UBC Civil Professor Wins National Award of Excellence in Geotechnical Engineering

UBC Civil Engineering Professor Jonathan Fannin received the 2012 Geosynthetics Division Award from the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS) in recognition of his outstanding technical contribution to the application of geosynthetics in civil, geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering in Canada and internationally.

From left: Fannin with Bryan Watts, CGS President (photo courtesy of the CGS).

Fannin is an expert in state-of-the-art in geotechnical engineering as it relates to landslide risk management, designing with geosynthetics and seepage-induced erosion in earth dams. His contributions to developments in each of these areas of engineering practice have received international recognition, garnered a number of awards for outstanding scholarship, and led to several distinguished visiting fellowships in the UK, France, Norway, New Zealand and Brazil. His contributions also include a Keynote Lecture at the recent GeoAmericas 2012 Conference and an invited Theme Lecture at the 9th International Geosynthetics Conference in 2010. He brings all of these experiences to his university teaching, and also to short courses for practicing professionals, in a commitment to engineering education and life-long learning that has won him several awards for teaching excellence, including the UBC Killam Teaching Prize and the provincial APEGBC Teaching Award for Excellence in Engineering and Geoscience Education.

He was recently honoured at the CGS Awards Gala during its annual conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This is his third award from the CGS.

About the CGS

With over 1,200 members across Canada and around the world, the Canadian Geotechnical Society is the premier organization for geotechnical engineers and geoscientists in Canada and is dedicated to advancing knowledge and creating opportunities for the sharing of information by practitioners in a broad range of geotechnical disciplines. For more information: http://www.cgs.ca/