Wat2 Wat1 AIT Campus and AIT Centre

Invitation

Invitation to all Geotechnical Specialists from the President of the Thai Geotechnical Society and SEAGS President to attend the SEAGS 50th Anniversary Symposium on 14-15 September 2017 at the Asian Institute of Technology Campus in Bangkok.

On behalf of the Chairman & Co-chairmen of the above conference, the Organizing Committee & the Advisory Committee, it is a pleasure to invite Geotechnical Specialists for the SEAGS 50th Anniversary Symposium on 14-15 September 2017 at the Asian Institute of Technology Campus in Bangkok.

The Symposium is jointly organized by the Thai Geotechnical Society and Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society of ISSMGE. The Advisory Committee is very prestigious and chaired by Prof. Roger Franks President of ISSMGE. Dr. Suttisak Soralump is the President of the Thai Geotechnical Society and Dr. Noppodol Phienwej is the President of SEAGS.

The format of the Symposium is only with invited lectures. There are about 35 prestigious invited lecturers. More details can be found on the Advisory Committee, the Lecture topics, biographies of the lecturers, opening ceremony, Session Chairmen etc as contained in the web. The Histories of SEAGS and AGSSEA are also contained in the web.

We invite participants from everywhere to the beautiful AIT Campus and the scenic city of Bangkok and Thailand.

Dr. Suttisak Soralump & Dr. Noppodol Phienwej

Opening Ceremony

Master of Ceremony: Dr. Geoff Chao
Chairmen: Prof. K.Y. Yong & Dr. Ooi Teik Aun (Past Chairmen AGSSEA)
Honoured Guests: Dr. Subin Pinkayan, Dr. John D. Nelson, Dr. Edward W. Brand, Prof. Prinya Nutalaya & Prof. Seng Lip Lee

Welcome Addresses: Prof. Worsak Kanokkulchai, AIT President
Dr. Noppodol Phienwej, President SEAGS
Dr. Suttisak, President Thai Geotechnical Society

Address by: Dr. Za Chieh Moh: Founder President SEAGS

Presidential Address: Prof. Roger Franks, ISSMGE President
Address by: Prof. Ikuo Towhata, VP for Asia ISSMGE
Address by: Prof. San Shyan Lin, Chairman AGSSEA

List of Advisory Committee
Chairmen
Tentative Programme
History of SEAGS
History of AGSSEA
President and Past President of the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS)
Chairman and Past Chairman – AGSSEA
General Committee Members 2016 – 2019
AGSSEA Council Session 2016 – 2019

Biodata of Lecturers

Prof. Roger Frank

Prof. Roger Frank was born in 1949 at Roslyn, New York (USA). He was then raised in the UK, in Switzerland and in France. He received his Diploma of Engineering from ‘Ecole nationale des ponts et chaussées’ (ENPC, National School of Bridges and Highways of France) in 1972. Both his Doctor of Engineering degree (1974) and his Doctor of Science degree (1984) are from Pierre and Marie Curie University of Paris. Roger Frank has devoted his entire professional career to the ‘Ponts et Chaussées’ (the French Highway Administration). He was first employed by ‘Laboratoire central des ponts et chaussées’ (LCPC), where he became Head of the Foundations Section in 1983, and Head of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division in 1990. From 1992 to 2003, he was the Director of CERMES (ENPC-LCPC), a teaching and research centre in soil mechanics. In 1997, Roger Frank was promoted to the rank of Professor in geotechnical engineering at ENPC.The main field of expertise of Roger Frank is in situ testing and foundation engineering. He carries out theoretical and experimental research, as well as consulting work for civil engineering projects. He has authored or co-authored 220 papers in journals and conference proceedings, and he has delivered numerous invited lectures in many countries. As a specialist in pile foundation design, Professor Frank has participated in the design of the foundations of several major bridges in the world. Starting in 1989, Roger Frank has been involved in many standardisation committees in France and in Europe, particularly those linked to soil-structure interaction. From 1998 to 2004, he was the Chairman of the European committee in charge of Eurocode 7 on ‘Geotechnical design’.

He was the Vice President for Europe of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) for the period 2005 to 2009 and an appointed member on the Board of ISSMGE for the period 2009 to 2013. He was the Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Committee for the 18th ICSMGE held in Paris, 2-6 September 2013.

Roger is currently the President of ISSMGE since 2013.

Prof. Kazuya Yasuhara

Kazuya Yasuhara is Professor Emeritus of Ibaraki University in Japan; His academic career started in Kyushu University where he was from 1968 to 1978, earning a Doctoral Degree as well. He was then a Professor at Ibaraki University from 1990 to 2007. Prof Yasuhara was the International Project Coordinator at the Institute of Global Change Adaptation Science from 2010 to 2015. He was also a Review Editor for IPCC AR 5 from 2010 to 2014. Since 2015, Prof. Yasuhara is a Specially appointed researcher at Ibaraki University.

Prof. Yasuhara was at University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign in Illinois, USA from 1979-1981 and was a Post Doctorate Research Fellow at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute from 1986 to 1987. Prof. Yasuhara was the recipient of several prestigious awards: ASCE Best Paper Award in 1994; JGS Award for Meritorious Service in 1999; Groundwater Science and Technology Award (IAHR) in 2000; JGS Award for the Best Research Achievement in 2004; Best Paper Award from Japan Chapter of International Geosynthetics Society in 2006; and JGS Meritorious Research Award for Ground Environment in 2008. His current research interest is in Climate change-induced compound geo-disasters in Asia-Pacific regions and their adaptation countermeasures against earthquake-induced settlements of infrastructures. Prof. Yasuhara is the author of a very large number of publications in this field and others in Geotechnics.

