Civil Engineering Professor Earns 2014 Civil Engineer of the Year Award
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is pleased to announce that Professor Charles Dowding will be given the “2014 Civil Engineer of the Year Award” by the Illinois Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Professor Dowding will receive the award at the ASCE Illinois Section annual dinner on October 30, 2014 in Chicago.
Charles Dowding is Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, with a BS from the University of Colorado in 1967, a PhD from the University of Illinois, a post doc at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, and an assistant professorship at MIT. He is best known for his four books: Construction Vibrations, Blast Vibration Monitoring and Control, Micro-Meter Crack Response to Vibration and Weather and GeoMeasurements by Pulsing TDR Cables and Probes.
He is a former member of the board of directors of the International Society of Explosive Engineers and founded Digital Vibration Inc. formerly of Northbrook, the first company to perfect remote digital blast vibration monitoring in the early 1980’s. Along with coauthors he received the Applied Research Award from the National Rock Mechanics Committee for work on blast induced cracking of structures which serves as the basis of federal regulations (US Bureau of Mines RI 8507). He is a former chairman of the ASCE Rock Mechanics Committee, a Fellow and former member of the board of directors of the American Rock Mechanics Association.
His consulting engagements have involved projects in Alaska, Panama, Hong Kong, Italy and some 30 of the United States. He has consulted for many governmental agencies including the National Park Service, US Department of Transportation, US Department of Energy, and companies, including IBM, MWH, Stone & Webster, Sargent & Lundy, CH2MHill, Shell and Fina oil. He is proud of his graduate students who have gone on to form companies and lead other Civil Engineering Departments. He is also active in public service and is currently the Chair of the Environmental and Forestry Commission in Winnetka.