50th Anniversary Symposium of SEAGS: Commemorate Session “How it all started: our contributions in the past 50 years” 14 -15 September 2017 at AIT Conference Centre, Thailand

Invitation

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

Symposium is jointly organized by the Thai Geotechnical Society and Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society of ISSMGE. The Advisory Committee is prestigiously chaired by Prof. Roger Frank the President of ISSMGE. Dr. Suttisak Soralump is the President of the Thai Geotechnical Society and Dr. Noppadol Phienwej is the President of SEAGS.

The Symposium consists exclusively of invited papers. There are about 35 distinguished 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 conference website. The Histories of SEAGS and AGSSEA are also contained in the conference website.

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

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

Dr. Suttisak Soralump & Dr. Noppadol 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. Noppadol Phienwej, President SEAGS
Dr. Suttisak, President Thai Geotechnical Society

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

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

Biographies 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.

Dr. John C. Li
( 李建中 )

Dr. John Chien-Chung Li graduated from the National Cheng-Kung University of Taiwan in 1971 and then joined the army for his military service as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He started his graduated study in Michigan State University in 1973 and received the Master degree in 1975. Then he went on with his doctoral studies at MSU under Prof. Ted S. Vinson and Prof. O. B. Andersland, where he graduated with the PhD degree in 1979.

Dr. Li began his teaching career at the beginning of 1979 as an assistant professor in the discipline of Geotechnical Engineering in the Dept. of Civil Engineering of Wayne State University in Detroit. In summer of 1980, Dr. Li decided to accept an invitation from the National Central University and return to Taiwan, where he started the researches on the dynamic behavior of Taipei silt and the dynamic testing on the piled foundations. Dr. Li was promoted to become Professor in 1984 and thereafter, the Chairman of the Department.

Dr. Li was granted leave from the university in 1985 and joined the largest construction company in Taiwan to lead the department of research and corporate planning for three years. He then returned to the University in 1988 and served as the Chairman of the Civil Engineering for another three years. In 1991, Dr. Li was directed by the government to join the newly-established Public Construction Commission (an analogy of Ministry of Construction in some country) and became the Vice Chairman of the Commission to oversee all the public works construction in Taiwan for nine years. During this period, Dr. Li was the leading person to draft the new Government Procurement Law and the Law to Encourage Private Participation in Public Construction.

After the year 2000 Taiwan election, Dr. Li return to University again and established the Graduate Institute of Construction Engineering and Management and later, became The Dean of the College of Engineering in 2003. At the summer of 2008, Dr. Li retired from National Central University and accepted the position of the Chairman of the Board of CECI Engineering Consultants, Inc., which is the largest infrastructure consulting company with more than 2000 engineers and professionals. Dr. Li completed his term of Chairman of CECI in August 2017 and being Professor Emeritus of National Central University.

Dr. Li enjoys a unique civil engineering career which ran across academia, industry and government service, held important positions and made great contributions in every of the three fields.

Professionally, Dr. Li is a Professional Engineer registered in Taiwan. Throughout the years, he has served as the President in many of the professional societies, which included the Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering (CICHE/Taipei) , Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE/Taipei), Chinese Taipei Tunneling Association (CTTA), Intelligent Transportation Association of Taiwan (ITS-Taiwan) and the President of the Sino-Geotechnics Foundation.

Dr. Li is a member of ASCE and also Fellow of ICE. He was the President of the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society in 1999-2001 and the current President of Federation of Engineering Institutions of Asia and Pacific (FEIAP).

Prof. 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. Hung-Jiun Liao

Prof. Liao got his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from National Taiwan University (1979), M.Sc. degree from Imperial College of Science and Technology (1982), and Ph. D. degree from Northwestern University (1986). During his teaching career at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), Prof. Liao has served the university extensively including the chairman of Department of Civil & Construction Engineering, the Dean of Research & Development, and the Vice President of the University. Currently, he is a distinguished professor of NTUST.

