Donald Van Norman Roberts Explained

Donald Van Norman Roberts
Birth Date:13 June 1928
Birth Place:Fresno, California, United States
Death Date:[1]
Death Place:Highlands Ranch, Colorado, US
Children:Jean Leston, Alice Lynn, Alan Emery, James Frederick
Occupation:Geotechnical and environmental engineer, humanitarian

Donald Van Norman Roberts (June 13, 1928 – January 31, 2016) was a civil, geotechnical and environmental engineer from the United States, and advocate for sustainability developments in engineering.[2] [3]

Early life

Donald Roberts was born in Fresno, California, as the son to Jewell A. Roberts and Helen M. Roberts. In 1946, he was accepted to Stanford University, where he majored in civil engineering. Having completed his Stanford undergraduate degree in 1950,[4] he attended a civil engineering and geology graduate program at the Imperial College of the University of London, England. At the Royal School of Mines, he completed courses in engineering geology and advanced courses in stratigraphy and mineralogy.

On April 9, 1951, Roberts married Charleen Doty in Dawlish, South Devon England. They had four children: Jean Leston, Alice Lynn, Alan Emery, and James Frederick.

Professional career

Roberts worked at Dames & Moore from 1951 to 1987. His early work involved developing new approaches to analyzing and designing foundations for buildings constructed over soft compressible soils which exhibited the extreme effects of weakness and subsidence. He also studied landslides, soil responses to earthquakes, and expansive soils. In 1961, Roberts became a partner of Dames & Moore.[5]

Roberts was one of the earliest in the engineering profession to develop the principles of sustainability. His career evolved from specialized geotechnical engineering to solving a broader range of problems involving natural hazards and man-made pollution. In 1987 as one of two Senior Partners at Dames & Moore, Roberts joined CH2M Hill as Vice President.[6]

Beginning in the late 1980s, Roberts began to focus on environmental problems, on applying the concepts of sustainable development on a wider scale,[7] [8] [9] and on efforts to encourage cooperation between engineering professionals and environmentalists to solve environmental problems.[10] His keynote presentation in 1990 on the need for sustainability in engineering stimulated efforts in the United States by major engineering societies such as the American Society of Civil Engineers. In this keynote, he presented a model of sustainability,[11] outlined the challenge of sustainability for engineers, and suggested ways in which environmentally friendly approaches and sustainability can be achieved in engineering education.[12] [13] [14] Roberts' keynote influenced the current concerns over global warming and stimulated changes in the engineering curricula in America.[13] It was also one of the initiatives that led to the creation of the World Engineering Partnership for Sustainable Development, and helped with the creation of Engineers Without Borders.

Since 1990, Roberts has presented on the subject of sustainability and became the President of the World Engineering Partnership for Sustainable Development.[15] In 2001, he became vice president of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations,[3] where he published Engineers and Sustainable Development, which is now used extensively in engineering college courses.[16] In 2003, WFEO awarded Roberts the Gold Medal, ‘for outstanding service to humanity’.[3] In 2004, Roberts was the recipient of the Joan Hodges Queaneau Palladium Award, from the American Association of Engineering Societies and the National Audubon Society, for "outstanding achievement in environmental conservation as one of the engineering professions’ most eloquent spokespersons for sustainable development".[3] In 2005 he received the ASCE President's Award.[11] In 2009 ASCE bestowed upon Roberts a Distinguished Membership, the society's highest accolade, for "bringing the principles of sustainability into the lexicon of the engineering profession".[15] [16] Roberts served as a board member of Engineers Without Borders -USA (EWB-USA),[2] [12] was a founder of the Hazardous Waste Coalition,[15] and served as a president of ASFE.[17]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. News: Don Roberts. 23 March 2016. The Denver Post. 13 February 2016.
  2. EWB Salutes Roberts for Outstanding Contributions. ASCE News . April 2006 . 31 . 4.
  3. Web site: UEF Recognizes Centennial and AAES Honors Outstanding Engineering. AAES and IEEE . Washington . May 3, 2004.
  4. Rogers. J. David. Thread lines of Geotechnical and Engineering Geology firms in the Greater Los Angeles Metro-Southern California Area . 30. Geocongress 2012 State of the Art and Practice in Geotechnical Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology.
  5. Rogers. J. David. Kropp. Alan L.. Pioneer engineering geologist Threadlines of Geotechnical and Engineering Geology firms in the Greater San Francisco Bay-Northern California Area. Missouri University of Science and Technology . July 2, 2015.
  6. Agricultural Mechanization in Asia, Africa and Latin America. AMA . 23-25 . Farm Machinery Industrial Research Corporation . 1992 . 82.
  7. Amadei. Bernard. Engineering for the Developing World. The Bridge . National Academy of Engineering, of the National Academies . 34 . 2 . Summer 2004.
  8. Kelly. Bill. Sustainability in Engineering Education and Ethics. Presented at Conference on Engineering at Catholic Colleges and Universities, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. October, 2005.
  9. Engineers and Sustainable Development. Prepared by the World Federation of Engineering Organizations' Committee on Technology, August 2002.
  10. IEEE Recognizes Centennial and AAES Honors Outstanding Engineering. IEEE . Washington . 3 May 2004.
  11. ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE Presidents' Awards Past Award Winners .
  12. Book: Wallace, Bill. Becoming Part of the Solution: The Engineer's Guide to Sustainable Development. 2005. American Council of Engineering Companies. 53, x.
  13. Nguyen. Duyen. Searching for a global model for environmental engineering education. World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education . 1 . 1 . 2002.
  14. Parton. Ian. Engineers as Leaders in the Transition to a Sustainable Future. July 2004. Keynote Address, International Conference on Sustainability Engineering & Science. 4–5.
  15. ASCE Names 10 Distinguished Members for 2009. ENR.com Engineering News-Record, 7/23/2009.
  16. ASCE Honors and Awards, Distinguished Members Videos. 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304220319/http://content.asce.org/handa/distinguished-members-videos.html. 2016-03-04.
  17. A Recession is Coming.. Be Prepared. CD/DVDASFE Resource Catalog, Pg 90, ARICBP1013200. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150722071439/https://www.geoprofessional.org/asset/pubs/catalog/files/assets/basic-html/page90.html. 2015-07-22.

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