USSD’s 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Ken Hansen, in recognition of his more than 50 years as arguably the most widely recognized author, lecturer, and consultant on roller-compacted concrete (RCC) for new dam construction and dam rehabilitation in the United States. His
passionate and steadfast commitment to the advancement of soil-cement and RCC practice can be traced back more than 50 years. Ken spent nearly 37 years of his career working for the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and later worked with Schnabel Engineering from 1997 to 2009. Thereafter, he provided private consulting and assisted ASI Constructors with part-time technical support. Throughout his long and productive career, Ken proactively engaged members of the technical community to support his passionate pursuit towards the advancement of soil-cement and RCC state of the practice, both in the United States and throughout the world. He often counseled design professionals to recognize that much of RCC design benefits from “Form following function”. This somewhat simplistic sounding guidance led to many of the major
advances in RCC design practice for new dams, raising of concrete dams, and armoring of earth embankment dams. There are few other advances in dam engineering in the last 30 years that compare to the benefits that RCC have had on the industry. Ken’s enthusiasm, optimism, and masterful creative efforts are highly regarded and recognized by his peers, as illustrated by the many awards for his contributions.