William Allen McLaren (born 1938) is a retired Canadian engineer living (as of 2023) in southeastern British Columbia. Born and raised in Saint-Lambert, Quebec, McLaren graduated in 1960 from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree.[1]
McLaren's early career involved hydrographic surveys in the Canadian arctic and the Persian Gulf before he joined the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions in 1964 as a glaciologist based in Wilkes Station in Antarctica.[2] McLaren Ridge in Antarctica is named after him. As a result of his Antarctic researches,[3] McLaren received a Master of Science degree from the University of Melbourne in 1968 and the Polar Medal in 1969.[4][5]
McLaren was Senior Engineer and later President of Western Canada Hydraulic Laboratories, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, from 1975 to 1991. His publications and presentations include: