|
Tor L. Brekke, 2008 Outstanding Educator Award Winner
|
Tor L. Brekke is the recipient of the UCA of SME’s Outstanding Educator Award in recognition of his exceptional contributions and dedication to the U.S. underground construction industry.
Brekke has been a professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley’s Department of Civil Engineering since 1993. He served as a professor of geological engineering at UC-Berkeley from 1976-1992. Since 1960, he has consulted on several hundred projects including underground power plants, hydro-electric power plants, dams, subways, highways and mining projects. His consulting work included geological site investigations, design of rock stabilization systems, selection of excavation methods, specifications for underground openings, preparation of geotechnical interpretive reports, design of repositories for nuclear waste and service on dispute review boards.
Some of his notable projects include: the Helms pumped storage project; the Eisenhower and the Glenwood Canyon highway tunnels in Colorado; the Crosstown Storm Water Interceptor in Austin, TX; the Waste Heat tunnel under the Gota River, Sweden; the Renton Metro Sewer Project in Seattle, WA; the Europipe Landfall Tunnel in Germany and the Superconducting Super Collider project. Most recently, he has been involved in the design of pressurized gas storage in unlined caverns and design strategies for pressure tunnels and shafts.
Brekke is an author or coauthor of 85 publications and has served on several editorial boards for refereed journals and on research review panels. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Association of Engineering Geologists, the U.S. Committee of the international Commission on Large Dams and the UCA of SME. He is a past chair of the U.S. National Committee of Tunneling Technology. In 1977, he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Technological Sciences.
During Brekke’s tenure at UC-Berkeley, he inspired many students to pursue a career in the field of underground design and construction. He made time to interact with the undergraduates and showed a genuine interest in their academic and professional development. Many of his students are leaders in the field today. |
