Current Post-Docs

• Yu Lu (2021-present) - Coupled Heat Transfer and Water Flow in Compacted Bentonite

Current PhD Students:

• Kaitlin Hall (2015-present) - Ph.D. Candidate - Consolidation of Unsaturated Soils (Primary Advisor: P. Fox)

• Axel Yarahuaman (2020-present) - Ph.D.  Student - Shake Table Testing of Rail Embankments

Graduated PhD Students:

• Yong-Beom Lee, Ph.D. – Deformation Analysis of Shored Mechanically Stabilized Walls. (co-Advisor: H.-Y. Ko) 

• Majid Ghayoomi, Ph.D. – Settlement of Unsaturated Soil Layers during Earthquake Shaking. (co-Advisor: H.-Y. Ko)

• Ali Khosravi, Ph.D. – Impact of Stress State on the Dynamic Properties of Unsaturated Soils

• Nahed Alsherif, Ph.D.  – Nonisothermal Behavior of Unsaturated Silt Under High Suction Magnitudes

• Charles James Coccia, Ph.D. - Mechanisms of Thermal Volume Change of Unsaturated Soils

• Mahmud Shanina, Ph.D. - Impact of Stress Induced Anisotropy on the Thermal Volume Change of Unsaturated Soils

• Ashkaan Hushmand, Ph.D. - Centrifuge Modeling of the Response of Buried Structures to Earthquake Shaking (co-Advisor: S. Dashti)

• WoongJu Mun, Ph.D. - True Triaxial Testing of Unsaturated Soils under High Stresses

• Tuğçe Başer - Ph.D. - Coupled Heat Transfer and Water Flow in Soil-Borehole Thermal Energy Storage Systems in Unsaturated Soil Profiles

• Yewei Zheng, Ph.D. - Numerical Simulations and Shaking Table Tests of Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Bridge Abutments. (co-Advisor: P. Fox)

• Ismaail Ghaaowd - Ph.D. - Thermal Improvement of the Pullout Capacity of Offshore Foundations in Soft Clays

• Leticia Nocko - Ph.D.  - Heat Extraction from Municipal Solid Waste Landfills: Measurement of Thermal Properties and Assessment of Heat Generation and Transfer Processes

• Wenyong Rong - Ph.D. - Seismic Compression of Unsaturated Soils

• Fatemah Behbehani - Ph.D.  - Numerical and Experimental Study of Issues Affecting Energy Piles in Unsaturated Silt

• Radhavi Samarakoon - Ph.D. – Thermal Improvement of Normally Consolidated Clay

• Jeffrey Newgard - Ph.D. - Ground Improvement for Enhanced Kinematic Control of Rocking Footings on Sand

Visiting Scholars

• Abofazl Eslami, Amirkabir University of Technology (2022-2023) - Database analysis of piles

• Paolo Lodi, UNESP (2020-2021)

• Atsushi Takai, Kyoto University (2015)

Graduated MS Students:

• Ibrahim Abaidala – M.S. – Centrifuge Modeling of Reinforced Soil Layers. January 6, 2011.

• Samiha Abdelrahman – M.S. – Evaluation of Pulse Wave Reflections to Evaluate Side Friction Changes in Energy Foundations. May 27, 2011.

• Bernardo Ambriz - M.S. - Temperature Effects on Pullout of Woven Geotextiles from Unsaturated Silt. March 16, 2018.

• Russell Berends – M.S. – Characterization of the Depth of Penetration of Soil Particles into Geosynthetic Drains in Earth Structures. May 30, 2009.

• Charles James Coccia – M.S. – Impact of Stress-Induced Anisotropy on Thermal Volume Changes in Compacted Soils. January 7, 2011. 

• Diming Chen - M.S. - Soil-Structure Interaction in Energy Piles. March 11, 2016.

• Abdalla El Tawati – M.S. – Impact of the Rate of Heating on the Thermal Consolidation of Compacted Silt. August 10, 2010.

• Joseph Collin Goode III – M.S. – Centrifuge Modeling of Soil -Structure Interaction in Energy Foundations. May 30, 2013.

• Theodore Howard – M.S. – Observations from Red Willow Dam. November 30th 2012.

• Hannah Iezzoni - M.S. - Temperature Effects on Dielectric Sensors

• Dellena Kinikles - M.S. - Hyperbolic Hydro-Mechanical Model for Seismic Compression Prediction of Unsaturated Soils in the Funicular Regime. May 25, 2022.

• Isaac Kreitzer  - M.S. - High Temperature Effects on the Volume Change and Water Retention Behavior of Unsaturated MX80 Bentonite. December 8, 2023.

• Brandon Lampe – M.S. – Mechanical Integrity Tests for Salt Caverns. May 19, 2011.

• Christopher Lynch – M.S. – 3D Tomography for Quality Assurance Testing of Compaction Grouting. May 20, 2011.

• Kyle Murphy – M.S. – Evaluation of the Thermo-mechanical and Thermal Behavior of Full-Scale Energy Foundations. August 21, 2013.

• Jean Parks – M.S. – Centrifuge Modeling of Water and Gas Flow through Passive Methane Oxidation Biocovers. May 19, 2010. 

• Navid Plaseied – M.S. – Load Transfer Analysis for Energy Foundations. December 12, 2011.

