OCTOBER 2006 ISSUE
THE SUMMIT SERIES
An Accidental Engineer
Earns Worldwide Reputation
BY FRANCINE MAXWELL
Editorial Assistant
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CHUCK BRAWNER, P.ENG . . . |
For a guy who wanted to be an architect, Chuck Brawner, P.Eng., has certainly made a name for himself — in engineering.
It was a twist of fate, along with his talent for drawing, that sent Mr. Brawner onto a different path. He also had the right set of interests and a knack for specializing in several areas of engineering at once.
As things turned out, Mr. Brawner became one of the most respected engineers in Canada, and being named the 2006 recipient of the Frank Spragins Technical Summit Award won’t hurt that reputation at all.
He has received some 21 awards and presented over 90 papers during a career spanning more than 50 years. He’s the editor of 10 textbooks, and has been asked to lecture and be the keynote speaker around the world.
Mr. Brawner has consulted on some of the biggest geotechnical projects on the planet. He has provided expert advice concerning litigation in geotechnical engineering.
The future looked different many years ago, however. When was a high school student in Summerland, B.C., his aptitude for drawing came to the fore during industrial arts class. At the suggestion of his teacher, Mr. Brawner decided he’d become an architect.
He took all the courses he needed — or so he thought — to attend the University of British Columbia, including some Grade 13 preparatory classes in Penticton. He would soon discover, however, that fate had different plans for him.
“It was a real twist and a beneficial twist,” said Mr. Brawner, “I took what I thought were the right classes, but as it turned out, the high school principal had me take the wrong classes from an out-of-date university requirements catalogue. Unable to go to university, I spent a year working.”
Mr. Brawner discovered he didn’t care much for the harsh physical labour of building irrigation flumes from pre-cast concrete sections, as his first summer job required of him.
“I needed a university education. I sent a letter to the University of Manitoba seeking entrance to their school of architecture and was accepted. During my interview with a professor, however, it was discovered I had trouble distinguishing colour hues, such as purple from blue.
“I wasn’t suited to architecture.”
The professor suggested Mr. Brawner go see the dean and find out what his options might be. While not suited to architecture, where subtle colour differences need to be seen clearly, Mr. Brawner did turn out to be aptly suited for civil engineering.
And so, even though he’d travelled across the country to be an architect, Mr. Brawner was redirected to engineering. It was a career choice that would take him many miles and many places.
After graduation, Mr. Brawner began working for the B.C. Water Resources
department as an entry level engineer. Shortly after that he moved on to the
Department of Highways as a soils engineer.
“I started out as the fourth engineer, the low guy on the totem pole. But
every year one of the higher up guys left. So after only four years, I was head
of the department.”
A few years later, he resigned after being passed up for a promotion he felt he deserved. While mulling over his options and drinking coffee in the cafeteria, Mr. Brawner learned of a soils engineering job with the materials branch of the same department. He went to see about the position and was hired that day.
Through all this time, Mr. Brawner developed a keen interest in geotechnical engineering. He was so interested, in fact, that he took time off to pursue his master’s degree, and began specializing in rock and soils.
The specialization didn’t go unnoticed. One day Mr. Brawner received a message to call from Hugh Golder, P.Eng., of Golder and Associates (now deceased). Mr. Golder invited him to dinner — and more of that unpredictable fate was lurking around the corner.
“I thought I was there to have dinner and maybe do a little PR, but instead
I was asked to open an office in Vancouver and offered a partnership in Golder
and Associates,” Mr. Brawner said.
The job itself was a door opener to other geotechnical work in B.C. It meant
a substantial increase in salary and more challenging work. It also marked the
end of only the first decade of what was to become a long, gratifying and distinguished
career.
A few years into his job with Golder Brawner and Associates, Mr. Brawner was asked to consult on a new project in Alberta.
It’s a project you might have heard of — called Syncrude.
“I was with the Syncrude project from day one. Syncrude was probably the
most complicated and challenging projects I’ve worked on, and therefore
one of the most satisfying,” Mr. Brawner said.
The Syncrude Geotechnical Review Board was sufficiently challenging, in fact,
to keep Mr. Brawner well occupied, along with other projects, for the next 31
years.
In that time he met the first president of Syncrude — the man after which his Summit Award was named.
“I met Frank Spragins during my time at Syncrude. He was a doer. He had made up his mind that this Syncrude project was going to happen and that’s what he set out to do. He had a great touch with people, he knew how to work with them and how to create a team.”
Mr. Brawner went on from Golder Brawner and Associates to be a professor of geomechanics at the University of British Columbia. Seems he was fated to attend UBC after all — but as a professor, not a student.
These days, to call him a living pioneer in his field is no exaggeration. And that’s not bad at all for someone who became an engineer by accident.
The Frank Spragins Technical Award is presented to members of APEGGA who are recognized by their peers for their integrity and expertise and their outstanding accomplishments in fields related to engineering, geology or geophysics.