Professor Dharma Wijewickreme has been awarded the prestigious 2022 John B. Stirling Medal by the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) for his leadership and distinguished service at the national level within the Institute and/or its Member Societies, by members of these Societies.
An internationally-recognized expert in earthquake and pipeline engineering, Dr. Wijewickreme first joined UBC in 2001 and has since dedicated his research and teaching to the earthquake response of soils and using advanced laboratory geomaterial characterization to solve geotechnical engineering problems.
Dr. Wijewickreme has authored over 150 journal articles and conference proceedings, and is an Elected Fellow of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering and the Canadian Academy Engineering. He was the President of the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS) for the two-year term (2017-2018), and he served as the Vice President Finance of the CGS between 2013 and 2017.
“It is a great honour for me to receive this distinguished award. I am grateful to the Canadian Geotechnical Society, a world-renowned volunteer-based learned society, that gave me tremendous opportunities to contribute to the geotechnical profession at many levels by providing a platform to work with amazing teams of young and highly experienced geo-professionals,” said Dr. Wijewickreme.
Most recently, Dr. Wijewickreme was among a panel of expert UBC Engineering faculty members who offered their preliminary observations of the November B.C. floods and landslides and proposed recommendations on how the province should rebuild and fortify its infrastructure in the face of challenges brought on by climate change.
This is the second distinguished award Dr. Wijewickreme has received this year. Previously, he was recognized by the Canadian Geotechnical Society with the G. Geoffrey Meyerhof Award.
Learn more about Dr. Dharma Wijewickreme on his Faculty Profile.