About the Author: Dr. Scott Walbridge, Ph.D., P.Eng. (Alberta) is a Professor at the University of Waterloo, where he has worked since completing his Ph.D. at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2005/6. Dr. Walbridge currently serves as Technical Committee (TC) Vice-Chair for the CSA S157 Design Code (Strength Design of Aluminum Structures) and TSC Chair for CSA S6 (Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code) Section 17 (Aluminum Structures). He is also a member of CSA W59 and W59.2 (Canadian structural steel and aluminum welding codes). In addition to his work on various structural design codes, he also currently serves as the Program Director for the University of Waterloo's new undergraduate program in Architectural Engineering. His research has investigated topics in various areas including: fatigue of steel and aluminum welded connections, performance of steel and aluminum mechanical connections, vibration of aluminum pedestrian bridges, and stability of aluminum structures. He was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship related to his research on metal fatigue in 2016-2017.
Dr. Mazdak Nik-Bakht is an Associate Professor of Construction Engineering & Management in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering at Concordia University, Montreal. He is the director of Compleccity Lab and a co-director of Centre for Innovation in Construction and Infrastructure Engineering & Management - CICIEM at Gina Cody School of Engineering & Computer Science. He has a Ph.D. in Construction Engineering & Management from the University of Toronto (2015), as well as a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology (2011). Dr. Nik-Bakht is a licensed Professional Engineer with Professional Engineers Ontario and has years of professional experience as a structural designer, structural engineering division head, and project manager in structural & infrastructure rehabilitation projects. A new course called 'Big Data Analytics for Smart City Infrastructure' to train the next generation of construction and infrastructure engineering professionals was developed by him in 2019 and has been delivered annually ever since.
Dr. Kelvin Tsun Wai Ng is Professor of Environmental Systems Engineering at University of Regina, Canada. His major fields of interest are in waste management and environmental sustainability, particularly in development of (i) sustainable waste management system, (ii) evidence-based waste policy, and (iii) data-driven waste collection and disposal methods. His projects have been funded by a number of provincial and federal agencies, including NSERC, Mitacs, Communities of Tomorrow, Innovation Saskatchewan, Ministry of Environment, and City of Regina, etc. Dr. Ng is a Professional Engineer with Permission to Consult in Saskatchewan, Canada. He is also the instructor for a number of popular courses at the Faculty of Engineering, and has received the 2017 President's Award for Teaching Excellence.
Manas Shome, Ph.D., P.Eng. is a Principal Engineer at Matrix Solutions, a Calgary based environmental engineering consulting firm. Based in Edmonton, he provides technical leadership on water resources engineering projects. He obtained a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Civil Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Alberta in 1995. His professional experience includes more than 30 years in sustainable water resources management, river engineering, computational modelling of rivers and drainage systems, design of hydraulic structures and environmental impact assessment studies. An expert in the field of hydrology and hydraulic engineering, he frequently serves as an expert witness at regulatory hearings. Outside his consulting practice, Manas enjoys research, teaching, and watching sports. His research outcomes have been published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, and in conference proceedings. He is a co-recipient of the 2010 Keefer Medal award and recipient of the 2015 Excellence in Teaching award from the University of Alberta's Faculty of Extension. He has been elected to the grade of Fellow by the CSCE in 2019. Manas has been involved with CSCE since 2000 serving on the Edmonton section in various roles including Chair, and on the organizing committee of the 2012 Annual Conference in Edmonton, Alberta.
Dr. Shahria Alam is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC)'s Okanagan Campus and the Director of Green Construction Research & Training Center (GCRTC) at UBC. He is currently serving as the Chair of the Engineering Mechanics & Materials (EMM) division of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE). His research interests include applications of smart materials like shape memory alloys and sustainable construction materials, performance-based design, repair/retrofit of structures, and self-centering structures. Dr. Alam is the Director of the Applied Laboratory for Advanced Materials & Structures (ALAMS) at UBC. He has authored over 250 peer-reviewed articles and holds several patents. He is the recipient of several national and international awards including CSCE's Pratley Award. He is also an active member of several ACI and ASCE code committees.
Dr. Ashraf El Damatty, Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering and Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada. He is a Research Director at the WindEEE Research Institute. He holds the title of High-End Expert at Tongji University and Sichuan Universities, China. He obtained a BSc. and M.Sc. from Cairo University in 1986 and 1991, Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from McMaster University, Canada, in 1995, and an MBA in 2016 in Higher Education Management from University College, London, UK. He is the founder of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (CSCE) Steel Structures Committee and serves currently as the Chair of the CSCE Structures Division. Dr. El Damatty has consulted on many projects in North America and the Middle East. He has written about 250 publications, supervised more than 30 Ph.D. and 20 M.Sc. students and has been invited as keynote speaker in many countries around the globe. He received several awards including the Alan Yorkdale Award by ASTM, Honourable Mention in 2014 Casimir Gzowski Medal Competition, 2015 CSCE Whitman Wright Award, 2016 CSCE Horst Leipholz Medal and Western University Faculty Scholar Award, and the 2018 professional Engineers of Ontario Engineering Medal of Research of Development. His research work has influenced the international codes and engineering practice worldwide.
Dr. Gord Lovegrove is an MBA/Civil Engineer with over 30 years of experience in smarter growth, housing, sustainable transportation, safety, economics, and project management. Dr. Lovegrove was the point man that got the award-winning Universal Transportation Pass (U-Pass) for UBC that tripled transit use at both campuses. His current research focus is on zero-emission, hydrogen-powered rail (hydrail), including several industry partnerships to develop Canada's first hydrail switcher locomotive. Dr. Lovegrove is founding partner of the SMARTer Growth Partnership (smartergrowthpartnership.ca), an Associate Professor / founding member of UBCO's School of Engineering (ok.ubc.ca), VP Technical Programs for the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (csce.ca); and, co-author of several best practice guides on sustainable development, health, and safety. He brings 20 years of practical industry development experience plus 14 years of engineering research and design expertise. His research team includes electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering graduate students, plus computer science coders and research assistants.
