SEABC Legacy Awards

With the surplus accrued over many years’ successful professional development events, the SEABC Board of Directors has established a legacy fund to support:

  • fostering excellence in the profession,
  • motivating our young members, and
  • enhancing our profession’s standing with the public.

As part of this programme, SEABC is pleased to announce:

List of Award Recipients

The Peter Ridgway Taylor Grant for Structural Engineering Advancement

This $ 20,000 grant was established from the SEABC Legacy Fund to encourage SEABC members to advance and promote the field of structural engineering through an undertaking related to the field. Recognizing that “advancement” and “promotion” can take many forms, some of which can be quite serendipitous, the grant selection process is kept as free as possible of prescriptive criteria that would unduly restrict the applicants’ imagination. However, the successful project undertaking must clearly demonstrate ingenuity, be of value to SEABC members, and underscore the contribution that structural engineering makes to society.

Dr. Peter Ridgway Taylor is a world-renowned structural engineer who, as a principal of Buckland and Taylor Engineers in North Vancouver and a teacher at UBC, spent his entire life fostering ingenuity in our field. Throughout his career, Dr. Taylor stressed developing innovative concepts based on sound engineering fundamentals. DR. Taylor was also a very active honourary chairman of the extremely successful IABSE 2017 symposium in Vancouver, which generated a significant surplus that has been added to the SEABC Legacy Fund. Naming of this award in his honour is a fitting tribute to an outstanding career.

Who is Eligible to Submit a Proposal?

Any SEABC member or a group of SEABC members submitting a joint proposal as a team.

While academic SEABC members are not excluded, the selection process recognizes that academic research has numerous funding sources available to it, therefore selection will weigh in favour of non-academic applicants in cases of submission of similar merit.

How is the Grant Recipient Selected?

The grant will be awarded based on a call for proposals process. Members will be invited to submit a brief written proposal, outlining the project undertaking they would be carrying out if successful.

What Kind of Project Undertakings are Eligible?

Proposed projects should identify advancement of structural engineering through ingenuity, practical contribution to engineering practice, public engagement, outreach to the next generation and enhancing the perception of structural engineering in general. Winning proposals will likely comprise some or all of these attributes. The word “undertaking” is used on purpose, recognizing that this can take many forms.

A few examples of possible project undertakings are:

  • Developing tools for student or general education, such as a program that brings key aspects of structural engineering topics to the public.
  • Preparing a handbook on a structural design topic relevant to BC practice.
  • Exploring new uses for existing materials or construction methods.
  • Developing an new design method or analytical approach.

This list is by no means intended to be comprehensive or limit the imagination of applicants.

What is the Grant Amount?

One grant of up to $ 20,000 is awarded every two years. The Award Committee may, at its discretion, make no grant in any given year if it feels proposals of suitable calibre have not been submitted.

What are the Proposal Instructions?

The proposals must be no more than ten 8 ½ x 11” pages in length, written in 10 point font and submitted in PDF format. The proposal must be structured as follows:

  1. Project description, including time-frame.
  2. Proposed outcome of the undertaking.
  3. Explain the merits of the proposed undertaking, e.g.:
  • Innovative features showing structural engineering ingenuity.
  • Aspects of the undertaking that would be of interest to the public.
  • Aspects of the undertaking that would be of benefit to SEABC members
  1. Proposed methods for communicating the project outcome to SEABC’s members and to the public.
  2. A brief bio of the proponent(s), including a summary of education, career to date, current employer. Curriculum vitae may be attached and do not count to the ten page limit.
  3. Budget with break-down of expenditures and proposed progress milestones; other confirmed or proposed funding sources to supplement the SEABC Peter R. Taylor grant, if applicable.

The proposal process will close at 17:00 PST on the second Monday of January of every other year. Look for the notices in the Newsletter and periodic email blasts. Proposals must be submitted by email in PDF format to: awards(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)seabc.ca

How is the Winner Selected?

The Award Committee will review the proposals and select the winner prior to the SEABC Annual General Meeting and Keynote Dinner. Proposals will be kept strictly confidential, except for the winning entry. If the committee feels no proposal is worthy of receiving the grant, no grant will be awarded that year.

The winning grant recipient will be announced at the Annual General Meeting / Annual Keynote Dinner. Additional details on the winning grant recipient will also be published in the SEABC newsletter or website.

What Responsibilities Does the Grant Recipient Have?