Prof. Jian Hua Yin

Jian Hua Yin Professor Yin received a BEng degree in 1983 in Chinese Mainland, an MSc degree from Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1984, and a PhD from The University of Manitoba, Canada in 1990. Dr Yin has a mix of industrial and academic experiences. He joined Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1995 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to an Associate Professor position in 1999, to a Professor position in 2002, and recently to the position of Chair Professor of Soil Mechanics in 2014. Professor Yin has a good track record in research and has played a leading role in development of advanced soil testing equipment, innovative fiber optical sensors, establishing a large-scale multi-purpose physical modeling facility for studying geo-hazards, organization of regional and international conferences. His research interests include (i) testing study of properties and behaviour of soils, (ii) elastic visco-plastic modeling, (iii) soft soil improvement, (iv) soil nails and slope analysis, (v) development and applications fiber optical sensors, (vi) soil-structure interface, and (vii) development of advanced/special lab test apparatus. Currently, Professor Yin serves as a Vice-President of International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG), Co-Editor of International Journal of Geomechanics, Co-Editor of Geomechanics and Geoengineering, and Associate Editor of Canadian Geotechnical Journal. He has received the honours of the prestigious “JOHN BOOKER Medal” in 2008, “Chandra S. Desai Excellence Award” in 2011 from IACMAG, and delivering the high-status 2011 “Huang Wenxi Lecture” in Chinese Mainland.

Prof. Dennes Bergado

Prof. Bergado obtained his B.S. in Civil Engineering Degree from MSU in 1974, Master in Soil Engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology in 1976 and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Utah State University in 1982. Prof. Bergado started his research on probabilistic and reliability analyses of geotechnical properties and structures. Subsequently, he branched out to Ground Improvement and Geosynthetics. He established the Asian Center for Soil Improvement and Geosynthetics (ACSIG) Research Center including the first geosynthetics testing and research laboratory in Thailand. He pioneered the use of prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) to improve the soft Bangkok clay in subsiding ground environment with subsequent combinations of vacuum and heat preloading with notable application in the Second Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) International Airport as well as Motorways and Highways in Bangkok. He also did sustainable research work on recycled and lightweight geomaterials such as rubber tire chips mixed with sand for reinforced embankment construction on soft Bangkok clay. Subsequently, his research projects involved new and creative ideas regarding deep cement mixing method (DMM) such as optimum cement contents and fundamental parameters as well as reinforced DMM called SDCM piles. His research works just before retirement consisted of full scale performance of metallic and polymer geogrids as well as sustainable mitigation of rain-triggered landslides and control of soil erosions using roots of vegetations combined with limited life geosynthetics (LLGs) made of natural fibers. Prof. Bergado taught courses in Soil Mechanics, Foundation Engineering, Soil Improvement Techniques, Geosynthetics Engineering, Probabilistic and Risk Assessment in Geotechnical Engineering. Prof. Bergado published 2 Books, 7 Chapters in Books, 22 Edited Books, 5 Guest Editorships of Journals, 150 Journal Articles, 300 Conference/Invited Papers, 73 Invited/Keynote Lectures, 34 Sponsored Research Projects, and advised 17 Doctoral Graduates, 160 Masters Graduates with 2329 SCOPUS Science Citations (H-Index=27) as of 2015.

Prof. Ikuo Towhata

IkuoTowhata Prof. Ikuo Towhata had his engineering education at the prestigious Tokyo University in Japan and is currently a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. Tokyo University is traditionally very strong in Soil Dynamics, Machine Foundations and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering now for several decades. Also recently, Prof. Towhata has written a comprehensive and scholarly book in this discipline (see Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, 2008: publisher Springer). Prof. Towhata was also the Editor in Chief of the well-known Journal, Soils and Foundations. He is an active member of several national and international committee on landslides, earthquake engineering. Recipients of several prestigious awards, Prof. Towhata’s interests in Geotechnics is very wide and are on deformation characteristics of sands, dynamic analysis of earth structures, soil improvement by densification and grouting, stability of slopes and seabeds under static and dynamic conditions, landslides and debris flows, seismic performance based design of geotechnical structures. Author of more than 250 publications, Prof. Towhata has lectured in many leading universities in most continents.

Dr. Noppadol Phienwej

Noppodol Phienwej Dr. Noppadol was an Associate Professor in Geotechnical and Earth Resources Engineering in AIT’s School of Engineering and Technology (SET).He became SEAGS President in May 2016. Prior to taking over as President, Dr. Noppadol was serving as Honorary Secretary General of SEAGS. Other AIT faculty members who have served as Secretary General of the Society include Dr. John Nelson (1970-1973), Prof. A.S. Balasubramaniam 1972-2000), and Prof. D.T. Bergado (2000-2013). Prof. Balasubramaniam has also served as President from 1985 – 1987.

AIT’s association with SEAGS stems back from 1967, when the Society was founded at AIT Bangkok by Dr Za-Chieh Moh, a former AIT faculty member, to cover Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan and other societies in Asia. With a membership of over 200, the Society members are active in soil mechanics and foundation engineering, engineering geology, rock mechanics and geosynthetic engineering.

