Citation on the award of NZSEE Fellow, April 2020
Dr David Whittaker is a highly respected structural engineer specializing in earthquake engineering who has worked in the field for over 30 years. He is a Senior Technical Director – Structural Engineering and Technical Fellow at Beca where he has led numerous structural design projects and provided professional engineering advice to numerous clients regards earthquake engineering matters. He is a recognized international expert in seismic isolation.
David completed his engineering education at the University of Canterbury where he first completed a BE and ME and was then awarded a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1988.
He has been a member of NZSEE for over 30 years and has contributed in many ways to the society including:
- a member of the NZSEE management committee in 1998 and 2016 to 2020.
- President of NZSEE 2018 – 2020,
- NZSEE conference convenor for the 2017 conference which was combined with the 15th World Conference on Seismic Isolation through his leadership and organization,
- Editor and Convenor of the Revised NZSEE recommendations for Seismic Design of Storage Tanks, 2009, and
- Joint project lead for the NZSEE Guideline for the Design of Seismic Isolation Systems for Buildings, 2019.
David was the winner of the best Research paper award at the NZSEE conference in 2013 and the winner of the best practice paper award at the NZSEE conference in 2016.