 |
Kerry Rowe | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ronald Kerry Rowe September 13, 1951 |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society (2013); Officer of the Order of Canada (2018); Inaugural winner of the NSERC Donna Strickland Prize for Societal Impact of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research (2022) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Queen's University |
| Website | civil |
Ronald Kerry Rowe, OC, FRS, FREng, (born 13 September 1951) is a Canadian civil engineer of Australian birth, one of the pioneers of geosynthetics. [1]
Rowe was educated at Fort Street High School, Sydney (1964-1969) and the University of Sydney, where he was awarded a BSc (Computer Science) in 1973, BE (First Hons, Civil Engineering) and the University Medal in 1975, a PhD in 1979 and D.Eng in 1993.
Rowe worked as a geotechnical engineer with the Australian Government Department of Construction prior to emigrating to Canada in 1978, where he spent 22 years as a professor, including 8 years as Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
From 2000 to 2010 he served as Vice-Principal (Research) at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario where he was responsible for the administration of all research (in Business, Education, Humanities, Law, Social Sciences, Physical and Biological Sciences, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Health Sciences and Medicine). He is presently (2023) a Professor and the Canada Research Chair in Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at Queen's.
His research has covered contaminant migration through soil and rock, landfill design, containment of contaminated sites, geosynthetics (including geotextiles, geomembranes, geogrids, geonets etc.), tailings storage facilities and dams, reinforced embankments and walls, tunnels in soft ground and the failure of slopes and excavations. In particular he has researched the effectiveness of plastic (geomembrane) liners and geosynthetic clay liners (a composite material incorporating clay) that limit contamination from mining operations and waste disposal facilities. [2]
He is a past President of the International Geosynthetics Society, the Canadian Geotechnical Society and the Engineering Institute of Canada. [3]
Geosynthetics are synthetic products used to stabilize terrain. They are generally polymeric products used to solve civil engineering problems. This includes eight main product categories: geotextiles, geogrids, geonets, geomembranes, geosynthetic clay liners, geofoam, geocells and geocomposites. The polymeric nature of the products makes them suitable for use in the ground where high levels of durability are required. They can also be used in exposed applications. Geosynthetics are available in a wide range of forms and materials. These products have a wide range of applications and are currently used in many civil, geotechnical, transportation, geoenvironmental, hydraulic, and private development applications including roads, airfields, railroads, embankments, retaining structures, reservoirs, canals, dams, erosion control, sediment control, landfill liners, landfill covers, mining, aquaculture and agriculture.
Robert Ferguson Legget was a civil engineer, historian and non-fiction writer. He is internationally known for his contributions to engineering, geology and building research and standardization. He is credited with the establishment of co-operation amongst Canadian geotechnical engineers, geologists and pedologists.
Geotextiles are versatile permeable fabrics that, when used in conjunction with soil, can effectively perform multiple functions, including separation, filtration, reinforcement, protection, and drainage. Typically crafted from polypropylene or polyester, geotextile fabrics are available in two primary forms: woven, which resembles traditional mail bag sacking, and nonwoven, which resembles felt.
Sir Alec Westley Skempton was an English civil engineer internationally recognised, along with Karl Terzaghi, as one of the founding fathers of the engineering discipline of soil mechanics. He established the soil mechanics course at Imperial College London, where the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department's building was renamed after him in 2004, and was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to engineering. He was also a notable contributor on the history of British civil engineering.
Geocomposites are combinations of two or more geosynthetic materials for civil engineering applications that perform multiple geosynthetic functions; the five basic functions are: separation, reinforcement, filtration, drainage, and containment. Such composite materials may enhance technical properties of the soil or the geotechnical structure and minimize application costs.
A geomembrane is very low permeability synthetic membrane liner or barrier used with any geotechnical engineering related material so as to control fluid migration in a human-made project, structure, or system. Geomembranes are made from relatively thin continuous polymeric sheets, but they can also be made from the impregnation of geotextiles with asphalt, elastomer or polymer sprays, or as multilayered bitumen geocomposites. Continuous polymer sheet geomembranes are, by far, the most common.
