RESEARCH VISION
Dr. Wiebe is developing tools and educating people to meet the structural engineering challenges of a rapidly urbanizing globe.
Motivated by a vision for a society that is more sustainable, equitable, and resilient, his research group uses large-scale experiments and advanced numerical modelling to develop economical ways of revolutionizing seismic performance.
The end goal of this research is to transform seismic resilience from a lofty ambition, reserved for only special structures, to a routine outcome of all modern design.
Lydell Wiebe, PhD, PEng
Associate Professor and Endowed Chair in Effective Design of Structures
Director, Applied Dynamics Laboratory
Lydell Wiebe received his BASc (2005) and PhD (2013) in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto, and his MSc in Earthquake Engineering from the ROSE School in Pavia, Italy (2008). He is the Chair of Working Group 9 (Seismic Design) for CSA S16 (Design of Steel Structures), and he has received the GJ Jackson Fellowship Award and the HA Krentz Research Award from the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction. Dr. Wiebe is Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering and a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Earthquake Engineering and the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering.
Dr. Wiebe has received numerous awards for his teaching, including the McMaster University Faculty of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award (2017) and the McMaster Students Union Award for Excellence in Teaching (2014, 2017).
Outside the university, Dr. Wiebe enjoys the taste of cold water after a long run, the sound of making music with others, the sight of his kids running ahead of him on a hike in the woods, and the smell of his homemade bread baking in the oven.
Latest News
New Paper on Structural and Nonstructural Seismic Upgrade Strategies
March 27, 2022Dr. Paul Steneker's paper on a framework for quickly evaluating the viability of different seismic upgrade options, with integrated identification of non-structural upgrades, has now been published. It is available Open Access from Earthquake Spectra at https://doi.org/10.1177/87552930211065771.
McMaster University is located on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee and Mississauga Nations, and within the lands protected by the Dish with One Spoon wampum agreement.