BIOGRAPHY
Professor Young, International (Foreign) Secretary/Chair, International Committee, W. M. Keck Chair Emeritus and formerly Vice-President Research and Innovation, University of Toronto.
He is an engineering geophysicist who has focused his research and engineering career on developing seismic methods and instrumentation to monitor fractures and rock quality. Over the past 40 years, he has pioneered techniques for monitoring and interpreting induced seismicity in the mining, petroleum and nuclear waste disposal industries. Through his research groups at Queen's University and the University of Toronto, Canada, Keele University and Liverpool University, UK, as well as through spin off companies in Canada and the UK innovative scientific advances have been made in applied seismology and rock mechanics. He has published over 250 scientific papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings and successfully supervised over 45 Ph.D. students and post-doctoral research fellows.
He has provided leadership as Vice-President, Research and Innovation, Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering and Director of the Lassonde Institute for Mining at the University of Toronto. He has also held the Chair of Earth Science at the University of Liverpool and has been President of the British Geophysical Association. He has chaired national boards including TRIUMF and Canada’s U15 Research Committee. He has also been an invited member of expert panels that provide advice to government and looks forward to serving the RSC and its mission.
Professor Young has won research and teaching awards. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and has served on its Governance and Ethics Committee, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and is a Chartered Engineer.
- Willet G. Miller Medal of the Royal Society of Canada
- Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
- Senior Fellow Massey College
- Vice-Chair Canadian Science Publishing Board