Head and shoulders passport photo of Dr. Karl Sauer, professor of Civil Engineering.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. Emil Karl Sauer was born 10 October 1929 in Regina, Saskatchewan. He obtained his BSc in Civil Engineering in 1952 from Queen’s University. Following graduation he joined the Saskatchewan Department of Highways, where he worked as a project engineer. During this time Dr. Sauer was responsible for over 30 road design and construction projects, including 100 miles of the TransCanada Highway. From 1962-1964 he was assistant design engineer primarily establishing new geometric design and safety standards for the provincial highway system. In 1964 Dr. Sauer received his MSc in Engineering Geology from Cornell University. From 1964-1967 Dr. Sauer served as the principal geotechnical engineer for the Department of Highways and was involved in the development of the original Geotechnical Section. During this time he worked on site characterization for major bridges, gravel location investigations, slope stability analysis and mitigation, subgrade failure investigations and groundwater control investigations in subgrades. Dr. Sauer completed his PhD in Geotechnical and Transportation Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1967. He then joined the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. Here Dr. Sauer was able to pass on much of the knowledge gained during his time with the Department of Highways and to conduct research into problems he had encountered in the field. Dr. Sauer instructed transportation engineering and engineering geology at the undergraduate level. His graduate classes included terrain evaluation and site investigation. Dr. Sauer’s research work involved the study of slope stability, in situ properties of clay shales, tills, glacial lacustrine clays and soft clays in groundwater discharge areas, and the basic physics of glacial processes. Dr. Sauer supervised numerous graduate students, all who have gone on to successful careers. He was a prolific researcher who published over 40 refereed journal papers, a significant number of which won awards. Along with these publications was a book entitled “Airphoto Interpretation for Terrain Evaluation”, and a number of chapters in other books. In 1994 Dr. Sauer took early retirement and formed a geotechnical consulting and research firm. Here he worked on many large projects for the provincial Highway Department and the provincial mining industry, particularly potash. In 1996 he co-authored a set of geological site characterization guidelines for Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management and the Saskatchewan Water Corporation. Dr. Sauer was active in his profession until his death on 4 May 2001 [in Regina].