Frederick John Longstaffe CM, Ph.D., FRSC is the former Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at The University of Western Ontario. He is a Earth Science researcher. His current focus is on applying knowledge of stable isotopes to various fields of study.
A landfill liner, or composite liner, is intended to be a low permeable barrier, which is laid down under engineered landfill sites. Until it deteriorates, the liner retards migration of leachate, and its toxic constituents, into underlying aquifers or nearby rivers from causing potentially irreversible contamination of the local waterway and its sediments.
Robert James Mair, Baron Mair, is a geotechnical engineer and Emeritus Sir Kirby Laing Professor of Civil Engineering and director of research at the University of Cambridge. He is Head of the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC). He was Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, from 2001 to 2011 and a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, from 1998 to 2001. In 2014 he was elected a vice president of the Institution of Civil Engineers and on 1 November 2017 became the Institution's president for 2017–18, its 200th anniversary year. He was appointed an independent crossbencher in the House of Lords in 2015 and is currently a member of its Select Committee on Science and Technology.
Cellular confinement systems (CCS)—also known as geocells—are widely used in construction for erosion control, soil stabilization on flat ground and steep slopes, channel protection, and structural reinforcement for load support and earth retention. Typical cellular confinement systems are geosynthetics made with ultrasonically welded high-density polyethylene (HDPE) strips or novel polymeric alloy (NPA)—and expanded on-site to form a honeycomb-like structure—and filled with sand, soil, rock, gravel or concrete.
John Boscawen Burland is a geotechnical engineer, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Investigator at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Imperial College London, and a noted expert in the field of soil mechanics.
Harry Bolton Seed was an educator, scholar, former professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He was regarded as the founding father of geotechnical earthquake engineering.
Andrew Noel Schofield FRS FREng is a British soil mechanics engineer and an emeritus professor of geotechnical engineering at the University of Cambridge.
Timothy D. Stark is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign since 1991. Dr. Stark teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Foundation Engineering and Earth Structures, respectively, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the UIUC and numerous short courses for various entities. Dr. Stark has served as a consultant and expert on a range of domestic and international projects including levees and dams, buildings, bridges, slopes, geosynthetics, seismic issues, waste containment facilities, and highways.
Jean-Pierre Giroud is a French geotechnical engineer and a pioneer of geosynthetics since 1970. In 1977, he coined the words "geotextile" and "geomembrane", thus initiating the "geo-terminology". He is also a past president of the International Geosynthetics Society, member of the US National Academies, and Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
Jorge G. Zornberg is Professor and Joe J. King Chair in Engineering in the geotechnical engineering program at the University of Texas at Austin. He has over 35 years' experience in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. He is also one of the pioneers of geosynthetics.
T. G. Sitharam is a civil engineer, professor at IISc Bangalore, former director at IIT Guwahati.Currently, he is serving as Chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education,(AICTE) from 1 December 2022 onwards. He is known for his works in the fields of rock mechanics, rock engineering and geotechnical earthquake engineering. He is an elected fellow of Indian Geotechnical Society, Institution of Engineers (India) and American Society of Civil Engineers.
Patrick J Fox, Ph.D., P.E., BC.GE, F.ASCE is an American civil engineer and currently the Dean of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology at Ohio University. His field of expertise is geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering, with specializations in slope stability, retaining walls, landfills, and settlement. He obtained a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1992.
The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) is an engineering professional society focused on the field of geosynthetics, which are polymeric materials used in geotechnical engineering. The IGS describes itself as "a learned society dedicated to the scientific and engineering development of geotextiles, geomembranes, related products, and associated technologies." It was founded in Paris in 1983 as the International Geotextile Society and is a member of the Federation of International Geo-Engineering Societies, along with the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM), and International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG).
Geoffrey Eustace Blight was a professor in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits), serving twice as head of department.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
