The 2018/19 Mercer Lecturer will be Dr Kerry Rowe from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, who will discuss the use of geosynthetics in construction on soft soils.
Dr Rowe, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering at Queen’s University, is a past president of the International Geosynthetics Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society and a world-renowned expert in geosynthetics and geonvironmental engineering.
He has given some of geotechnics’ most prestigious lectures, including the Rankine Lecture in 2005, the Casagrande lecture in 2011 and the Karl Terzaghi Lecture in 2017. In 2018, Rowe was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour.
“We are delighted Kerry has agreed to be the next Mercer Lecturer,” said Tensar’s Vice President Global Applications Technology Tim Oliver, who represents the lecture’s sponsor, Tensar, on the Mercer Lecture advisory committee.
“Kerry has built an unrivalled global reputation for his work in both research and engineering practice in a wide range of disciplines, including geosynthetics. He is therefore an ideal person to deliver the Mercer Lecture, which aims to promote co-operation and information exchange between the geotechnical engineering profession and the geosynthetics industry,” Oliver said.
“The Mercer lecture series aims to reach out beyond the world of geosynthetics and engage with geotechnical engineers at large –some of whom may not yet be fully familiar with the potential for geosynthetics in their area of interest.”
The biennial Mercer Lecture was established in 1992 in memory of the inventor of geogrids, Dr Brian Mercer, who was an advocate of innovation, research and development.
Endorsed by the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) and the IGS, the lecture tour gives individuals who have made a significant technical contribution to the advancement of geosynthetics the opportunity to present their work at three major conferences in three continents.
The Mercer Lecturer is chosen by an advisory committee of representatives from IGS, ISSMGE and Tensar. Chaired by Professor Jorge Zornberg (the 2015/16 Mercer Lecturer), the members are Jose Luis Machado from Portugal, Professor Junichi Koseki from Japan, Professor Ennio Palmeira from Brazil and Tim Oliver from Tensar.
