California State University, USA
Professor Braja Das is the Dean Emeritus of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, California State University, USA. He is a geotechnical engineering by profession and received his Ph.D. degree in 1972 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. For more than three decades, Professor Das has worked as a faculty member and in academic administration in several universities. He is a Fellow and Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers; Life Member of the American Society for Engineering Education; and Emeritus Member of TRB’s AFS-80 Committee on Stabilization of Geomaterials and Stabilized Materials.
As a teacher, he has received many teaching awards including the Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching Excellence, University of Texas at El Paso (1983); AMOCO Foundation Award for Outstanding Teaching, University of Texas at El Paso (1983); Western Electric Fund Award, ASEE (1984); Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, Society of Automotive Engineers Inc. (1985).
Professor Das has published more than 300 papers in various journals and peer-reviewed conference proceedings. They are mostly in the areas of shallow foundations, earth anchors, and geosynthetics. He published some of the early founding studies on the bearing capacity of shallow foundations on geogrid-reinforced sand. His past editorial activities in geotechnical engineering journals include Editorial Board member of Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE (1988-1992); Lowland Technology International, Japan (1999-2007); Geotextiles and Geomembranes, Elsevier, UK (2008 – present). He was the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering (1995-1998); and Co-Editor of Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, Springer (2001-2006). He is founder and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering (Taylor and Francis, UK) since 2007 up to the present.
Dr. Das has been a very popular keynote / or invited speaker in many conferences and special meetings in various countries. These countries include Mexico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, India, University of Birmingham, UK, Korea, Bolivia, Venezuela, Turkey, Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, and Tunisia. He has been named as the first Eulalio Juárez Badillo Lecturer by the Mexican Society of Geotechnical Engineers (November 2016).
Professor Das is the author/co-author of several text and reference books in the area of geotechnical engineering, probably having written more than any other individual in geotechnical engineering. His textbooks have been translated into several languages and are used throughout the world. His clear, concise, and singularly-unique style of presentation is very much admired; thereby attracting many students over the last 25 years who might not have considered geotechnical engineering as a profession.
This is truly his most outstanding achievement which has endeared him to many young geotechnical engineers around the world. This is his legacy -- now and for years to come.
Prof. Dr. Eng. Mohamed Shahin;
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Dr Mohamed Shahin is an Associate Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Curtin University, Australia. He obtained his BSc and MSc from Cairo University, Egypt, and his PhD from the University of Adelaide, Australia. He has over 25 years of academic and industrial experience, and his research interests include Computational Geomechanics, Ground Improvement and Railway Track Geo-technology. He published over 130 peer-reviewed research papers, most of which in top-tier journals. He is an Associate Editor of Australian Journal of Civil Engineering, Fellow Member of Engineers Australia, Fellow Member of American Society of Civil Engineers. He received several awards, including the Pro Vice-Chancellor Award for Teaching Excellence (2010 & 2015), Vice-Chancellor Award for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching (2011 & 2016) and Professional Development Award (2014), all from Curtin University, Australia. He also received the prestigious Prix R.M. Quigley Award (honourable mention) from the Canadian Geotechnical Society (2013) and the best paper award from the 2nd International Conference on Geotechnical Research and Engineering held in Barcelona, Spain (2017).
Problematic soils (e.g. loose, erodible and collapsible) are widespread in the world and greatly hinder infrastructure developments. Such unstable soils pose significant challenges to the geotechnical engineering communities due to their low bearing capacity and high compressibility, causing severe damages to civil engineering structures such as building foundations, roads, retaining walls, etc. Engineered ground improvement is often necessary to increase soil load-carrying capacity and prevent excessive post-construction deformations. However, existing techniques of ground improvement can be highly expensive (e.g. pile foundations) and some have significant environmental, sometimes toxic effects (e.g. chemical stabilisation by Portland cement). In this presentation, an innovative technology for ground improvement, through biologically induced cementation, will be presented and discussed. This technology uses a bacteria-driven process that results in calcite precipitation, which mimics the natural digenesis from sand to sandstone or lime to limestone, only within a short time instead of million years. The technology is eco-friendly and sustainable, and is expected to replace most conventional soil stabilisation methods, for superior urban and coastal infrastructure developments.