As dams practice leader in the Americas region, Glenn Tarbox plays key roles in many current projects, including the San Vicente Dam Raise in California (U.S.) and the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project in Alaska (U.S.), in addition to providing QA/QC reviews on numerous projects and growing the dams sector in the region through recruitment, application of technology, and industry involvement.
This year, Glenn has been the recipient of numerous honors and distinctions to recognize his more than 50 years of contribution and excellence in the field of dam engineering, including the United States Society on Dams (USSD) Lifetime Achievement Award and one of the Top 20 Contributors to the Dam Engineering Sector as named by International Water Power and Dam Construction.
Glenn began his career as a dam design and construction engineer with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) in 1961. He was part of the team that developed ADSAS (Arch Dam Stress Analysis System), a computerized version of the Trial Load Method of analysis for arch dams, was a co-author of the Bureau’s Design of Gravity Dams, Design of Arch Dams and Engineering Monograph No. 19 Design Criteria for Concrete Arch and Gravity Dams. He introduced the application of the Finite Element Method of analysis for concrete dams into the Bureau, directing the addition of dynamic analysis to ADSAS and pioneering roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dams technology, initiating and directing studies for the Upper Stillwater Dam, the largest RCC dam in the U.S. at the time of construction.
Glenn has worked in 78 countries over the span of his career and on many notable MWH projects around the world including the Tekeze Dam in Ethiopia and Karahnjukar Dam in Iceland. He has seen first-hand the positive impacts wet infrastructure projects make on communities, noting:
“Folks around the world, particularly in developing nations, see our projects as much more than purely infrastructure. They think in terms of flood control to stop the ravages of floods that destroy their lands and homes, irrigation to provide water to arid ground so that they can grow food for their kids and grass for their livestock, reservoirs to provide clean water supplies for drinking, and electricity to light their houses and power radios, televisions and small businesses. These things are really rewarding to be a part of.”
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