Inge Anderson Award of Merit

This award recognizes CDA members who have distinguished themselves through significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge and practices related to dams in Canada. Since 2021, the award is offered every year to a member of CDA. The Inge Anderson Award of Merit is CDAs’ highest award and it honours the memory of Inge H. Anderson, P.Eng..

Meet Dr. Pierre Léger, 2023 recipient:

Pierre Léger is Professor of structural engineering at Polytechnique de Montréal affiliated to Montreal University. Graduated in civil engineering from Ottawa University in 1977,  he worked a few year in consulting engineering and then obtained a Ph.D in structural engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. For the last 37 years he has performed R&D on structural behaviour, safety assessment and rehabilitation of concrete dams and appurtenant structures for static (ice, flood), seismic, thermal and alkali-aggregate reaction loadings. He contributed to the development of several computer aided design and analysis software for stability assessment of concrete hydraulic structures widely use by the profession. He has acted as a consultant on several projects related structural static and seismic safety assessment of concrete dams an appurtenant structures, including the Daniel Johnson Multiple Arch Dam that is the highest structure of this kind in the world at 214 m. P. Léger has authored more than 110 journal papers and book chapters and 140 conference proceedings related to his research and consulting activities. He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.


 

The previous recipients are:

  • 1993 - Inge Anderson
  • 1995 - Gary Salmon
  • 1997 - Barry Hurndall
  • 1999 - Guy Laroque
  • 2001 - Tony Tawil
  • 2004 - Ray Stewart
  • 2006 - Gaétan Guertin
  • 2008 - Desmond N.D. Hartford
  • 2010 - Gerard Verzeni
  • 2012 - A.R. (Tony) Bennett
  • 2014 - Jean-Pierre Tournier
  • 2016 - Stephen Rigbey
  • 2018 - Norbert (Nordie) Morgenstern
  • 2020 - Edward (Ed) C. McRoberts
  • 2021 - Richard Donnelly
  • 2022 - Gord McKenna

Inge Anderson Award - Nomination Form

Who was Inge Anderson, P.Eng.?

The Inge Anderson Award of Merit is CDAs’ highest award. It honours Inge H. Anderson, an engineer who was instrumental in creating the foundation for CDA. Fittingly, he was the recipient when it was first awarded in 1993. Inge graduated in Civil Engineering with distinction in 1957 from the University of Alberta.  He also took post graduate courses in hydrology, soil mechanics and highway engineering. From 1956 to 1988, Inge worked for the Alberta Government, first on design and construction and then on dam safety. As the Director of the Design and Construction Division, Inge spearheaded dam safety legislation for Alberta and the formation of the Dam Safety Branch. That branch managed safety for the dams owned by the province, as well as regulating about 1400 dams.

After retiring from government, Inge was the Manager of Mine Development for Suncor overseeing their massive tailing dams, and then brought his experience to consulting, specializing in dam design and safety. Inge was passionate about creating a forum where all interested Canadians could share knowledge about dam safety. He was the first President of the Canadian Dam Safety Association (CDSA) and was the moving force in the development of national dam safety guidelines. The guidelines were of interest not just in Canada but internationally; Inge was part of a team presenting workshops in India, Malaysia and Central America.  When CDSA merged with CANCOLD to form CDA, Inge was the Chair of the Guidelines Committee.  Inge also presented numerous technical papers, conducted workshops and guest lectured at universities across Canada.

The name Inge Anderson is synonymous with the CDA and the development of guidelines of engineering practice for the safe management of dams. In 2008, the Engineering Institute of Canada inducted Inge as a Fellow, in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the engineering profession in Canada.

 

Top of the page