Dr Jennifer Schooling OBE has been awarded the President’s Medal by Andrew Wyllie CBE, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
The President’s Medal is awarded annually by the ICE president to an outstanding civil engineer. Particular regard is shown to service that reflects the priorities and objectives that the president has identified for his or her year in office. The medal was presented to Dr Schooling at the ICE Annual Awards held at the ICE HQ in London on Friday 4 October, and CSIC Investigator Giovanna Biscontin also received an award on the day.
The citation for the President’s Medal defines CSIC as ‘operating at the very leading-edge of our new industry, helping to create a wealth of new opportunities for civil engineers around the world to fulfill our purpose of improving lives in our global society’. It describes Jennifer Schooling as ‘a tremendous role model, working in a strategic and collaborative manner with research associates, academics and leading industry professionals… The ICE is pleased to recognize the outstanding work being done by Jennifer in shaping the future of civil engineering’.
ICE President Andrew Wyllie said: “I am delighted that this year’s President’s Medal has been awarded to Dr Jennifer Schooling OBE. As detailed in my Presidential address, civil engineering has now entered a new era, one that is characterised by a fusion of technology breakthroughs that is blurring the lines between the physical, biological and digital spheres. Technology breakthroughs in areas such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, robotics and biotechnology, are redefining our industry and creating an array of new possibilities for innovative and entrepreneurial civil engineers.
“Jennifer is operating at the very leading-edge of this Fourth Industrial Revolution, helping to create a wealth of new opportunities for civil engineers around the world to fulfil our purpose of improving lives in our global society. Leading by example, she is a tremendous role model, working in a strategic and collaborative manner with research associates, academics and leading industry professionals.
“Jennifer’s work as Director of the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC), her involvement in helping to establish the newly formed Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB), her recent service as a member of the PAS185 smart cities security standard steering group and her role as founding Co-Editor-in Chief of the Smart Infrastructure and Construction Proceedings journal make her a worthy recipient of this prestigious award. ICE is pleased to recognise the outstanding work Jennifer is doing to shape the future of civil engineering.”
Receiving the President’s Medal, Dr Schooling said: “It is a real honour to be given this award. However, these achievements are never down to just one person and this award reflects the dedication and support of everyone in the team at CSIC over the past seven years who continue to work so hard to ensure the outputs of our research are adopted into industry practice. I would like to thank each and every one of them.”
CSIC received additional acknowledgement with Investigator Dr Giovanna Biscontin and former University of Cambridge researcher Dr Yingyan Jin celebrating winning the Telford Premium award in recognition of best papers presented to the Institution. The winning paper ‘A Bayesian definition of ‘most probable’ parameters’ was published in Geotechnical Research: Volume 5, Issue 3, September 2018, pp. 130-142.