• Lauren Reising - M.S. - Thermal Soil Remediation using Soil-Borehole Thermal Energy Storage Systems

• Joshua Rosenberg – M.S. – Centrifuge Modeling of Soil Structure Interaction in Geothermal Foundations. May 20, 2010.

• Melissa Stewart – M.S. – Centrifuge Modeling of Strain Distributions in Energy Foundations. March 21, 2012. 

• Jenna Svoboda – M.S. – Impact of Strain Rate on the Shear Strength and Pore Water Pressure Generation of Clays and Sands. August 19, 2013.

• Thierry Traore – M.S. – Physical Modeling of Heat and Water Flow in Soil Borehole Thermal Energy Storage Systems in the Vadose Zone. August 19, 2013. 

• Alexander Vega – M.S. – Impact of Temperature Cycles on the Thermal Consolidation of Compacted Silt under Different Stress States. August 24, 2012. 

• Pangiotis (Taki) Vlasakakis – M.S. – Ring Shear and Direct Simple Shear Test Methods: Comparisons of Residual Strengths from Field Data and Literature. November 30, 2012.

• Walter Zitz - M.S. - Lessons Learned from the Installation of Full-Scale Energy Foundations (MS Project). December 16, 2010.

Graduated BS Researchers:

• Brad Sexton (2018), Centrifuge Testing of Energy Piles in Soft Clay.

• Candice Hanna (2017), Heat Storage in Shallow Horizontal Thermal Energy Storage Systems, Funded by NSF REU.

• Ni Zhan (2016-2017), Performance of Field-Scale Soil-Borehole Thermal Energy Storage Systems, Funded by NSF.

• Bernardo Ambriz (2016), Dynamic Response of MSE Bridge Abutments.  Funded by Caltrans.

• Wante Lu (2016), Dynamic Response of MSE Bridge Abutments.  Funded by Caltrans.

• Gabriela Bento de Moraes (2016), Geotechnical Properties of Compacted Sand. Funded by Brazilian Science without Borders Program.

• João Antonio Dotta (2016), Geotechnical Properties of Compacted Sand. Funded by Brazilian Science without Borders Program.

• Brunella Casagrande Brunelli (2015), Thermal Consolidation of Soft Clays. Funded by Brazilian Science without Borders Program.

• Amanda Martins de Assis (2015), Nonisothermal Pullout Behavior of Woven Geotextiles. Funded by Brazilian Science without Borders Program.

• Thiago da Silva Ribeiro (2015), Nonisothermal Pullout Behavior of Woven Geotextiles. Funded by Brazilian Science without Borders Program.

• Rodrigo Costa Dos Santos (2015), Nonisothermal Pullout Behavior of Woven Geotextiles. Funded by Brazilian Science without Borders Program.

• Thayza Teixeira (2014), Impact of Rate of Loading on the Undrained Shear Strength of Unsaturated Clay. Funded by Brazilian Science without Borders Program.

• Fabricio Valente (2014), Compression of Unsaturated Soils to High Stresses. Funded by Brazilian Science without Borders Program.

• Daniel Linkowski (2013-2014), Soil Borehole Thermal Energy Storage Systems, Funded by NSF and CU Discovery Learning Apprentice Program. 

• Garth Ornelas (2013) Drainage of Water from Unsaturated Soils in a Centrifuge Permeameter, Funded by RESESS Program.

• Livia Pimenta (2013) Drainage of Water from Unsaturated Soils in a Centrifuge Permeameter, Funded by Brazilian Science without Frontiers Program.

• William Beekman (2012-2013), Pullout of Suction Caissons, Funded by CU Discovery Learning Apprentice Program.

• Anna Casady (2011-2012), Thermally Active Geotechnical Systems, Funded by NSF and CU Discovery Learning Apprentice Program.

• Joseph Goode III (2011-2012), Thermal Conductivity of Energy Foundations. Funded by NSF.

• Jonathan Fairbanks (2011), Thermal Conductivity of Concrete. Funded by DoD ESTCP.

• Lt. Daniel Castro (2011), Thermal Conductivity of Concrete. Funded by US Air Force Academy and DoD ESTCP Program. 

• Naomi Levine (2011), Instrumentations of Energy Foundations. Funded by NSF REU.

• Rachel Sobke (2011), Centrifuge Modeling of Soil-Structure Interaction in Geothermal Foundations. Funded by NSF and You’re@CU Program.

• Conor Felletter (2010-2011), Mechanisms of Soil-Structure Interaction in Energy Foundations, Funded by NSF and CU Discovery Learning Apprentice Program.

• Brennan Counts (2010), Measurement of Thermal Conductivity of Soils using a Thermal Needle.

• Todd Lester (2009-2010), Calibration of Sensors for Passive Methane Oxidation Biocovers, Funded by CU Discovery Learning Apprentice Program.

• Axaule Sultanova (2009-2010), Thermal modeling of geothermal foundations, Funded by NSF and CU Discovery Learning Apprentice Program.

• Christopher Lynch (2009-2010), Effective Stress in Partially Saturated Soils, Funded by the CU Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).

• Charles James Coccia (2009), Centrifuge Modeling of Tunnel Face Stability, Funded by KIRAS.

• Pedro Maltos (2008), Use of Colloidal Silica to Repair Leaks in Buried Pipes, Funded by University of Arkansas George Washington Carver Program.

• Joshua Craig (2008), Use of Colloidal Silica to Repair Leaks in Buried Pipes, Funded by University of Arkansas George Washington Carver Program.