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1946-2005
Boyd Colton Paulson
The National Academy of Construction lost one of its early academic members with the death of Boyd Colton Paulson, Jr., on 1 December 2005 at the age of 59 years. Family and friends celebrated his life at a memorial service at the Stanford Memorial Church on 7 February 2006. Boyd’s major contributions in construction education and research and in providing affordable housing mean that he will be greatly missed in many professional and non-profit organizations and by a large group of friends.
Boyd grew up in a heavy construction family. He was born in Providence, R.I., on March 1, 1946, the oldest of five children. His father served as a project and operations manager for Utah Construction and the family relocated frequently. In 1962 and 1963, he and his family lived in a remote construction camp in Australia while Boyd Paulson Sr. managed one of the larger elements of the Snowy Mountain Project, a major infrastructure development. While attending high school in Australia, Boyd met his future wife, Jane Kingdon, who was in his 1963 graduating class. Jane remained in Australia to attend the University of Sydney, while Boyd enrolled at the University of Utah. In 1965, he transferred to Stanford, eventually earning three degrees in civil engineering: BS 67, MS ‘69 and PhD ‘71.
Boyd was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the lymph system, at age 21. Jane visited him shortly after he completed early experimental chemotherapy treatment. They were married a few months later in February 1970. The family eventually grew to include their son Jeffrey and daughter Laura and they all enjoyed 36 happy years together.
Boyd served as an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Illinois from 1972 to 1974. He then returned to Stanford to join the faculty in the graduate Construction Engineering and Management Program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where he served for 31 years. During this time, he also served as a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo (1978), the Technical University of Munich (1983), the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland (1990-91), and the University of Hawaii (1998).
Boyd’s commitment and tireless actions resulted in his major role in building the academic discipline of construction. His fundamental approach, creativity, view of new technology, and interaction with industry built a solid foundation for this new field. The workshop that he organized in 1975 for industry and academic leaders such as NAC members set goals for basic research in construction that charted the course for many years. His work with the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Business Roundtable, and others resulted in understanding of new technology for heavy civil work that significantly advanced practice.
He worked on two of the largest U.S. urban rail projects in the second half of the 20th century—BART, in Northern California, and Metrorail, in Washington, D.C.—as a researcher focusing on lessening the disruption caused by construction in urban areas. His other construction projects included a dam and tunnel on Australia’s Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme, a pipeline in Alaska, and a six-month analysis of urban tunneling in Japan.
Teaching was always a labor of love for Boyd. He put tremendous effort in developing materials and industry contacts to provide an intense learning experience. Students marveled at his ability to balance such very different topics as the performance and economics of construction equipment or the entitlement and construction of affordable housing in one course in a way that increased student interest in both.
Boyd became a passionate teacher and builder of affordable housing. His initial intention was to provide an opportunity for students in his field operations course to plan work at the crew level, try to implement their plans on Habitat for Humanity projects, and learn greatly about the reality of major challenges in getting something built. But, as was usual for Boyd, he did much more. He first offered a course on the design and construction of affordable housing during the 1998-99 academic year and added a freshman seminar covering this topic the following year. Taking the pragmatic view as always, he moved these courses away from the field construction topics that he loved toward other activities critical in the success of these projects, such as funding and entitling land and designing homes that satisfied community plans, constrained sites, and met family needs. Many of the students who enrolled in one of the nine total offerings of these courses gained more than Boyd’s extensive knowledge of the field; they gained a passion for helping.
To continue his involvement in affordable housing, Boyd served on the boards of two of the Bay Area’s leading nonprofit organizations focusing in this area—Peninsula Habitat for Humanity and the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition. He provided major input to construction oversight of Peninsula Habitat for Humanity’s $2 million, 24-unit condominium project for low-income residents in East Palo Alto, California. Stanford recognized this exceptional community service by awarding Boyd the 2004 Miriam Aaron Roland Volunteer Service Prize, which is given annually to faculty members who have demonstrated a personal commitment to community service and have engaged students to integrate academic scholarship with significant volunteer work.
Many other key roles by Boyd indicated his commitment to the construction profession. He chaired the ASCE Committee on Professional Construction Management from 1974 to 1977 and the National Science Foundation Civil and Environmental Engineering Division Advisory Committee from 1983 to 1989. He also served as vice chair of the U.S. National Committee on Tunneling Technology (1986-89) and the National Research Council Panel for Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (1995-98). His professional honors include the ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (1980), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship (Germany, 1983), the ASCE Construction Management Award (1984) and 1993 Peurifoy Construction Research Award (1993). In 1984, he was named a distinguished scholar by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People’s Republic of China, and in 1986 he was honored with the Project Management Institute (PMI) Distinguished Contributions Award. He was elected to the National Academy of Construction in 2001.
Professor Raymond Levitt, Boyd’s colleague in the Stanford construction program for over 25 years, described him well: “Boyd Paulson was a gracious, kind, intelligent, and caring colleague, professor, adviser, and friend. I will always be inspired and guided by his consistent, flawless integrity in all matters, professional and private. The way in which he lived each phase of his life, and the quiet courage and dignity with which he managed the end of his life, will serve as a lasting beacon of inspiration to all who knew him.”
