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Geotechnical News • March 2019
COMPUTING IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
From the GS Board
Women in Canadian Geotechnique
Part 2 of 3
Andrea Lougheed
This is a contribution from the CGS Heritage Committee.
Andrea Lougheed (BGC Engineering Inc.) is a member of this committee and its
Task Force on Women in Canadian Geotechnique.
Introduction to Part 2 of the
Series
Part 1, published in September 2018,
profiled four of the first women in
Canadian Geotechnique:
Anna Lank-
ford Burwash
,
Dr. Suzanne Lacasse
,
Gretchen Minning
and
Danielle Zia-
koff
. In this issue, four more women
are profiled. A total of 12 women were
featured at the 71
st
Canadian Geo-
technical Conference in Edmonton
(GeoEdmonton 2018). Posters detail-
ing their careers were displayed and
a portion of the Heritage Luncheon
was devoted to them. It is hoped that
all the posters will be uploaded to the
CGS website
.
Sue Aitken
Sue Aitken grew up in a small town
in New Zealand and, thinking that
women could not be engineers,
pursued mathematics and obtained a
teaching certificate. Subsequently, she
met several engineers while skiing and
decided to return to school and study
civil engineering. She obtained her
Bachelor’s degree from the University
of Canterbury in 1978. Sue left New
Zealand in 1979 for Canada where
she worked for Batoni Structures, a
precast concrete fabrication firm in
Edmonton. Particularly enjoying her
exposure in university to soil mechan-
ics, she was encouraged by her soil
mechanics professor to go to graduate
school at the University of Alberta.
Sue studied part-time while raising
two young daughters, and obtained
her Master’s in Civil Engineering-
Geotechnical in 1988.
During Sue’s career, she worked for
several well-known consulting firms
such as Thurber Engineering, AGRA
Earth and Environmental, Jacques
Whitford Associates, and Klohn Crip-
pen Berger in Edmonton and Calgary,
before returning to New Zealand with
Beca Ltd. in 2003. Her career has
mostly involved numerical modelling
associated with dams and tailings.
Sue’s dedication to professional
involvement has extended throughout
her career. She has been involved with
CGS’s Calgary Geotechnical Society,
the CGS national body, the Associa-
tion of Professional Engineers, Geolo-
gists and Geophysicists of Alberta, the
Tunnelling Association of Canada, the
Canadian Dam Association, the North
American Society of Trenchless Tech-
nology, and the Australian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy. In 2000, Sue
became the first female President of
Association of Professional Engi-
neers, Geologists and Geophysicists of
Alberta. During this tenure, she also
chaired the Alberta Government Com-
mission on Parental Leave, and was
voted one of the Top 50 Most Influen-
tial Albertans by Alberta Venture.
In recognition of her professional
involvement, Sue received the CGS
Services Award (now the Stermac
Award) in 1997. She was made a Fel-
low of Engineers Canada in 2009 and
an Honorary Fellow of Geoscience
Canada in 2013.
Dr. Gail Atkinson
Gail Atkinson was accidently intro-
duced to geotechnique as a first-year
student when she took geology to
avoid studying biology. This resulted
in her pursuing earth sciences and get-
ting a job as a research assistant in the
field of earthquake hazards. She found
the interface between seismology and
Sue Aitken.
Gail Atkinson.
