Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

William E. Saul, PhD, PE

William Saul
  • MS Civil Engineering 1961
  • BS Civil Engineering 1955

Dr. William E. Saul, a 1955 civil engineering graduate of Michigan Tech, is a Professor and Past Chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University. After receiving his baccalaureate, he worked for Shell Oil Company before returning to Michigan Tech to obtain a M.S. in civil engineering in 1961. He earned a doctorate in civil engineering at Northwestern University in 1964.

Dr. Saul served on the faculty in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison from 1964 to 1984, serving as its chair from 1976 to 1980. His primary teaching and research interests focus on structural engineering, a field within which he has published extensively. From 1984 to 1990, Dr. Saul was Dean of Engineering at the University of Idaho, and in 1990 he moved to Michigan State University where he served five years as the Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

He has numerous awards and honors including the Order of the Engineer, Honor Member of the Wisconsin Chapter of Chi Epsilon, Honor Member of the Wisconsin Alpha Chapter of Tau Beta Pi, Alexander von Humboldt Scholar, and a Fulbright Grant to name just a few. He is a fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers and was Wisconsin's Section president and is a member of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineers, and the Michigan Society of Professional Engineers. He is a registered professional engineer in Idaho, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

He has a long history of service to the profession serving on boards and panels of several councils and associations, including being a member of the National Science Foundation's Structures and Materials Engineering Advisory Board, serving as a visitor for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, and serving as the President of the Wisconsin Chapter of Sigma Xi. He is a member of Michigan Tech's President's Club.

From 1994 Induction to the Civil and Environmental Engineering Academy