Pedro Simão Sêco e Pinto

Prof. Pedro Simão Sêco e Pinto is Full Professor of Geotechnical Engineering of University of Coimbra. Invited Professor of Master Courses “Soil Mechanics” and “Engineering Geology” of New University of Lisbon (1983-1995). He was ISSMGE President (2005-2009), ISSMGE Vice President for Europe (2001-2005), United Nations Consultant for Design and Instrumentation for Dams (1988-1992). He is also an Invited Lecturer of University of California, USA (1992-1994), Chairman of TC4 “Earthquake Geotechnical Engineer “Committee of ISSMGE (1994-2000). President of Portuguese Society for Geotechnique (1996-2000). Consulting Engineer of more than 450 major projects on Dams, Power plants, Bridges, Tunnels and Quay Walls, in Portugal, Angola, Argelie, Brazil, Cabo Verde, China, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guine- Bissau, Guine Ecuatorial, India, Lebanon, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Syria, Tunisia, Uganda, Venezuela and Zambia, covering field and laboratory testing, dynamic analyses, earthquake engineering, numerical analyses, ground improvement, slopes, special foundations, instrumentation and safety evaluation. He has presented more than 350 State-of-the Art Lectures and Special Lectures in 80 countries of the 5 Continents. He has received more than 50 international Awards including American Biographical Institute USA, “Special Volume for the Contributors of Earthquake Engineering, Nagadi Lecture by Indian Geotechnical Society, Széchy Lecture by Hungarian S M Society and Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Nonveiller Lecture- by Croatia Geotechnical Society, Sukle Lecture by Slovenia Soil Mechanics Society, Chin Lecture by Huanzhou University (China), Qian Jia Huan Lecture by Hohai University (China) and Chin Fung Kee Memorial Lecture by Institute of Engineers of Malaysia. He is the Editor of International Journal of Case Histories and Co-editor of Geotechnical and Geological Engineering Journal. Member of Editorial Board of several Journals, namely “Geotecnia”, “Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering”, Acta de Geotecnia, International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering and Editor of Proceedings of 4 International Conferences. He has author or co-author of 500 technical and scientific reports, more than 180 papers for national and international conferences and journals and has contributed in 10 books.

Prof. Paulus P. Rahardjo

Prof. Paulus P. Rahardjo completed undergraduate study at Universitas Katolik Parahyangan (Unpar) and since then has been faculty members at the university. He pursued graduate study in highway engineering at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), then Master’s Degree and Ph.D degree from Virginia Tech (USA). He has been actively engaged in teaching, research as well as hundreds of geotechnical consultancy. He works for design and advising clients on many geotechnical problems including building foundations, highways, tunnels, bridges, jetys and wharfs, dams, coal minings etc. Among his specialies with intense experience in research and practice are in the field of insitu testings and landslides or slope protections. He has written more than 200 articles/ papers, research reports and manuals. He has served the university as Department Head, Vice Dean of Faculty of Engineering, Director of the Graduate Program and Vice Rector for Academic Affairs. Currently, he is the coordinator of Geotechnical Engineering Division and Director of Research Center for Infrastructure and Urban Development. His affiliation include the Indonesian Geotechnical Society (HATTI), American Society of Civil Engineers in the Geo-Institute, the Indonesian Experts on Disasters (IABI) and Board Representative of International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), currently responsible for project IPL-195 Study for Mitigation and Recovery of Mud Eruption Disaster in East Java and Modeling for Risk Reduction Mudflow Hazards.

Dr. Suttisak Soralump

Dr. Suttisak Soralump is currently an Associate Professor at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand. He is also the President of the Thai Geotechnical Society. An Alumnus of Chulalongkorn University in 1994, he is also a Distinguished AIT Alumnus who received his Doctoral Degree from Utah State University in 2001. Dr Suttisak has wide range of Geotechnical Engineering interest and these include: ground improvement techniques, risk assessment and analysis of dams, dam engineering, probabilistic analyses, as well as field and laboratory testings.

Dr. Suttisak is an active geotechnical consultant in Thailand and under his leadership, the Thai Geotechnical Society has arranged conferences, symposia and courses. The Annual Thai Geotechnical Conferences are worthy of praise.

Prof. Tahmeed Al- Hussaini

Tahmeed Al- Hussaini Tahmeed Al – Hussaini is Professor in Civil Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). He graduated from BUET in 1994, an Alumnus of AIT (1987) and a Doctoral Degree holder from State University of New York at Buffalo, USA in 1992. His research interests are in Soil-Structural Dynamics, Seismic Hazard Assessment, Wave Propagation, Vibration Isolation, Base-Isolated Structures, Soil-Structure Interaction/Foundations, FEM/BEM applications, Disaster Mitigation. Prof. Al_Hussaini has additional interest in the Earthquake engineering laboratory; Geotechnical and Geophysical testing laboratory; Non-destructive testing laboratory; Computational and simulation laboratory; Installation of dynamic testing facilities including shake table. He also organized: training programs and seminars on disaster related topics; completed ICIMOD (Nepal) funded project on web-based early warning system for landslides in Chittagong; ongoing UGC funded HEQEP project on “Development of Research and Degree Programs in Disaster Risk Reduction”; MOU with University of Trieste, Italy; procurement of software: ArcGIS, ETABS, SAP2000, PLAXIS, Matlab, Mathematica etc; organizing earthquake drill at BUET and other professional services. For short periods, Prof Al-Hussaini was also at Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and Ecole Centrale Paris (ECP)

Dr. Thian Ho Seah

Seah Thian Ho Dr. Thian Ho Seah had his engineering education at Kings College London and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a Faculty Member at the Asian Institute of Technology and later with Moh and Associates. Dr Seah is a specialist in laboratory and field testing and instrumentation. Since 2000, Dr Seah is a Geotechnical Engineer with Alfa Geotech Company Limited and worked on interesting major projects in Thailand, Vietnam and other SE Asian countries.

