James A. Blatz

James A. Blatz is currently the Associate Dean of Research in the  Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba and Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. He is also President of TREK Geotechnical Inc., a consulting company providing geotechnical engineering consulting services nationally. Dr. Blatz conducts research on flood protection infrastructure and risk management for geotechnical applications.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Manitoba, Dr. Blatz was an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the GeoEngineering Centre at Queen's University - Royal Military College of Canada from 2000 to 2001. He is a recipient of the 2009 Rh Award for outstanding research contributions, the 2006 Engineers Canada Young Engineer Achievement Award, and the 2005 Early Achievement Award from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of Manitoba. He was the 2007 Canadian Geotechnical Society Colloquium speaker and in 2009 was appointed a Fellow of Engineers Canada.

Dr. Blatz is Chair of NSERC’s Committee on Grants and Scholarships.