respectively. For many of the
awards Suzanne has received, she has
been the first woman and only woman
to receive them.
Her notable achievements outside of
Canada are too numerous to list in
their entirety. They include keynote
lectures in 30 countries, including the
Terzaghi (US 2001) and Rankine (UK
2015) Lectures. In 2015, the Interna-
tional Society for Soil Mechanics and
Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
established the “Suzanne Lacasse
Honorary Lecture” on “Engineer-
ing Practice of Risk Assessment and
Management”.
Gretchen Minning
Initially interested in history, Gretchen
became interested in the history of the
Earth while completing her under-
graduate studies at Lawrence Univer-
sity in Wisconsin (1965). During her
graduate studies at the University of
Washington, in Seattle, she was the
only female student. Following the
completion of her Master’s in 1967,
Gretchen moved to Ottawa to work for
the Geological Survey of Canada map-
ping the surficial geology of portions
of Labrador and the Mackenzie Valley.
In 1973, Gretchen joined Northern
Engineering Services Company Ltd.
in Calgary and carried out terrain
mapping, borrow investigations and
other studies for a pipeline from
Alaska to Alberta. Between 1977 and
1980, she worked for Hardy Associ-
ates in Calgary on geological studies
mostly related to northern pipelines,
transmission lines, oil spill contin-
gency and dams. Since 1980, when
Gretchen started her own consulting
firm G.V.M. Geological Consultants,
she has concentrated on increasing her
clients’ understanding of the geotech-
nical aspects of surficial geology. She
may be the first woman in Canada to
have established her own geotechnical
consulting firm.
Gretchen has been involved with the
Calgary Geotechnical Society since
1973. She was on the organizing com-
mittee for the 54th Canadian Geotech-
nical Conference in 2001. In 2018,
she was the recipient of the Calgary
Geotechnical Society Award.
Danielle Zaikoff
As with many women who become
engineers, Danielle was interested in
mathematics and science at a young
age and was encouraged to pursue
engineering by her father. It was
during her time as a student in Civil
Engineering at École Polytechnique de
Montréal (B.Eng. 1967) and summer
jobs that she was exposed to geo-
technics. Danielle also received her
Master’s from École Polytechnique in
1972.
The focus of her entire career was
related to hydroelectric development
with Hydro-Québec. Danielle started
in the Contract Department, because
at the time women were not permitted
Suzanne Lacasse
.
Gretchen Minning.