Dr. John Endicott

Dr. John Endicott has been an Adjunct Professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and at the University of Hong Kong. He has been practicing in Hong Kong since 1975 and is well known as an all-round geotechnical practitioner in South East Asia. He has worked on many projects on underground railway stations, metro lines, major roads, viaducts and foundations in Singapore as well as in Bangkok, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia, India and China. He has been an expert witness in many projects including the collapse of the Nicoll Highway in Singapore

Prof. Mitsutaka Sugimoto

Prof. Sugimoto is currently a Professor in the Department of civil Engineering at the Nagaoka University of Technology in Japan; he is the Head of the Graduate School in Engineering and assistant to the President of that University. Prof. Sugimoto has an active research centre on practice oriented research in all kinds of tunneling and in particular shield tunneling. Among the vast professional activities in tunneling, Prof. Sugimoto was : an active member of the technical committee on tunnel design standard for shield tunneling for the Railway Technical Research Institute in Japan; a member of the Technical committee on tunnel design standard for mountain tunneling in urban areas; a member of the Technical committee of the Japanese Society of Civil Engineering (JSCE) on standard segments for shield tunneling; Chairman, Technical committee on construction loads during shield tunneling, JSCE.

Prof. Sugimoto was an active member of TC 28 on tunneling of ISSMGE. He has carried out extensive research on shield tunneling including: Evaluation of soil properties based on the in-situ data of the shield driven method; modeling of load acting on shield; shield behavior using 3-D shield simulator; development on ground reaction curve for shield tunneling; ground behavior using 4-centered slurry shield driving method; survey system on shield behavior during excavation; Influence of grout material in shield tail on shield tunneling perform; simulation of shield tunneling behavior along a curved alignment in a multilayered ground; development of kinematic shield model; pipe jacking studies.

Prof. Sugimoto is a member of the editorial committee of several journals including Journal of Tunneling Engineering; Soils & Foundations; Chairman, Editorial board for “Journal of Tunnel engineering; Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. A member of several geotechnical and tunnel engineering societies, Prof. Sugimoto has lectured very widely in Asia, Europe and North America.

Prof. Sugimoto is currently a Professor in the Department of civil Engineering at the Nagaoka University of Technology in Japan; he is the Head of the Graduate School in Engineering and assistant to the President of that University. Prof. Sugimoto has an active research centre on practice oriented research in all kinds of tunneling and in particular shield tunneling. Among the vast professional activities in tunneling, Prof. Sugimoto was an active member of the technical committee on tunnel design standard for shield tunneling for the Railway Technical Research Institute in Japan; a member of the Technical committee on tunnel design standard for mountain tunneling in urban areas; a member of the Technical committee of the Japanese Society of Civil Engineering (JSCE) on standard segments for shield tunneling; Chairman, Technical committee on construction loads during shield tunneling, JSCE.

Dr. Dong-Hyun, Kim

Dong-Hyun, Kim As a PhD and a published researcher, engineering award recipient Dong-Hyun boasts a career of exceptional achievement in civil engineering spanning over 20 years. Joining ESCO Consultant & Engineers Co., Ltd. in Korea as an engineer in 1997, Dong-Hyun successfully delivered geo-structural designs, numerical analysis, soft ground improvement to establish as successful career as an engineer. Since 2011, Dong-Hyun’s academic career has been built in Griffith University, Australia. The topic of his doctoral research was on the application of photogrammetry in rock engineering.

Dong-Hyun has collaborated with higher education institutions and organisations including the CSIRO and Engineers Australia to contribute to research, industry publications, technical presentations, workshops and conferences. As a leading geotechnical & geological engineering researcher, Dong-Hyun has also peer-reviewed and delivered numerous successful conference publications relating to: geotechnical engineering; rock mechanics; photogrammetry; and advances in geotechnical infrastructure.

Prof. Fauziah Ahmad

Prof. Dr. Fauziah Ahmad is a Professor in Geotechnical engineering also serves as a Geotechnical Engineer and a Researcher at School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Nibong Tebal, Penang. She obtained her Diploma from UTM, BSc (Hons) and PhD from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. She has been teaching Geotechnical Engineering courses and other civil engineering courses for more than 28 years. Has been appointed as Program Chairman, Deputy Dean at School and Deputy Dean of Postgraduate Studies. Currently she leads a Task force under Postgraduate Deans Council where head of program for Roadmap of Postgraduate studies in Malaysia 2017-2025. She has been involved in the development of hill slope where she was appointed as Penang State Geotechnical Council and technical committee member in reviewing Penang development. Currently she is the President of MyIGS an International Geosynthetics Society for Malaysian Chapter and also a Vice President of MyGeopolymer Society of Malaysia. She is also actively involved in consultancy works on Geotechnical assessment and stability studies especially in the state of Penang and Perak. Actively involved in Asean Geotechnical Technical Committee (ATC10 – Urban Geoinformatic and ATC 1: Geodisaster in Climate Change) in collaboration with Japanese Geotechnical Society in establishing works using GIS Geotechnical Database research and Geodisaster in Climate Change. Her research interest is in the area of slope stability, landslide, ground improvement and Urban Geoinformatic (GIS Application). She has published her work in more than 200 papers in journals and proceedings locally and internationally. Through her research, she has produced innovation products and has been recognized nationally and internationally through competitions and exhibitions. Her achievements gained recognition as Women Inventor, World Scientific Award at the World Innovation Achievement Award, European Women Inventor and Innovator Network International (EUWIIN) in Sweden and in Seoul since 2008 -2015. Among other awards she has acquired are the Grand Prize, KIWIE Prize, and Special Award and cumulative of gold, silver and Bronze medallist for more than 25 awards. With granted of two patents, one trademark and copyright for the Inventions.

