On March 15, Purdue Civil Engineering alum William F. Brumund (BSCE '64, MSCE '65, PhD '69) will receive the Outstanding Projects And Leaders (OPAL) Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The award recognizes a person’s extraordinary contributions to the civil engineering industry throughout their career.

Dr. Brumund attended Purdue University where he earned a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD in civil engineering with a specialty in geotechnical engineering. After graduation, Dr. Brumund accepted a position as a professor in the civil engineering department at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses and advised many graduate students. After five years at Georgia Tech, he left as a tenured professor to join Golder Associates.

Golder Associates is a consulting engineering firm that began in 1960 as an employee-owned firm with about 7,000 employees. Dr. Brumund opened the Atlanta office and practiced geotechnical engineering while managing and directing various civil engineering projects. He became the President of Golder Associates US operations in 1982 and in 1985 he became President and Global CEO of Golder Associates.

As President and CEO, Dr. Brumund helped transform the specialty North American geotechnical consultancy into a global multi-disciplined market leader and grew the company by 2,000 employees during the eleven years he was CEO. During that time, he expanded the firm’s operations in the United Kingdom, started a company in Germany, acquired a firm in Sweden, acquired a firm in Italy, started a firm in Hungary, acquired all the stock in a partially-owned affiliated company in Australia, and expanded Golder Associates’ operations in Hong Kong.

Dr. Brumund, while CEO, continued to maintain client relationships and continued to work on and direct major engineering projects. He also served on the Golder’s parent company’s Board of Directors for 33 years until he officially retired in 2008.

Throughout his career, Dr. Brumund was registered as a Professional Engineer in 20 states. He also wrote 27 technical papers and gave 54 invited talks at various venues in the United States and other countries.

He has provided litigation support and has served as an expert witness on many large construction claims for 35 years. He also serves as an arbitrator on construction claims for disputes managed by the American Arbitration Association. And, from 1996 to 2005, Dr. Brumund served as a member of the Purdue School of Civil Engineering Advisory Council.

In 1993, Dr. Brumund was honored by Purdue University with the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award. In 2000, he was recognized as the Chapter Honor Member of the Purdue Chapter of Chi Epsilon. He was also the recipient of the 2006 Heroes Award from the ASCE Geo-Institute.