2024 Early Accomplishment Award Recipient

On any given day, you might find Dr. Kshama Roy in his office assessing pipeline geohazards, at a conference speaking on pipeline integrity, or in a lecture hall teaching new generations of geotechnical and pipeline engineers. He has one foot firmly planted in industry, the other in academia—and he’s left an imprint on both.

Since completing his bachelor’s degree 15 years ago, Dr. Roy has become an internationally recognized expert in pipeline integrity focusing on pipe-soil interaction. High levels of success aren’t new to him, though. In Bangladesh, where he grew up and started his career, Dr. Roy was among the top-ranked undergrads in his civil engineering program. While completing his master’s and PhD with distinction at Memorial University of Newfoundland, he developed breakthrough soil models for sustainable infrastructure.

After joining Northern Crescent in Calgary, Dr. Roy established the company’s pipeline integrity team and its research and development department. He led the development of eight automated software programs that revolutionized the firm’s pipeline engineering services. Two years ago, he became one of the youngest principal specialists at DNV, a worldwide independent expert in assurance and risk management.

Dr. Roy remains a passionate researcher and has published seven journal and 18 conference papers in the last five years. “Due to a changing climate, natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, and wildfires pose significant threats to the integrity of our built environment,” he notes. “A forward-thinking, sustainable strategy is required to minimize the vulnerability of infrastructure to these risks.”

He secured grants for more than a dozen joint research projects resulting in advanced methods used by industry to improve pipeline design and integrity. “Collaborations between industry and academia drives out-of-the-box thinking, which often leads to transformative solutions,” says Dr. Roy.

He’s also an adjunct civil engineering professor at Memorial University and served as an adjunct professor at the University of Manitoba and a sessional lecturer at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Roy is motivated by his desire to create a sustainable future, not only in his career but also in his community. Through a memorial fund he helped establish in his late father’s memory, Dr. Roy and his wife provide full educational and living costs for seven underprivileged girls in Bangladesh, and they have partially adopted two orphaned elephants in Kenya.

Awards and Distinctions

• Bright Spark Lecture Award, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (2024)
• Early Achievement Award, Canadian Geotechnical Society (2023)
• Most Promising Engineer-Midstream, Gulf Energy Awards (2023)
• Innovative Thinker Award, Pipeline and Gas Journal (2021)
• Outstanding Young Pipeline Professional Award, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2020)
• Chancellor’s Graduate Award and Fry Family Foundation Graduate Leadership Award, Memorial University of Newfoundland (2018; 2013)
• Chevron Canada Limited Rising Star Award, Memorial University of Newfoundland (2016; 2015)

Professional Affiliations and Activities

• Advisor, Young Engineers Engagement Committee & Co-Chair, Tutorial Committee, International Pipeline Conference (2023–present)
• Chair, Young Pipeliners Engagement Committee, Pipeline Technology Conference (2022–present)
• Technical Co-Chair, GeoCalgary (2022)
• Chair, Young Pipeliners International (2021–2022)
• Chair, Young Professional Committee, Canadian Geotechnical Society (2021–present)
• Director, Southern Alberta Chapter, Canadian Geotechnical Society (2020–2022)
• Member, APEGA (2019–present)
• President, Teaching Assistants’ Union, Memorial University (2013–2015)
• President, Engineering Graduate Students Society, Memorial University (2012–2013)