Fernandez, Alonso

CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 2003
ALONSO FERNANDEZ
to be Doctor of Science

It is the mark of the modern University that its professors and researchers collaborate with like-minded scholars around the world. At the University of New Brunswick, one of the most successful such connections links students and faculty in the Department of Civil Engineering with their counterparts at the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico. Alonso Fernandez is the key figure in that collaboration. After a long and distinguished career as a teacher, scholar, research, and administrator, he is today a professor at the Regional Development Centre and an internationally recognized academic in the fields of engineering and physics. We welcome him to UNB as a friend and colleague. We likewise welcome his wife, Margaret, whose parents, as it turns out, both graduated from UNB in the class of 1912. In many ways, this is like a reunion for us all.

Professor Fernandez’s career spans fifty years during which he studied in Mexico, California, and the United Kingdom. His PhD is from the University of Manchester. At every step of the way, he has been honoured with awards and scholarships in recognition of his outstanding academic achievement and scholarly contribution. He has variously won the Distinguished Member Medal of the Institute of Physics at the National University of Mexico, an honorary doctorate from Metropolitan University, the National Science Prize awarded by the president of Mexico, and an Award of the American Society for the Advancement of Science. His field of specialty and many of his scholarly papers deal with the construction of bridges and buildings using ferrocement. It may sound esoteric, but in fact, his work has had a most practical edge. He is particularly interested in the application of new building techniques using ferrocement in the construction of housing for the poor of southern Mexico. He is interested in all technical applications that might improve the quality of life in an entire region; hence, his present position as a professor in a regional development centre.

His career, however, has taken him in many directions. Most of his early publications were in the field of physics and his articles appeared in leading journals in Mexico, Britain, and the United States. In 1971, he became the Director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Mexico, and later became the founding rector of the Metropolitan University in Mexico City. On its campus, the Postgraduate Studies and Education building bears his name. He gained international recognition for his work in helping organize a trilateral Canada-Mexico-USA meeting on “General Policies to Promote the Advance of Science.” He served as a Mexican delegate in the field of physics on the Science and Technology Commission of the Organization of American States. He is a member of the Housing and Terrestrial Structures Committee of the International Ferrocement Society, and he is listed in Who’s Who in the World 2003.

The opportunity to develop a working relationship between Professor Fernandez’s school and UNB developed in 1995 when two of our professors of Education were visiting Oaxaca. They put Professor Fernandez in touch with Professor Ted Bremner of our Civil Engineering Department, and before long two Mexican students were enrolled in PhD programs at UNB. From there the two schools have continued to exchange visits and share knowledge under a general agreement of cooperation and academic exchange. UNB graduates teach construction engineering on the Oaxaca campus of the National Polytechnic Institute, thanks to Professor Fernandez’s initiative and guidance.

Today, in the highest traditions of scholarly cooperation and collegiality, we celebrate a partnership that transcends physical and linguistic boundaries. Much honoured in his remarkable career, Professor Alonso Fernandez is for us a valued friend, neighbour, and collaborator. We hope that this honorary degree is as special for him as it is for us.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 4