Prof. Charles Dowding receives Distinguished Alumnus Award from University of Illinois
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Prof. Charles Dowding (PhD 1971, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne) has received the CEE Distinguished Alumnus award from UIC-UC.
Prof. Dowding was honored "for major research and education in rock and soil mechanics, including instrumentation, with applications to professional practice involving blasting, measurement of vibrations and infrastructure construction."
Dowding has written widely in the field of Geotechnical engineering and is best known for his four books: Construction Vibrations, Blast Vibration Monitoring and Control. GeoMeasurements by Pulsing TDR Cables and Probes, and Site Characterization and Exploration. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the International Society of Explosives Engineers and founded Digital Vibration Inc., the first company to perfect remote digital blast vibration monitoring in the early 1980s.
Over the years, he has been a member of the board of direction of the American Rock Mechanics Association and has been Chair of the Rock Mechanics Committee of the ASCE GeoInstitute.
Prof. Dowding received his B.S. from the University of Colorado and M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He was a Royal Norwegian Fellow at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, and taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining Northwestern University in 1976.
Along with coauthors, he received the Applied Research Award from the National Rock Mechanics Committee for work on blast vibration-induced cracking of structures. Currently he is developing wireless systems to autonomously monitor and display the status of critical facilities through the Northwestern University Infrastructure Technology Institute.