Prof. Liao was the coordinator of the international investigation committee on the 2010 national expressway landslide in Taiwan. At that time, Prof. Liao served as the president of Taiwan Geotechnical Society. Based on the findings from the investigation, the slope maintenance systems of the national expressway, highway, and railway in Taiwan had been thoroughly overhauled. In addition, Prof. Liao had initiated his research on ground improvement since his Ph. D. research under the supervision of Prof. Ray Krizek at Northwestern University. Since then, he has been working continuously on ground improvement for three decades. He was in charge of drafting the design and construction specifications of ground improvement for the Taiwan Geotechnical Society. Prof. Liao had been active in the soil grouting works for the construction of Taipei MRT.

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. 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

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.

Prof. Keh-Jian (Albert) Shou

Keh-Jian Shou (Professor, Ph.D.) is now working with Department of Civil Engineering, National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan (since 1994). He get his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from University of Minnesota, U.S.A. (1993). His specialties include rock mechanics/rock engineering, engineering geology, trenchless technologies, and geohazard analysis.

His experience includes: 1. Visiting Professor, CNR/IRPI, Perugia, Italy (2013-2014), 2. Department Head, Department of Civil Engineering, National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan (2010-2013), 3. Senior Principal Engineer, Shannon & Wilson, Seatlle, USA (2008), 4. Visiting Professor, Trenchless Technology Center (TTC), Louisiana Technical University, USA (2006), 5. Visiting Professor, Research Center of Urban Safety and Security (RCUSS), Kobe University, Japan (2003~2004), 6. Research Engineer, CSIR/Miningtek, South Africa (1998~1999), 7. Geotechnical Engineer, National Expressway Engineering Bureau, Taiwan (1993-1994).

Prof. Louis Ge

Louis Ge is a Professor of Civil Engineering at National Taiwan University (NTU), Taiwan. He obtained his B.S. in Civil Engineering from NTU in 1995. He then received his M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Colorado at Boulder in 2000 and 2003, respectively. Dr. Ge was an Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA (formerly University of Missouri-Rolla) from 2004-2011. In 2011, he joined the Department of Civil Engineering at NTU. He currently also served as Deputy Vice President of General Affairs at NTU. Dr. Ge has more than 15 years in geotechnical engineering research, teaching, and consulting. His research focuses on geo-material characterization, soil liquefaction, ground improvement, and constitutive modeling.

Prof. Ge served at the Soil and Rock Instrumentation Committee of Transportation Research Board (TRB), USA, from 2006-2011. In addition, he has been serving as member of Soil Properties and Modeling Committee and Unsaturated Soils Committee of Geo-Institute of American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) since 2006 and 2006, respectively. Prof. Ge also serves as associate editor and editorial board member for several journals, including, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, International Journal of Geomechanics, Journal of Testing and Evaluation, Marine Georesources & Geotechnology, and Journal of GeoEngineering. He has supervised 35 graduate students, including 5 Ph.D. students and has published about 50 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings.

Prof. Der-Guey Lin

Dr. Der-Guey Lin is currently, Professor in the Department of Soil and Water Conservation at the National Chung-Hsing University (NCHU), Taichung, Taiwan.

He did his B.S. in Civil Engineering (1979), National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. M. Eng. in Civil Engineering (1981), National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan (Geotechnical Engineering). Dr Lin’s Ph D is from AIT under a full scholarship by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan in 1993.

Prof. Lin’s interest in Geotechnical Engineering span over a large number of interesting fields: Ecological Engineering, Numerical Analyses in Geotechnical Engineering and Soil and Water Conservation; Computer-Aided Design in Slope Engineering; Mitigation and Prevention of Sediment-Related Disaster ; Analysis and Design of Ecological Engineering; Mechanics of Plant Root and Stability Analysis of Vegetated Slope; Landslides and Debris Flow.

Prof. Lin is an author of nearly hundred research papers and supervised many Doctoral and Masters students. He is the recipient of a large number of research projects from: Council of Agriculture, National Science Council and Public Construction Commission of the Executive Yuan Taiwan.

Dr. 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.

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.