Dr. Chia-Weng Boon

Chia-Weng Boon Dr. Boon is now in the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) industry in the construction of underground stations and tunnels. Prior to this, Dr. Boon obtained his D.Phil. from Oxford University, and his B.Eng. from Nanyang Technological University. His contribution to ground support design of underground openings, and slope kinematics in 3-D in his doctoral thesis has been acknowledged internationally and has won the Rocha Medal from the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM), and he has given invited lectures at Cappadocia, Seoul, Barcelona and Malaysia. His doctoral thesis advisors are Prof. Guy Houlsby and Prof. Stefano Utili. He is a recipient of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s Scholarship, Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal, Professional Engineers Board Gold Medal (Singapore) and Institution of Engineers (Singapore) Gold Medal. Apart from numerical analysis and analytical work, Dr. Boon is a proponent of engineering judgement, on which he has proposed the concept of Type II Factor of Safety. He is now sited with MMC-Gamuda KVMRT (T) Sdn Bhd, where some advancement in geotechnical engineering of underground works is made jointly with Dr. Ooi LH.

Dr. V. Balakumar

Dr. V. Balakumar is the whole time retainer consultant for M/S Simplex Infrastructure Limited at Chennai office. He heads the research and designs division of the organization. He has both professional and academic experience. He has two national awards to his credit for his work on piled raft. He got graduated from I.I.T., Madras, Chennai in Civil Engineering).and Ph.D from the Present Anna University Chennai for his Thesis Experimental Studies of Model Piled raft On Sand and Field Study of Proto Type Behaviour.

Till 1987, he worked in various organizations in different capacities. In 1987, he started his own practice as Structural & Geotechnical consultant. Numerous Multi Storied Residential apartments have been designed by him, one of which is supported on piled raft. The piled raft was instrumented and monitored to form a part of his Ph.D thesis.

He has published more than 20 papers in National and International conferences and one journal paper. He is a life fellow of Indian Geotechnical Society, life member in Southeast Asian Geotechnical society, member of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering and Deep Foundation Institute USA. He is also a member in TC207 (Soil Structure interaction) in the ISSMGE involved in soil structure interaction and deep Foundations study. He has been in the board of studies for various institutions including, Anna university affiliated colleges, Anna university CEG for ME course in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical engineering, Presently he is an Adjunct Professor in Vellore Institute of Technology – university He has traveled to various countries in Europe, Asia, United States, and Australia, He has been a visitor to Darmstadt University Germany, University of Wisconsin United States and Griffith University, Australia He has organized workshops on Pile termination criteria and embankments respectively and a one day seminar on behalf of DFI in Mangalore.. He is reviewer for Indian Geotechnical journal and DFI conferences and journal. He was the Co-Chairman for the for the forthcoming Indian GeoTechnical Conference-2016.

Dr. Erwin Oh

Erwin Oh Dr. Oh is the Associate Dean (International) for Griffith School of Engineering and a Senior Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering at Griffith University. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees from National Taiwan Ocean University, and his PhD from Griffith University. Dr Oh specialises in geotechnical and pavement engineering. He has co-authored over 100 refereed articles. His research interests include geotechnical issues for road infrastructure, soft clay behaviour, ground improvement techniques, and numerical modelling. Dr Oh had previously served as Chairman (2011 to 2013) and Committee member (2004 to 2015) for Engineers Australia Gold Coast regional group, Chairman (2012) and Committee member (2006 to 2012) for Australian Geomechanics Society Queensland Chapter.

Prof. Yong Kwet Yew

Er Professor Yong Kwet Yew is Vice President at the National University of Singapore and oversees the planning and sustainable development of campus infrastructure including the S$1 billion development of University Town, one of the largest construction program undertaken in NUS. A graduate of the University of Sheffield, England, under a Grouped Scholarship and George Senior Fellowship, he joined NUS in 1979. He has held senior leadership positions including Head of Civil Engineering, Founding Director of Centre for Soft Ground Engineering, Chairman of NUS-MINDEF Centre for Protective Technology and Co-Chairman of NUS-MINDEF Infrastructure Committee. He was elected Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore in 2001 and appointed Accredited Adjudicator, Singapore Mediation Centre in 2005. Prof. Yong’s research is a microcosm of the infrastructure development in Singapore. In the early 1980s during the building boom, his research was on performance of pile foundation. Some of the findings were later incorporated into the Singapore Code for Pile Design. In the late 1980s, his research with several colleagues on land reclamation led to an award winning layered clay-sand scheme of reclamation using marine clay as an alternative to sand-only fill for reclamation. In the 1990s, several innovative methods of ground improvement were developed to control movements associated with deep excavations and flood alleviation projects in urbanized Singapore. In the 2000s, with the rapid development of underground transportation, his focus was in the effects of tunneling on nearby buildings. Going forward into 2010s, the optimal use of land and underground space ranks high on the national agenda. He has published more than 200 technical publications, delivered over 30 keynote/guest lectures at international conferences.

