A multi-criterial quantitative framework to assess sustainability and resilience of ground improvement studies for civil infrastructure
Anand Puppala (Texas A&M University, United States of America)
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Development of innovative resilient and sustainable geosystems: role of fundamental biogeochemical processes
Krishna Reddy (University of Illinois Chicago, United States of America)
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Sustainable use of recycled material in transportation geotechnics
Arul Arulrajah (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia)
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Enhancing geological heritage with geotechnical solutions
José Brilha (University of Minho, Portugal)
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Climate change scenarios in Europe: increasing impacts of extreme events
Ricardo Trigo (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
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Leveraging natural biophysical processes for climate-resilient geotechnical infrastructure
Alessandro Tarantino (University of Strathclyde / United Kingdom)
A multi-criterial quantitative framework to assess sustainability and resilience of ground improvement studies for civil infrastructure
Anand Puppala (Texas A&M University, United States of America)
Prof. Anand Puppala serves as A.P. Wiley and Florence Chair of Zachry Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University and is a Director of Center for Infrastructure Renewal (CIR). He has over 30 years of experience in teaching, research, continuing education and administration in public universities in Texas. He has been conducting research on characterization and stabilization of expansive soils, utilization and stabilization of recycled materials for infrastructure, in situ intrusive methods for site characterization, remote sensing and UAV studies for health monitoring, infrastructure resilience and sustainable studies. He is the director of NSF’s Industry University Co-operative Research Center (IUCRC) on Composites in Civil Infrastructure (CICI) at TAMU, College Station, Texas and was involved with university transportation centers (UTCs). He is a Board of Governor and Vice President of ASCE GeoInstitute (GI) and will be the President of the GI society from October 1, 2026. He is the Chairman of ISSMGE’s Technical committee, TC307 – Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering. He was the past Chairman of Soil Mechanics section (AFS00) of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and was a member of Design and Construction group of TRB. He is a member of a newly formed TRB committee on Pavement Foundations (AKN16). He has extensively published over 570 publications. He is on the editorial boards of many esteemed journals. He received many major awards and distinctions including a prestigious 2020 Ralph Peck Award from ASCE-Geo Institute, and a Distinguished Member of ASCE in 2024, the highest honor given by ASCE. He is also a fellow of Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) of UK.
Development of innovative resilient and sustainable geosystems: role of fundamental biogeochemical processes
Krishna Reddy (University of Illinois Chicago, United States of America)
Krishna R. Reddy is a University Scholar, Distinguished Researcher, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Director of Sustainable Engineering Research Laboratory and Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering Laboratory at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), USA. His expertise includes environmental site remediation, waste containment and landfill engineering, beneficial use of waste and recycled materials, AI/ML/DL application, and sustainability and resiliency assessment frameworks. Dr. Reddy has authored four influential books (including Geoenvironmental Engineering and Sustainable and Resilient Engineering), more than 340 journal papers, and numerous edited volumes, book chapters, and conference papers. He has received numerous prestigious honors and awards, including Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, ISSMGE Kerry Rowe Honor Lecturer, Purdue G.A. Leonards Lecturer, ASCE Wesley W. Horner Award, and ASTM Hogentogler Award.
Sustainable use of recycled material in transportation geotechnics
Arul Arulrajah (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia)
Professor Arul Arulrajah leads the Geotechnical Engineering group at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. He is involved in geotechnical engineering research topics which include sustainable geotechnics, recycled waste materials, ground improvement, pavement geotechnics, railway geotechnics, land reclamation and dredging. He has extensive experience in geotechnical engineering design, site implementation and project management of numerous large civil engineering infrastructure projects, based on his 14 years of industry experience prior to joining Swinburne in 2006. He is the author of 1 book, 5 book chapters, 400+ journal publications and 100+ conference publications to date, and his research has been recognized by several international and Australian awards. He is the recipient of 6 Swinburne University Vice Chancellor/Researcher Awards and 7 best international conference paper awards. He has been involved as a Chief Investigator in 43 research projects. He was the Deputy Training Centre Director and Technical Program Coordinator for the ARC Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in Rail Track Infrastructure (2018-2021).
Enhancing geological heritage with geotechnical solutions
José Brilha (University of Minho, Portugal)
José Brilha is a geologist and a full professor at the University of Minho in Portugal, where he holds the UNESCO Chair in Geodiversity and Geoconservation. He sits on the Scientific Board of UNESCO’s International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) and has participated in the evaluation of Global Geoparks and World Heritage Sites. He was involved in initiatives to establish International Geodiversity Day. He co-founded and was Editor-in-Chief of Geoheritage, published by Springer, and has contributed to numerous international publications, some of which were undertaken under the auspices of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He is a member of the IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas and two of its Specialist Groups: Geoheritage and World Heritage.
Climate change scenarios in Europe: increasing impacts of extreme events
Ricardo Trigo (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
Ricardo Trigo is an Associated Professor at the Geophysics, Geographical Engineering and Energy Department and Director (between 2018 and 2021) of the Associated Laboratory Instituto Dom Luis (IDL), both at the Faculty of Sciences, Univ of Lisbon. He has published extensively (+340 papers, h=86 Scopus, h=103 Google Scholar) and has been included in the list of the top 2% of most cited authors in the world, SINCE 2019. His areas of research are particularly focused on Natural Hazards, including Floods, Large-Storms, Droughts, Landslides, Heatwaves and Wildfires. Particularly how these phenomena in Europe are impacted by climate change, but also their link to large-scale patterns such as NAO, Blocking or Atmospheric Rivers. Ricardo Trigo has participated in more than 30 national and international projects, including several funded by large companies related to energy (REN, EDP, E-Redes) and paper production (The Navigator). In 2008 he was awarded the International Journal of Climatology Prize endorsed by the Royal Met. Society and in 2017 and 2023 he received the prize University of Lisbon Caixa Geral de Depósitos for the scientific production in the previous 5 years in Earth Sciences. In 2022 he obtained an Honoris Causa Doctorate from the University of Extremadura (Spain).
Leveraging Natural Biophysical Processes for Climate-Resilient Geotechnical Infrastructure
Alessandro Tarantino (University of Strathclyde / United Kingdom)
Professor Tarantino joined the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow in 2010. He obtained an MEng from the University of Naples Federico II and a PhD from the Politecnico di Torino and subsequently held positions as Research Fellow and then Lecturer at the University of Trento, all in Italy. His recent research interests include the direct measurement of water tension in soils and plants; soil–plant–atmosphere interactions; the stability of natural and engineered slopes subjected to rainwater and floodwater infiltration; and the development of vegetation and microbial-based solutions for climate change adaptation of geo-infrastructure. He has led major European consortium research projects including the Marie Curie European Training Network ‘TERRE’ (2015-2019) and the Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways ‘MAGIC’ (2014-2018). He has been keynote/theme lecturer at numerous International and European Conferences on Unsaturated Soils since 2002 and keynote lecturer at the 3rd International Conference on “Soil Bio- and Eco-engineering’ in 2012. He is co-editor of the books ‘Advanced Experimental Unsaturated Soil Mechanics’ (2005) and ‘Laboratory and Field Testing of Unsaturated Soils’ (2009).