DeGroot and Kelley Named 2023 BSCES Honorary Members
At the 174th BSCES Annual Awards Dinner on June 29, 2023, the BSCES Board of Government was pleased to present the Section's highest award, BSCES Honorary Membership, to Don J. DeGroot, ScD, PE, who is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Paul L. Kelley, PE, who is a Senior Principal at Simpson Gumpertz and Heger Inc.
Don J. DeGroot, ScD, PE, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Don was selected to receive a 2023 BSCES Honorary Member Award for his esteemed career as a researcher, publisher, and educator in the field of geotechnical engineering and for serving in leaderships positions in professional societies.
Don is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering who has been teaching undergraduate and graduate-level classes for over 30 years. His teaching, research, and consultancy experience is primarily in soil behavior with an emphasis on field and laboratory measurements for geotechnical engineering site characterization programs. He has been a principal/co‐principal investigator on numerous geotechnical engineering research projects that included research on drilling and sampling of soils, in situ testing, laboratory measurement of soil behavior, and selection of soil design parameters. Don is a long standing member of ASCE and BSCES, and has been a member of ASCE Geo-Institute for 30 years, serving in multiple leadership positions. He received his Doctor of Science degree in Civil Engineering with specialization in geotechnical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989.
Paul L. Kelley, PE, Senior Principal, Simpson Gumpertz and Heger Inc.
Paul received a 2023 BSCES Honorary Member Award for his esteemed career as a structural engineering expert, publisher, and presenter.
During the past forty years, his career has involved many diverse applications of structural engineering and consulting, including design of new building structures; design of repairs and modifications to existing buildings, bridges, tunnels, and other structures; investigation of building conditions, performance, and failure; analysis of constructability and construction cost; evaluation of construction contracts, processes, and schedules; investigation of concrete material performance; and evaluation of structural vibrations caused by construction, building equipment, and occupants. Paul has provided expert opinion in many complex construction-related disputes, is the author of over 20 technical publications, and is a registered professional engineer in 24 states and four Canadian provinces He received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 1977 and his Master of Science degree in Structural Engineering in 1979, both from Tufts University. Paul is a longstanding member of BSCES.