Kenneth C. Johns, Ph.D., Eng.
kenneth.johns@USherbrooke.ca
Dr. Ken Johns grew up in Montreal and was educated at McGill University and in England at University College London. He has taught at l'Université de Sherbrooke since 1970 with sabbaticals at Cranfield and at UBC. His early research interests were in the field of stability and post-buckling behaviour and in vibrations. His teaching is in the area of mechanics, structures and design. He has been Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and acting Vice-rector at the Université de Sherbrooke and managed a CIDA-financed development project for a new Faculty of Engineering in Central Africa.
To early research interests has been added work in timber structures, including contributions to understanding the duration-of-load weakening of commercial grade timber. The strength of timber beam-columns using the in-grade approach was a topic of work done in the 1980's. Results from the labs at UBC and at Sherbrooke lead to a new column design curve incorporated into the Canadian code since the 1990 NBCC. Dr. Johns remains a member of the CSA Technical committees responsible for the Canadian Code on Engineering Design in Wood (CSA 086) and is Chair of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code's Technical Subcommittee on Timber Structures (CSA S6).
In 1993 he was chair of a Quebec government committee seeking solutions for the problem of a new roof for the Olympic stadium in Montreal and has remained an advisor to the Crown Corporation that owns and maintains this complex structure. In 1998 and 1999 he chaired the structural engineering sub-committee supporting the Quebec government Commission of inquiry into the multi-dimensional consequences of the ice storm of January 1998.
Since 1998, Dr. Johns has been a member of the ISIS team conducting research into retrofit possibilities for the reinforcement of timber beams using advanced composite materials.
Dr. Johns is also involved in research into engineering education and new forms of competency-based curriculum development.
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