Prof. Yong is past Chairman of AGSSEA, Past President of SEAGS and chairs/chaired several boards and national committees in land transport and construction including the International Board of Advisers to LTA, Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety & Health for the Construction Industry (MOM) and the Accredited Checkers Selection Panel (BCA). He is a member of a high-level Development Projects Advisory Panel that vets and review large infrastructure projects for the Ministry of Finance. He also serves on the Board of Land Transport Authority and is non-Executive Chairman of 2 public listed engineering companies established by former students. He is Co-Chair and Scientific Lead in the national MND-NRF R&D Committee on Land & Livability. He chaired LTA’s Independent Investigation Panel on Nicoll Highway Collapse in 2004 and was a member of the Expert Panel on Enhancing Flood Protection in Singapore, MEWR in 2011/12. He has also served as consultant to government agencies as well as local and international companies on over 150 major construction projects in Singapore, ASEAN and China. He received the Faculty of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award (1993, 1994 & 1996) and the Faculty Hall of Fame for Teaching Excellence (1997). A recipient of the Outstanding Geotechnical Engineer Award 2016 from GeoSS, he also received commendations from the Ministry of Manpower in 2000, Ministry of Education in 2006, Distinguish Service Award from Ministry of National Development in 2016 and 3 National Day Awards – Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2000, Public Service Medal in 2004 and the Public Service Star in 2008 – for significant contributions to the university, construction safety and land transport.

Distinguished Professor Buddhima Indraratna, PhD, FTSE

Buddhima Indraratna has earned the highest Australian professorial title as Distinguished Professor at the University of Wollongong. He is also a University Research Director leading the Centre for Geomechanics and Railway Engineering, currently regarded as one of the most active railway research units in the world. He currently leads numerous projects and consultancies funded by Industry, State Agencies and the Australian Research Council with nearly $20 million dollars over the past decade.

He is a Civil Engineering graduate from Imperial College, London, where he did both his Bachelor and Master degrees, and then obtained his PhD from the University of Alberta in Canada. He worked in geotechnical industry in several countries even after becoming an academic, and was engaged in a number of dams, harbour extension, railways and highways, tunnelling and underground mining projects in Canada, Australia, South and Southeast Asia during his career.

His contributions as a ground improvement expert to the Shoalhaven Floodplain development, Heavy Haul Railways in the North Coast of New South Wales, Port of Brisbane reclamation works, and Pacific Highway extension works are some Australian examples. His involvement in some of the overseas projects including the rehabilitation of railway tracks in Sri Lanka after the Asian Tsunami are also well-known, and much of the above contributions to industry have been published in some major international journals. Prof Indraratna has been a geotechnical consultant and a United Nations Expert. He has been an Advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology in Thailand and China for numerous railway infrastructure planning and design.

Prof Indraratna’s significant contributions to Transport Geotechnics have been acknowledged through numerous national and international awards, including the 4th Louis Menard Lecture to be delivered next year at the 19th Conference of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. To name a few other accolades, in 2010, Prof Indraratna delivered the E H Davis Memorial Lecture of the Australian Geomechanics Society for distinguished contributions to theory and practice of geomechanics. For his pioneering contributions to Australian railways, he was honoured with the prestigious Business and Higher Education Innovation award by the Australian Government in 2009, Institution of Engineers Australia Transport Medal in 2011 and the Australian and New Zealand Railway Society’s Outstanding Individual Award in 2015. In 2014, Prof Indraratna received the CS Desai medal from the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics, and the Thomas Telford Premium award for Ground Improvement from the Institution of Civil Engineers, United Kingdom in 2015.

Prof Indraratna has authored 9 Books, more than 650 publications including over 270 international journal papers, and over 50 invited keynote papers. To date, he has successfully supervised over 50 PhD graduates and 30 Postdoctoral Fellows.

Distinguished Professor Indraratna is a Fellow of several professional bodies including the most prestigious Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, as well as being a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Fellow of the Geological Society, United Kingdom.

Prof. Chu Jian

Chu Jian Dr. Chu is Professor in Geotechnical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He is the Director of Centre for Usable Space and Interim Co-Director of NTU-JTC Industrial Infrastructure Innovation Centre at NTU. He also worked for Iowa State University, USA, as professor and James M. Hoover Chair in Geotechnical Engineering from 2011 to 2015. He is the Vice Chair for ISSMGE TC217 on Land Reclamation and a Member for ISSMGE Technical Committee TC211 on Ground Improvement. He was the Chair for ISSMGE TC39 on Geotechnical Engineering for Disaster Mitigation and Rehabilitation from 2005 to 2009. Prof Chu has delivered over 50 keynote or invited lectures at international conferences. He received the R. M. Quigley Award from the Canadian Geotechnical Society in 2004.

Prof. Suched Likitlersuang

Suched Likitlersuang is currently a full professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University. He joined the Department of Civil Engineering at Chulalongkorn University as a lecturer (2004-2006), as an assistant professor (2006-2009) and as an associate professor (2009-2011). He was promoted to full professorship in 2011. He is also the founder of the Geotechnical Research Unit, which came into being in early 2016. His research interests include constitutive modeling for geomaterial, stress-strain characteristic of soils, numerical analysis in geomechanics, pavement engineering, geoenvironments, geotechnical earthquake engineering and soil bioengineering. He has supervised 24 Master and 10 Ph.D. students. He has published over 80 articles in international conference proceedings and international journals.

