Sandy Laird Service Award in
Mining Engineering Endowment

The Sandy Laird Service Award in Mining Engineering supports second and third year undergraduate students majoring in Mining Engineering at UBC. The awards are for mining engineering students who aspire to become industry leaders through careers in mine operations and management. Strong leadership abilities are critical to advancement in the mining industry; therefore, candidates must have demonstrated leadership through active participation in extracurricular activities.

Your gift to the Sandy Laird Service Award in Mining Engineering will directly support mining engineering undergraduate students who have demonstrated leadership through active participation in extra-curricular activities in high school, university, the wider community and/or in sports. Any gift you make will be added to an endowed sum of $6,000 that is made available to students each year through the fund.

Mr. Laird has offered to match all new donations to the Sandy Laird Service Award in Mining Engineering up to a total of $5,000, effectively doubling the impact of each donation received.

A.M. “Sandy” Laird

As a mining engineering alumnus, Sandy has shown great leadership through his ongoing involvement with, and support of, the Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. He served as past Chair of the Institute’s Industry Advisory Committee, taught MINE 410 (Open Pit Mine Design) and has mentored many cohorts of students.

Sandy began his own career after graduating from UBC in 1957 and joining Placer Dome in 1960. Quickly establishing himself as a driving force in the company’s project development group, he became a key participant in the growth and transformation of Placer Dome into one of the world’s great mining companies before it was acquired by Barrick Gold in 2006.

Sandy’s contributions to the Faculty of Applied Science have been recognized through numerous honours, including the Dean’s Medal of Distinction in 2016. In 2019, he was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.