PROFILE

Educated at The University of Sydney, Australia, Dr. Rowe worked as a geotechnical engineer with the Australian Government Department of Construction prior to emigrating to Canada in December 1978.  He spent almost 22 years (1979-2000) as an assistant professor (1979-1982), associate professor (1982-1986), and  professor (1986-2000) at The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, including 8 years as Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  He joined Queen's University in Kingston, Canada in September 2000 and served as Vice-Principal (Research) for ten years from 2000-2010.  He is presently a Professor in of Department of Civil Engineering at Queen’s University and the Canada Research Chair in Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering. He is also a Research Director in the GeoEngineering Centre at Queen’s-RMC. His research and consulting has been in the fields of Geotechnical, Geosynthetic, Hydrogeologic, Landfill and Geoenvironmental Engineering.  He is the lead author of the book "Barrier Systems for Waste Disposal Facilities", the editor of the Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering Handbook for Kluwer Academic Publishers, and has more than 500 publications in refereed journals, conferences and books dealing with:

Dr. Rowe has supervised more than 80 graduate students and more than 20 post-doctoral fellows, many of whom have won awards for their research. His research and teaching has been recognized by a number of awards including the Killam Prize and Legget Medal.  He has been very active in professional activities including having been President of the International Geosynthetics Society, the Canadian Geotechnical Society, and the Engineering Institute of Canada.  He is currently Editor of the Journal Geotextiles and Geomembranes, and either an Associate Editor or member of the Editorial Board for ten other journals. He was selected to present the Giroud Lecture (2002) by the International Geosynthetics Society, the 45th Rankine Lecture (2005) by the British Geotechnical Society, the 23rd Manuel Rocha Lecture (2006) by the Portuguese Geotechnical Society, and the Authur Casagrande Lecture (2011) by the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.  He has been elected an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (U.K.), and elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada, The Canadian Academy of Engineering, Engineering Institute of Canada, Australian Institution of Engineers, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, and the American Society of Civil Engineers.