A major initiative of the GI Outreach and Engagement Committee is to interview young geotechnical engineers from diverse backgrounds and to share their stories through articles published in GeoStrata. Nominations were sought from GeoInstitute Technical Committees and Local Chapters. 

Giuseppe Buscarnera, Ph.D.

• Affiliation: Northwestern University
• Address: 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208
• Contact information: g-buscarnera@northwestern.edu; Tel: 847-491‐5884
• Topic: Predictive geo-modeling

Ashly Cabas, Ph.D.

• Affiliation: North Carolina State University, Dept. of Civil, Construction, and Env. Engineering
• Address: 2501 Stinson Drive, Raleigh, NC  27607
• Contact information: amcabasm@ncsu.edu; Tel: 919-515-7338
• Topic(s): Geotechnical engineering lessons from the 2018 Alaska earthquake

James Kaklamanos, Ph.D.

• Affiliation: Merrimack College, Dept. of Civil Engineering
• Address: 315 Turnpike Street, North Andover, Mass.
• Contact information: KaklamanosJ@merrimack.edu; Tel: 978-837-3401  
• Topic: Site-response earthquake engineering, recent titled "Prediction of Seismic Site Response: Advances and Challenges."

Zara Amini, Ph.D, P.E.

• Affiliation: Geosyntec Consultants
• Address: 2900 NE 7th Ave, Unit 2706, Miami, FL 33137
• Contact information: zahra.amini@gmail.com;
• Topic: Seismic deformation analysis to realistic interpretation of geotechnical data.

Chukwuebuka Nweke

• Affiliation: Postdoctorate Researcher at UCLA
• Address: 4014 Stevely Ave Apt 10, Los Angeles, CA 90008
• Contact information: ebuka@ucla.edu or nwekecc@gmail.com; Tel: 310-590-5526
• Topic: Earthquake engineering, ground motion models in sedimentary basins

Rozbeh B. Moghaddam, PhD., PE

• Affiliation: GRL Engineering
• Address: 160 Manchester Dr. Aurora, Oh 44202
• Contact information: rmoghaddam@grlengineers.com; Tel: 575-791-7384
• Topic: Load-testing methods and techniques for deep foundations.

Joel Dellaria, PE, SE

• Affiliation: Hayward Baker
• Contact information: jbdellaria@haywardbaker.com; Tel: 630-339-4343
• Topic: Insights into finding the right temporary ERS solutions to meet different project needs, identifying the specific project risks, and ensuring successful and safe construction

Guillermo Diaz-Fanas, PE

• Affiliation: WSP USA
• Address: 1 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10119
• Contact information: Guillermo.DiazFanas@wsp.com; Tel: 212-465-5320
• Topic: Multi-hazard resilience

Nina Stark, PhD

• Affiliation: Virginia Tech
• Address: 216 Patton Hall Blacksburg, VA 2406
• Contact information: ninas@vt.edu; Tel: 540-231-7152
• Topic: Geotechnical reconnaissance in extreme environments

Wystan Carswell, PhD

• Affiliation: Haley & Aldrich
• Address: Boston, MA
• Contact information: wcarswell@haleyaldrich.com; Tel: 617-886-7357
• Topic: Offshore wind turbine foundations and/or excavation-induced ground movements.

Brendan Casey

• Affiliation: BSCES (Geo-Institute committee). Currently working at Exponent, Inc.
• Address: Boston, MA
• Contact information: bcasey@exponent.com; Tel: 508-652-8564
• Topic: Construction vibrations, complete with discussions about the background science, what the literature says (and does not say!), and recommended practices to interpret and deal with construction-induced vibrations. 

Kirk Carr Ellison PhD, PE (CA, OR, WA), GE

• Affiliation: Arup
• Address: Pacific Northwest, California
• Contact information: Kirk.Ellison@arup.com; Tel: 415-500-5564
• Topic: The "rupture to rafters" approach to seismic analysis that involves modeling of soil-structure interaction on a city-block scale that can be used for design decisions during all stages of a project

Congpu Yao, Ph.D., P.E.

• Affiliation: Group Delta Consultants, Inc.
• Address: 9245 Activity Road, Suite 103, San Diego CA 92126 Region: 9
• Contact Information: Email: congpuy@groupdelta.com; Tel: 619-913-9743
• Topic: Lessons learned on mega transportation projects and some of the design challenges they pose.

Sreevalsa Kolathayar, PE

• Affiliation: National institute of technology Karnataka, Surathkal
• Contact information: Email: sreevalsakolathayar@gmail.com; Tel:  +91-9471192250
• Topic: Disaster Geotechnics – Geotechnical engineering for disaster mitigation.

Sonia Swift, PE

• Affiliation: Mendard USA
• Contact information: sswift@menardgroupusa.com 
• Topic: The use of ground improvement, likely rigid inclusions, in some application relevant to the audience.  I especially enjoy presenting on the use of rigid inclusions for support of MSE walls over soft soils

CJ Coccia, PhD

• Affiliation: Exponent, Inc
• Address: Denver, CO
• Contact Information: ccoccia@exponent.com
• Topic: Tips and tricks in forensic engineering

 Mandi Petrella, P.E., M.ASCE

• Affiliation: GeoPier
• Contact Information: Mobile: 229-321-2957 mpetrella@geopier.com 
• Topic: Ground improvement