Seminar Series

Geotechnical Engineering & Geomechanics

The Geotechnical Engineering and Geomechanics group frequently holds public seminars from visiting researchers and practitioners. If you are interested in giving a seminar, please contact one of the faculty.

The Geotechnical Engineering and Geomechanics faculty also organize the annual Jack Hilf Lecture. Hilf was a world-famous dam engineer with the US Bureau of Reclamation, and was the first PhDÌýgraduate from the GEG program. The Hilf lecture is one of the main annual geotechnical events in Colorado. There have been more than 20 lectures to date by prominent geotechnical engineering leaders.

  • 2025 Andrew J. Whittle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lessons Learned from Case Studies of Structures Built on Normally Consolidated Clays
  • 2023ÌýRonaldo I. Borja,ÌýStanford University,ÌýBridging nanoindentation and triaxial creep tests on a shale
  • 2022 Ross Boulanger, University of California, Davis,ÌýNonlinear Viscoplastic Modeling of the Feijão Dam 1 Failure
  • ​2019ÌýRudolph Bonaparte, Geosyntec Consultants, Inc.,ÌýGeotechnical Stability of Waste Fills – Lessons Learned and Continuing Challenges
  • 2018 Guy Houlsby, University of Oxford, New design methods for very large laterally loaded piles
  • 2017 Richard Finno, Northwestern University, Failures of geo-structures: can they be prevented?
  • 2016 Steven Kramer, University of Washington, Past, Present, and Future Developments in Liquefaction Hazard Analysis
  • 2015 Malcom Bolton, University of Cambridge,ÌýPerformance-Based Design in Geotechnics
  • 2014 Kenneth H. StokoeÌýII, University of TexasÌýAustin, Effectiveness of Inhibiting Liquefaction Triggering by Shallow Ground
  • 2013 Kenneth Been, Golder Associates Ltd. (Halifax, Canada), Design of Mine Tailings for Liquefaction: Making Paste Tailings Work
  • 2012 Nicholas Sitar, University of CaliforniaÌýBerkeley, Seismically Induced Lateral Earth Pressures: If not Mononobe-Okabe, then what?
  • 2011 Tom O'Rourke, Cornell University, Geohazards and Large Geographically Distributed Systems
  • 2010 Raymond J. Krizek, Northwestern University, Civil Engineering Challenges of Tomorrow
  • 2009