The G.J. Jackson Fellowship is awarded annually in memory of the late Geoffrey Jackson. Mr. Jackson was for many years a leader in the Canadian structural steel fabrication industry and was a founding member of the Steel Structures Education Foundation (SSEF) now oversees by CISC Education & Research Council. This prestigious award is currently valued at $25,000 over a one-year period and is presented annually to an engineering student who, in the following academic year, will be registered in the first to fourth year of full-time graduate studies in structural engineering, with major emphasis on the study of steel structures. The award, presented at the CISC Annual Steel Conference, is commemorated with the G.J. Jackson Memorial Certificate.
Geoffrey James Jackson was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, February 25, 1929. After receiving a Diploma in Civil Engineering in 1954, he emigrated to Canada. He was devoted to the improvement of the structural steel industry in Canada. Mr. Jackson served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction from 1962 and was Chairman from 1976 to 1978. He was also a long-time member of the Board of the Canadian Steel Construction Council; Chairman of the Interim Board of Governors of the Steel Structures Education Foundation; and served on the Board until his death on August 31, 1986.2025 G. J. Jackson Fellowship
Lily Wilson
Lily Wilson is a PhD candidate at McMaster University, supervised by Drs. Lydell Wiebe, Cancan Yang, and Taylor Steele. Her research focuses on Controlled Rocking Braced Frames (CRBFs)—a seismic design approach that reduces structural damage and residual drift during earthquakes by allowing column uplift, unlike traditional braced frames that rely on member yielding.
Lily developed a static design procedure for CRBFs tailored to Canadian standards, making them as straightforward to design as conventional systems. Her method aligns with the National Building Code’s static force procedure and uses mechanics-based equations to simplify complex aspects like higher mode effects and energy dissipation.
She is currently exploring machine learning to predict drift behavior across Canada and improve CRBF design accuracy. Future work includes designing simple, pre-tested energy dissipation devices compatible with standard steel construction practices, aiming to make low-damage systems more accessible to engineers.
Her final research phase will involve a collapse assessment of CRBFs to support their inclusion in Canadian building codes, validating force reduction factors and drift estimation techniques.