Boyd C. Paulson Jr.…Our History…PCCP Precast Panels…Books…Conferences

Abstract

Boyd C. Paulson Jr., the Charles H. Leavell Professor of Civil Engineering at Stanford University and an international leader in construction education, died on December 1, 2005. Paulson’s father was a heavy-construction project manager whose work caused regular family moves to projects around the world. From the time of his birth in Providence, R.I., on March 1, 1946, Paulson was exposed to the world of construction. He earned three degrees in civil engineering from Stanford: B.S. in 1967, M.S. in 1969, and Ph.D. in 1971. After earning his doctorate, he moved to the University of Illinois as an assistant professor of civil engineering 1972 to 1974 , but Stanford soon lured him back to its graduate Construction Engineering and Management Program faculty in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. During his years at Stanford, he also served as a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo 1978 , the Technical University of Munich 1983 , the University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, Scotland 1990–1991 , and the University of Hawaii 1998 , and as a Visiting Eminent Scholar at the Del E. Webb School of Construction, Arizona State University 1996 . In 1995, he volunteered to oversee construction of Peninsula Habitat for Humanity’s $2 million, 24-unit condominium project for low-income residents in East Palo Alto, Calif. He eventually joined the organization’s board of directors. Paulson was a member of the Construction Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers, and served as chairman of the Construction Division the predecessor to the Construction Institute in 1986–1987. He chaired the ASCE Committee on Professional Construction Management from 1974 to 1977 and the National Science Foundation’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Division Advisory Committee from 1983 to 1989. He also served as vice chair of the U.S. National Committee on Tunneling Technology from 1986 to 1989 . Paulson was awarded ASCE’s Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize in 1980, the Construction Management Award in 1984, and the Peurifoy Construction Research Award in 1993. Additionally, he was elected to the National Academy of Construction in 2001. To many of us who had the opportunity to know and work with Boyd personally, the awards represent only a small token of appreciation to a man who did so much for our profession and who took the time to mentor so many of us. Requiescat in pace