Suched Likitlersuang was born in Bangkok. He graduated with a bachelor degree in civil engineering from Chulalongkorn University in 1998 and received a master degree in geotechnical engineering from Asian Institute of Technology in 2000. He obtained a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Oxford in 2004. His contributions through research to innovative design and construction practices in geotechnical engineering and problematic ground improvement have been recognised. He received many research grants from national and international agencies. Recently, his works have moved closer to industrial needs by collaborating with the private and non-governmental sector in the implementation of innovative research-based solution. He is a member of the Thai Geotechnical Society and the Engineering Institute of Thailand. He is also an Editorial Board member of Geotechnical Research and serves as Editor of the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society Journal. He has also served as a reviewer in many reputable journals.

Ir. Tjie Liong Gouw

Tjie Liong Gouw Mr. Gouw is a senior geotechnical consultant practicing particularly in Indonesia. He graduated from Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia, with a Master degree in Civil Engineering (Ir.) in 1984. He then obtained his Master degree in geotechnical engineering from AIT, Bangkok, in 1989. Upon his graduation in 1984, he has been working actively in the field of geotechnical engineering, starting from site engineer to becoming geotechnical consultant seven years later. He involves in the design and execution of geotechnical investigation, soil instrumentation, deep foundation and excavation for high rise buildings, load tests (Static and PDA), pile integrity testing (PIT), sonic logging integrity test, vibration monitoring, slope stabilization, ground anchors, pumping test, dewatering, micropiles, tunnelling and ground improvement works, e.g. dynamic compaction, vertical drain, vibro-compaction, geosynthetic and grouting. The jobs cover more than 240 projects in Indonesia, Singapore and Srilanka. Mr. Gouw also plays active role in Indonesian Geotechnical Engineers Association (HATTI) and in the recent years he also gets involved in the preparation of Indonesian National Standard for geotechnics. Not forgetting his academic interest, he also serves as senior lecturer in universities for many years.

Prof. Suksun Horpibulsuk

Prof. Suksun Horpibulsuk obtained a B.Eng. (Civil Engineering) with Honors Award from Khon Kaen University, Thailand in 1996. Prof. Suksun was subsequently granted a scholarship by the Royal Thailand Government to pursue a M.Eng. in Soil Engineering at Asian Institute of Technology and duly completed in 1998. He then received a prestigious MONBUSHO scholarship from the Japanese Government to pursue his Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering at Saga University in Japan that he duly completed in 2001. Prof. Suksun joined Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) as a lecturer in 2002. His outstanding research, teaching and service for the university, community and profession over the years was duly recognized when he was promoted to the level of full professor in 2010. He is a professor and chair of School of Civil Engineering and a founder director of Center of Excellence in Innovation for Sustainable Infrastructure Development at SUT. He is also an Academic Senate member of SUT and Rajamangala University of Technology Isan and a board member of the Research and Development of Knowledge Management of Metropolitan Waterworks Authority of Thailand. He is presently the president of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) – Thailand Chapter, and a Distinguished Geotechnical Engineering Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. He also serves as an editor and reviewer for several prestigious national and international journals. His most significant contributions have been in the field of ground improvement techniques, specifically issues associated with compaction, earth reinforcement and chemical stabilization. He has been awarded a large number of competitive research grants totalling US$4.4 million. He has published extensively with over 400 technical publications, including over 150 in leading journals. He has a H-index of 26 (Scopus) and currently averages 575 (Scopus) citations per annum. Due to his outstanding contributions for the profession and community as well as his national and international recognition, he was nominated as a TRF Senior Scholar in 2013 and 2016 by the Thailand Research Fund.

Dr. Siau Chen Chian (Darren)

Siau Chen Chian Dr. Chian is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore. He received his PhD and BEng with gold medal from Cambridge University and Nanyang Technological University respectively. His research interests are in earthquake engineering and ground improvement. Dr. Chian’s contribution in earthquake engineering lies in the field of damage vulnerability of underground structures in earthquake induced soil liquefaction. He was funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to carry out reconnaissance missions at the 2009 Padang, 2011 Tohoku and 2016 Muisne earthquakes. Dr. Chian is also an enthusiast of recycling waste material to good use. He is actively involved in collaborative research projects with local government agencies to recycle unwanted and contaminated soils from underground construction projects and sea dredging as construction and fill materials. He is a nominated member of three International Technical Councils under the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). Dr. Chian also sits in the technical committee of SPRING Singapore to oversee and provide advice on geotechnical engineering practices in Singapore. He is presently the Vice President of the Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS). Dr. Chian has been invited to speak in a number of international conferences in Singapore, Malaysia and India. Recently, Dr. Chian’s research work at NUS led to his award of the prestigious Top 10 Innovators Under 35 in Asia by the MIT Technology Review in 2016. Other achievements include a 1st Prize in a National Technical Paper Competition and the Best Young Researcher Award at the 8th International Conference on Urban Earthquake Engineering.

Prof. Charles Ng

Charles Ng Professor Charles W.W. Ng is the Associate Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies and a Chair Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). After obtaining his PhD degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Bristol in 1993 in the UK, he joined the University of Cambridge as a postdoctoral Research Associate between 1993 and 1995 before returning to Hong Kong to join HKUST as Assistant Professor in 1995. He then rose through the ranks to become Chair Professor in 2011.

Professor Ng was elected an Overseas Fellow from Churchill College, Cambridge University, in 2005 and Changjiang Chair Professor in Geotechnical Engineering by the Ministry of Education Department in China in 2010. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (FASCE), and the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences. Professor Ng is the President of Hong Kong Geotechnical Society and he has served the Board of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) from 2010 to 2013. Currently he chairs the board-level Awards Committee and has been the editor-in-chief of the ISSMGE Bulletin since 2014.