-C. B. Tatum, 2006
Boyd grew up in a heavy construction family. He was born in Providence, R.I., on March 1, 1946, the oldest of five children. His father served as a project and operations manager for Utah Construction and the family relocated frequently. In 1962 and 1963, he and his family lived in a remote construction camp in Australia while Boyd Paulson Sr. managed one of the larger elements of the Snowy Mountain Project, a major infrastructure development. While attending high school in Australia, Boyd met his future wife, Jane Kingdon, who was in his 1963 graduating class. Jane remained in Australia to attend the University of Sydney, while Boyd enrolled at the University of Utah. In 1965, he transferred to Stanford, eventually earning three degrees in civil engineering: BS 67, MS ‘69 and PhD ‘71.
Boyd was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the lymph system, at age 21. Jane visited him shortly after he completed early experimental chemotherapy treatment. They were married a few months later in February 1970. The family eventually grew to include their son Jeffrey and daughter Laura and they all enjoyed 36 happy years together.
Boyd served as an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Illinois from 1972 to 1974. He then returned to Stanford to join the faculty in the graduate Construction Engineering and Management Program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where he served for 31 years. During this time, he also served as a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo (1978), the Technical University of Munich (1983), the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland (1990-91), and the University of Hawaii (1998).
Boyd’s commitment and tireless actions resulted in his major role in building the academic discipline of construction. His fundamental approach, creativity, view of new technology, and interaction with industry built a solid foundation for this new field. The workshop that he organized in 1975 for industry and academic leaders such as NAC members set goals for basic research in construction that charted the course for many years. His work with the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Business Roundtable, and others resulted in understanding of new technology for heavy civil work that significantly advanced practice.
He worked on two of the largest U.S. urban rail projects in the second half of the 20th century—BART, in Northern California, and Metrorail, in Washington, D.C.—as a researcher focusing on lessening the disruption caused by construction in urban areas. His other construction projects included a dam and tunnel on Australia’s Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme, a pipeline in Alaska, and a six-month analysis of urban tunneling in Japan.
Teaching was always a labor of love for Boyd. He put tremendous effort in developing materials and industry contacts to provide an intense learning experience. Students marveled at his ability to balance such very different topics as the performance and economics of construction equipment or the entitlement and construction of affordable housing in one course in a way that increased student interest in both.
Boyd became a passionate teacher and builder of affordable housing. His initial intention was to provide an opportunity for students in his field operations course to plan work at the crew level, try to implement their plans on Habitat for Humanity projects, and learn greatly about the reality of major challenges in getting something built. But, as was usual for Boyd, he did much more. He first offered a course on the design and construction of affordable housing during the 1998-99 academic year and added a freshman seminar covering this topic the following year. Taking the pragmatic view as always, he moved these courses away from the field construction topics that he loved toward other activities critical in the success of these projects, such as funding and entitling land and designing homes that satisfied community plans, constrained sites, and met family needs. Many of the students who enrolled in one of the nine total offerings of these courses gained more than Boyd’s extensive knowledge of the field; they gained a passion for helping.
To continue his involvement in affordable housing, Boyd served on the boards of two of the Bay Area’s leading nonprofit organizations focusing in this area—Peninsula Habitat for Humanity and the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition. He provided major input to construction oversight of Peninsula Habitat for Humanity’s $2 million, 24-unit condominium project for low-income residents in East Palo Alto, California. Stanford recognized this exceptional community service by awarding Boyd the 2004 Miriam Aaron Roland Volunteer Service Prize, which is given annually to faculty members who have demonstrated a personal commitment to community service and have engaged students to integrate academic scholarship with significant volunteer work.
Many other key roles by Boyd indicated his commitment to the construction profession. He chaired the ASCE Committee on Professional Construction Management from 1974 to 1977 and the National Science Foundation Civil and Environmental Engineering Division Advisory Committee from 1983 to 1989. He also served as vice chair of the U.S. National Committee on Tunneling Technology (1986-89) and the National Research Council Panel for Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (1995-98). His professional honors include the ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (1980), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship (Germany, 1983), the ASCE Construction Management Award (1984) and 1993 Peurifoy Construction Research Award (1993). In 1984, he was named a distinguished scholar by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People’s Republic of China, and in 1986 he was honored with the Project Management Institute (PMI) Distinguished Contributions Award. He was elected to the National Academy of Construction in 2001.
Professor Raymond Levitt, Boyd’s colleague in the Stanford construction program for over 25 years, described him well: “Boyd Paulson was a gracious, kind, intelligent, and caring colleague, professor, adviser, and friend. I will always be inspired and guided by his consistent, flawless integrity in all matters, professional and private. The way in which he lived each phase of his life, and the quiet courage and dignity with which he managed the end of his life, will serve as a lasting beacon of inspiration to all who knew him.”
-C. B. Tatum, 2006
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