Emeritus APSC prof receives top engineering award

W.D. Liam Finn, professor emeritus in the UBC Department of Civil Engineering, has received the George W. Housner Medal from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

Considered the EERI’s most prestigious award, the medal is granted to one individual, if any, each year and only upon the unanimous vote of the Institute’s Board of Directors. It aims to recognize those “who have made extraordinary and lasting contributions to public earthquake safety through the development and application of earthquake hazard reduction practices and policies.”

The former dean of the UBC Faculty of Applied Science and former head of UBC’s Department of Civil Engineering, Professor Finn founded Canada’s first program in geotechnical earthquake engineering, his primary research interest, at UBC. He has published over 350 papers in areas such as liquefaction and seismic risk and counts the Legget Medal (from the Canadian Geotechnical Society) and the H. Bolton Seed Medal (from the American Society of Civil Engineers) among his other honours.

Professor Finn will receive the medal at the EERI Honors Ceremony and Annual Business Meeting in Vancouver on March 7, 2019.