Professor Askar Zhussupbekov

Askar Zhussupbekov was born in 1955 at Agatan, Uralsk prefecture (Kazakhstan). He received his Diploma of Civil Engineering (1977) from Saint-Petersburg State Architectural and Civil Engineering University (SPBGASU), Saint-Petersburg, Russia, and his Dr. Ph. Degree (1985) from SPBGASU, and his Doctor of Science degree (1996) from Karaganda State Technical University (Karaganda, Kazakhstan). He was employed by Department of Civil Engineering of Karaganda State Industrial University, where he became Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at 1987, and also First vice-rector of this University (1999). In 2000, he was elected as Professor of Department of Civil Engineering of Eurasian National University (ENU), Astana, Kazakhstan. He was appointed Director of Geotechnical Institute of ENU, Astana, Kazakhstan (2003). In 2009, Askar Zhussupbekov was elected to the rank of Head of Department of Civil Engineering of ENU. At 2011-2012 he was visiting Professor of Columbia University, New York (USA), and 2012-2013 was as inviting Professor of Columbia University.

The main field of expertise of Askar Zhussupbekov is geotechnical engineering (piling and deep foundations), geomonitoring, undermining soil ground, disaster prevention and reduction, in situ testing. He carries out theoretical and experimental research, as well as consulting work for civil and geotechnical projects at new capital Astana (Kazakhstan), West Kazakhstan (Caspean Sea area), Almaty (old capital of Kazakhstan), Saint-Petersburg, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Russia) .

He is a scientific consultant on piling works of such projects as the second generation plant and in Tengiz (Caspean Sea coast) and Karabotan , Kashagan (Atyrau), where the clients are PFD company (USA), AGIP (Italy); the International Airport Project in Astana( new capital), the clients are Asian Pacific (Japan) and Alsim Alarko (Turkey); Buildings for the USA Embassy, the client is Fluor Caspean Services, Ltd (USA) and other Mega Projects on problematical soil ground of Kazakhstan, like as EXPO 2017, Abu-Dhabi Plaza (Astana).

Starting in 2005, Askar Zhussupbekov has been, appointed as core member of TC305 “Geotechnical Infrastructure of Mega cities and new capitals”. He organized several workshops at Eurasian National University related with this TC-305 activity. He is also active member of TC-4, ATC-3, ATC-19, RSSMGE, IALT, GI, DGGS and IGS. He has been supervised more than 30 Dr. Ph. dissertations and 6 Dr. Engineering dissertations (included foreign students from Japan, Turkey, South Korea, Cambodia, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Russia).

Askar Zhussupbekov has been extensively traveled to deliver the invited lectures regarding on the geotechnical problems with soft soil ground in different universities and companies all over the world. He has published more then 330 scientific papers including 3 books on Geotechnical Engineering. He organized several international geotechnical conferences at Astana (1997, 2000, 2001, 2005), Atyrau, 2003 (Kazakhstan), Saint-Petersburg, 2003 (Russia), Samarkand, 2003 (Uzbekistan), Tokyo, 2003, (Japan), Almaty, 2004 (Kazakhstan), Dushanbe, 2005 (Tajikistan), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 2007 (Russia), Harbin, 2009 (China), Moscow, 2010 (Russia), Hong Kong, 2011 (China), Bandung, 2012 (Indonesia), New York, 2013 (USA), Chennai, 2015 (India) and in other countries.

He was Vice-President of ISSMGE for Asia since 2010-2013. Prof. Askar Zhussupbekov organized 8AYGEC in Astana at August, 2017, Kazakhstan. Now he is Charman of TC305 «Geotechnical Infrastructure for Megacities and New Capitals» of ISSMGE and President of Kazakhstan Geotechnical Society.

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 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. Tian Ho Seah

Dr. Tian 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. Hosoi Takeshi

Dr. Hosoi Takeshi is a Geotechnical Advisor at WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, Singapore. He received his PhD with research focused on “Diaphragm Wall Design and Construction” from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan in the year 1995.

Dr. Hosoi has more than 50 years of experience in design and construction of underground structures, Tunneling, Bridge Foundations and Marine works. He is an international expert in shield tunneling, NATM tunneling, diaphragm wall and bored pile works and other complex geotechnical works.

He is a Professional Engineer (PE) in Japan Since 1983, Fellowship of Japanese Society of Civil Engineer and International Member of Japanese Geotechnical Society. He coordinated the Asian Ocean Seminar sponsored by Japanese Ministry of Port and Harbor for 10 years. He was also a national member in “E-Defence Project” in Japan.

He served as a General Manager of Technical Research & Earthquake Technology Research Institute for 8 years and General Manager of Design Department of Nishimatsu Construction Co. Ltd. for 7 years.

