Hume Fellowship

Recipients of Hume Fellowship in 2001

Katherine Hill

The 2001 Hume Fellowship was awarded to Katherine Hill age 26, who was studying for a PhD at the University of Canterbury.  Katherine who graduated with BE(Hons) from Canterbury University spent three years working as a geotechnical engineer at Beca Carter Hollings and Ferner.  In February 2000 she returned to Canterbury University to undertake a PhD in seismic liquefaction trigger mechanisms based on the concepts of clastic response and dissipated energy.  Katherine applied to undertake three months study at the University Cambridge in UK to study state-of-the-art research and working under the direction of leading academics in the field.  At the recommendation of the Trustees she also undertook visits to other world leading institutions in France and USA.  Katherine, brought up in Greymouth, had won many scholarships in her undergraduate study and reached Grade 4 in music theory and pianoforte examinations. 

At Cambridge Katherine investigated the process of water dissipation when a liquefied soil is overlain by a less permeable layer under simulated earthquake conditions.  To study the effect, Katherine and her supervisor developed a small plywood box with a Perspex window, filled with saturated sand in which a thin silt seam is sandwiched.  The sand becomes liquefied by releasing a compressed air piston against the model.  This apparatus for undertaking analysis and allowing direct observation was significantly less expensive than conventional study equipment using centrifuges and other large laboratory models. Katherine presented the results of her research, jointly in a paper with Cambridge Professor Bolton, at the 2003 Pacific Conference on Earthquake Engineering held in Christchurch.