Professor Ng is an associate editor of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal and has served on many other editorial boards. Professor Ng has solely supervised 35 Ph. D and 38 M. Phil students to graduation. He has published some 240 SCI articles in reputable international English journals. He is the main author of two reference books: (i) Soil-structure Engineering of Deep Foundations, Excavations and Tunnels; and (ii) Advanced Unsaturated Soil Mechanics and Engineering. He has received many awards including the R. M. Quigley Award from the Canadian Geotechnical Society twice for his two best papers. Professor Ng is the recipient of the first Tan Swan Beng Award by the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society. Furthermore, he was one of the recipients of the 2015 Scientific Advancement Award (2nd class) by the State Council of China and also the 2013 Scientific Advancement Award (1st class) by the Ministry of Education, China.

Dr. Richard Hwang

Richard Hwang Dr. Hwang received his bachelor degree from the National Taiwan University, master degree from North Dakota State University and doctor degree from the University of California at Berkeley. His doctoral research was on soil-structure interaction in earthquakes and he is one of the original authors of the finite element computer programmes FLUSH and QUAD4 for seismic studies. He was manager of Singapore Branch of Kiso-Jiban Consultants, and served as leader of a team of geotechnical engineers serving Singapore Mass Rapid Transit Corporation, which was later merged to Land Transport Authority, for the Phase 1 construction of the Singapore metro systems. At Moh and Associates, Inc. he led a team serving Department of Rapid Transit Systems providing geotechnical engineering consulting services on the construction of Taipei Metro.

Dr. Hwang is specialized in numerical analyses, foundation engineering, and underground constructions and has authored and co-authored 160 technical papers. He delivered the 7th Geotechnical Engineering Heritage Lecture at Taiwan Professional Engineers Association and received Geotechnical Engineering Heritage Award from Sino-Geotechnics Research and Development Foundation.

Dr. Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn

Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn Dr. Cholachat is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Geomechanics and Railway engineering, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong. He received his B Eng (1st Class Honours) from the Khonkaen University, Thailand in 2000 with a Masters (M Eng) from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand in 2002. He obtained his PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Wollongong in 2006. He received the Australian Geomechanics Society Thesis Award in 2006. In 2009, he received an award twice from the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG) for an outstanding paper by an early career researcher, and the 2006 Wollongong Trailblazer Award for innovations in soft soil stabilisation for transport infrastructure. Recently he received the 2012 DH Trollope award and the 2013 ISSMGE Young Member award for academic achievements and outstanding contributions to the field of geotechnical engineering. He recently secured an early Career Researcher Award through the ARC Centre of Excellence in Geotechnical Science and Engineering with a grant of $680k for 3 years. His key areas of expertise include ground improvement for transport infrastructure and soft soil engineering. He has published over 140 articles in international journals and conferences. While maintaining a strong focus on quality teaching, to date, he has secured over $2 Million in research funding, mostly from external sources. He is currently a CI of two ARC-DP projects, 3 ARC-LP projects and a CRC-Rail project. He is currently the supervisor/co-supervisor of 10 HDR students and 4 Research Associates.

Prof. San Shyan Lin

San Shyan Lin Prof. San-Shyan Lin graduated from Chung Yuan University with a BSCE degree in 1981. He then obtained his master degree from Utah State University, Logan, Utah in 1985 and his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1992. Before his teaching career at university, Dr. Lin served as an engineer at Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau between 1992 to 1994. Dr. Lin has been serving at Department of Harbor and River Engineering (DHRE) of National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU) since 1994. He was promoted as a full professor in 2000. Thereafter, he took some university duties by serving as the secretary-general at office of the secretariat between 2001 and 2003; the chairman of DHRE between 2005 and 2006; the acting dean of college of engineering in 2007 and the vice president of NTOU between 2006 and 2012.

Prof. Lin served as a committee member of committee A2K03-Foundations of Bridges and Other Structures of TRB, USA between 1995 and 2004. Currently, he is still serving as a committee member of TC-212 and ATC-1 of ISSMGE and as an editorial board member of four international journals. In addition, Dr. Lin also served as the president of Taiwan Geotechnical Society (2011-2013); Chairman of International Geosynthetics Society- West Pacific Regional Chapter (2002-2004); CEO of Sino-Geotechnics Foundation (2011-2014) etc. Dr. Lin received the distinguished alumnus award from Chung Yuan University in 2009 and the distinguish Engineering Professor award from Taiwan Pavement Engineering Society in 2011. Prof. Lin’s research and practical experiences have been dealt with deep foundations and geosynthetics.

Dr. Geoff Chao

Geoff Chao Dr. Chao has over 20 years of experience in the area of geotechnical engineering and construction. He received his Master and Ph.D. degrees from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA in 1995 and 2007, respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Pathumthani, Thailand. Before joining AIT, he was the Vice President of Engineering Analytics, Inc., a geotechnical and environmental engineering consulting company in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Dr. Chao has extensive experience in the areas of geotechnical and reclamation engineering design, construction and design defect investigations, construction remediation and mitigation, construction oversight experience on a diversity of projects. His technical specialties include expansive and collapsible soils evaluation, seepage and groundwater modeling, landslide investigation, settlement and consolidation analyses, retaining wall investigation, foundation design and construction for residential and commercial buildings, pavement design and distress evaluation, cover design for wastes, design of tailings impoundment, heap leach pad, and waste rock disposal sites. Dr. Chao was an Adjunct Professor at Colorado State University. He is the co-author of a textbook titled “Foundation Engineering for Expansive Soils.” Dr. Chao has authored over 40 technical papers, many of them dealing with structures on problematic soils.