Obituary: Dr. Surachat Sambhandharaksa

Dr. SurachatLate Dr. Surachat Sambhandharaksa

President SEAGS1996­1999

Dr. Surachat Sambhandharaksa obtained his Sc. D degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America in 1977. Prior to that, he went to Sydney, Australia under the Colombo plan scholarship and obtained the Bachelor Degree of Civil Engineering from the University of New South Wales in 1967. He joined the Department of Civil Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand as an assistant lecturer in the same year. He obtained his Master of Engineering degree with his thesis in geotechnical engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), in 1970. In 1971, he spent one year at the Northwestern University in the United States of America before being transferred to MIT as a Research Assistant in 1972. His research interest areas are soft clay engineering and pile foundation in Bangkok Subsoil.

In addition to working at the Chulalongkorn University and practicing as a geotechnical consultant with two local firms in Thailand from 1980, he spent about nine years in teaching and conducting research at the associated faculty at the AIT. He is still teaching at the Chulalongkorn University in the specialist position, after his retirement in 2004.

In 2002, Dr. Surachat was awarded the Faculty Outstanding Award of the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University. He was Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 15th Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conference held in Bangkok in November 2004.

Dr. Surachat was voted as the best engineer in Thailand for the year 2006.

Dr. Surachat was President of the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society in 1996­1999.