Contact Us

Dr. John A. Gilbert

 john.gilbert@uah.edu

Phone: (256) 824-6029

Professor Gilbert has served as the webmaster for ConcreteCanoe.org since its launch in 2001.

John became involved in concrete canoeing in 1976 at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM) when he was asked by the ASCE Student Chapter to be on their faculty sprint team. He later joined the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) where he served as the Director of Civil Engineering from 1985 to 1990. 

During this time as an administrator, John helped found the UAH ASCE Student Club and secure ABET accreditation for the Civil Engineering program. After the program was accredited, he chartered the UAH ASCE Student Chapter. 

In 1990, after successfully petitioning the Alabama Commission on High Education (ACHE) to grant departmental status for Civil and Environmental Engineering, John returned to the faculty ranks as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the MAE Department where he focused on research. During this time, he also served as an Adjunct Professor of Civil Engineering at UAH, Adjunct Professor of Materials Science at the UAB and Tuscaloosa campuses, Director of the Consortium for Holography, Applied Mechanics and Photonics (CHAMP), Staff Member in the Center for Applied Optics (CAO), and President and CEO of Optechnology, Inc. Despite these many commitments, John continued to serve as a faculty advisor for Team UAH, UAH's concrete canoe team.

Although Dr. Gilbert officially retired from academia and industry in 2013, he currently leads a research team at UAH as a result of a University of Alabama Board of Trustees' resolution awarding him emeritus status.

National Concrete Canoe Competition Trivia Address question below.  Run mouse over photo to reveal answer.

Dr. Gilbert won the only two faculty races officially held as part of the NCCCs.  What type of races were they?

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