The grant recipient is responsible for completing the undertaking within the proposed time-frame. The outcome presented in the proposal must be achieved. The grant recipient must be willing to communicate details of the undertaking and outcome to the SEABC membership and the public in a manner appropriate to the nature of the undertaking. Any intellectual property arising out of the undertaking must be considered as belonging in the public domain. The recipient may publish the outcome of the undertaking, if appropriate, but it must be in open-access media. The grant funds may only cover a portion of the overall cost of a winning proposal but the role of the SEABC Legacy Fund must be acknowledged.

The grant takes the form of a contract between SEABC and the recipient. The grant recipient will be required to enter into a contractual agreement with SEABC that sets out the above responsibilities. The grant will be paid in a number of installments, typically tied to the progress milestones defined in the proponent’s proposal. The agreement will also oblige the grant recipient to repay the grant if the proposed undertaking is not completed within the proposed timeframe.

The Award Committee may, at its discretion, agree to an extension of time if clear progress is being made and a result is in sight or if there are extenuating circumstances that have impeded progress. The grant is considered non-renewable, and any request for additional funding to extend the scope will be considered a new application with no advantage relative to all other new proposals submitted.

The SEABC Young Member Meritorious Achievement Award

Meritorious achievement is usually recognized near the end of an engineer’s career. These are fitting tributes to a person who has spent a lifetime enhancing our profession.

However, some engineers demonstrate significant professional achievements early in their careers and recognizing these achievements at mid-career will serve to motivate others.

Recognizing that young members often have difficulty obtaining approval from their employers to attend conferences or workshops, both for reasons of cost and lost working time, the award takes the form of a grant to attend the conference/workshop of the winner’s choice, anywhere in the world. The SEABC Board will also contact the winner’s employer to facilitate the recipient receiving the time off required to attend the selected conference or workshop.

Who is Eligible to Receive This Award?

Any SEABC member under 35 years of age on 1 January of the year the award is given.

Who Can Nominate a Candidate for this Award?

Any three current SEABC members may nominate a candidate. Candidates with nominators from more than one firm might be given a higher standing.

What Makes a Winning Candidate?

A winning candidate has gone above and beyond her or his peers during their career to date in contributing to the structural engineering profession in a meaningful way. A few examples of possible eligible achievements are:

  • Developing clever design idea(s).
  • Exceptional performance under difficult circumstances.
  • Managing team of engineers positively to be recognized by team members.
  • Successfully starting a new office.
  • Undertaking significant new research or developing an analytical approach.
  • Significant contributions towards professional outreach, technical committees or other volunteer service to the profession.

This list is by no means intended to be comprehensive or limit the judgement of nominators.

What is the Award Amount?

One award of up to $ 3,500 in value may be awarded annually. The Award Committee may, at its discretion, make no award in any given year if it feels candidates of suitable calibre have not been nominated.

How do We Nominate a Candidate?

The three nominating SEABC members will submit a brief nomination package, no more than ten 8 ½ x 11” pages in length, written in 10 point font and submitted in PDF format. The following must be included:

  1. Candidate’s name and date of birth.
  2. Names and employers of the three nominating members, including contact information.
  3. A brief bio of the candidate, including a summary of education, career to date, current employer.
  4. A brief career summary of the candidate.
  5. Reasons for the nomination.

The nomination process will close at 17:00 PST on the last Monday of January each year. Proposals must be submitted by email in PDF format to: awards(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)seabc.ca

What Form Does the Award Take?

The award will reimburse the winner’s airfare, conference or workshop fees, hotel and pay a $ 75 per diem allowance, up to the award amount cap. Airfare shall be economy return, using the most direct routing unless an alternate routing is less expensive. Hotel and per diem are for the official conference/workshop dates only. The Award Committee will pick the winner, who would be announced at the Annual General Meeting / Annual Keynote Dinner. Additional details on the winner will also be published in the SEABC newsletter or website.

The award will be in the form of reimbursement of approved actual trip expenses.

What Responsibilities Does the Award Recipient Have?

Because this award is a travel grant, the recipient must:

  • Submit details of the conference/workshop to the Award Committee for approval of the overall travel budget.
  • Provide pro-forma invoices (e.g. airline and hotel booking website screen shots, travel agency invoices, tec.) for approval by SEABC prior to undertaking the trip.
  • Submit final actual receipts to the SEABC Treasurer upon completion of the trip.

A formal written report or presentation is not required since this is a retroactive award for past achievement. However, the recipient will be encouraged to offer a brief “lessons learned” presentation at the annual Young Members Group presentation competition.

Award Recipients

List of award recipients:

Year Peter Ridgway Taylor Grant for Structural Engineering Advancement SEABC Young Member Meritorious Achievement Award
2021 Team of structural engineers from Ausenco Engineering headed up by John Sherstobitoff Adam Gerber, M.A.Sc, MBA, P.Eng.,
ASPECT Structural Engineers
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