Susan Tighe - 2016/2017

Susan Tighe - Civil and Environmental Engineering

Professor Susan Tighe has accumulated a distinguished record of research, teaching, graduate supervision, and service to the profession. She joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2000 and has supervised/co-supervised 19 postdoctoral researchers, 19 doctoral and 46 master’s students. 

Prof. Tighe has been the Norman W. McLeod Chair in Sustainable Pavement Engineering since 2011 and has inspired her graduate students to carry out impactful research. She and her students have won numerous national and international awards for best paper and best presentations and have published over 400 papers in journals and conferences.

Prof. Tighe is an internationally recognized leader in her field. She is the Director of the Centre of Pavement and Transportation Technology and the President-elect of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. She has led and been involved in numerous national and international research projects including projects in Africa, India, Chile, China, Australia, New Zealand and North America.  She is also a recipient of the Faculty of Engineering Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision.

Prof. Tighe’s students describe her as “very understanding and supportive with a contagious positive attitude”, a supervisor who “has a keen sense of what is practical and relevant in the real world and makes sure that her students produce work that can be applied”, “the best at getting her students involved in real projects”, and someone who “genuinely cares about us”.

The University of Waterloo is fortunate to have Prof. Susan Tighe as a graduate supervisor, researcher, and educator in the Faculty of Engineering.