Ir. Dr. Dominic Ong

Ir. Dr. Dominic Ong obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Western Australia (UWA) and his PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Currently, he is an Associate Professor and Director of the Research Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Faculty of Engineering, Computing & Science, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus. He is also actively involved in geotechnical consultancy works within the local industry and previously in Singapore. Ir. Dr. Ong has particular interests in the fields of deep excavation, tunnelling, soil-structure interaction, ground improvement, field instrumentation works, biocementation and finite element modelling. He currently supervises 10 PhD candidates in these fields. He also holds the position of Executive Committee Member of the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM) Sarawak Branch, Vice-Chairman Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) Sarawak Branch and is also a Founding Member of both the Malaysian Geotechnical Society (MGS) and the Malaysian Society for Trenchless and Tunnelling Technology (MSTTT). He is also an Editorial Board Member of the UK’s Institution of Civil Engineer (ICE) journal, Geotechnical Research as well as an Editorial Panel Member of the Southeast Asia Geotechnical Society (SEAGC)-Association of Geotechnical Societies in Southeast Asia (AGSSEA) Geotechnical Engineering journal. Recently, he serves in the International Society for Soil Mechanics & Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) Technical Committees, namely, TC104 Physical Modelling and TC207 Soil-Structure Interaction & Retaining Walls.

Dr. John Endicott

Prof. John Endicott graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Mathematics and Mechanical Sciences in 1967 and obtained a PhD in 1971 studying the numerical analysis of deformation of soil slopes on a centrifuge. He is now an AECOM Fellow in recognition of his many years of excellence in ground engineering. He is an Adjunct Professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and at Hong Kong University. He is a Fellow Commoner at St Catharine’s College Cambridge.

Initially he worked in the United Kingdom on design of a range of structures including steel box girder bridges and then moved to Hong Kong in 1975. There he pioneered the use of soil/structure analysis and developed one of the first computer programs for diaphragm wall analysis in 1976. Since then he has been involved with more than 100 underground railway stations and tunnels. His work has been diverse. He was Design Director for the 1243 ha reclamation for Chek Lap Kok Airport as well as many tunnels for roads, drainage and deep tunnels for sewerage. He has worked on slope studies and hydrogeology.

He developed a professional practice in Hong Kong with over 500 staff and his area of responsibility now extends throughout S. E. Asia from India to New Zealand. He is a Registered Structural Engineer and a Registered Geotechnical Engineer in Hong Kong.

He has served as Member of Council for Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, as a Member of the Town Planning Board of Hong Kong and as Member of the International Panel of Experts advising the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore with respect to development of underground space.

He has authored and co-authored over 50 articles and technical papers. He has contributed chapters to two books and was leader of the team that wrote Publication 1/2007 “Engineering Geological Practice in Hong Kong” on behalf of the Geotechnical Engineering Office of the Government of Hong Kong.

He is qualified as an Expert Witness and has given evidence in a number of major cases including inflow of water into deep tunnels, piling in karst, extensive diaphragm walling in tropically weathered rocks, foundations for a power station, and for the Inquiry into the collapse of the Nicoll Highway in Singapore

Prof. Mitsutaka Sugimoto
(Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering,
Nagaoka University of Technology, Kamitomioka-Chou,
Nagaoka, Niigata, 940-2188, Japan, sugimo@vos.nagaokaut.ac.jp)

Prof. Sugimoto was born in Tokyo, Japan. After he graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering, Tokyo University in 1980, he worked for Hazama Construction Company as a site, estimation, and design engineer up to 1987. In 1988, he became an Assist. Prof. at Tokyo Univ.. He was an Assoc. Prof. at Nagaoka University of Technology from 1989 and at Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, in 1993 – 1996. From 2001, he has been a Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology. Now he is the Head of the Center of International Exchange and Education and the Presidential Aid for International Affairs.
Prof. Sugimoto has carried out extensive research on underground space technology in soft ground including shield tunneling method and pipe jacking method by numerical analysis, model test, and site investigation. He received the paper award of JSCE in geotechnical engineering field and the award of the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for meritorious person on industry-academia-official collaboration.

Prof. Sugimoto is a member of several technical committees on tunneling including the Tunnel Engineering Committee (JSCE); the Technical Committee on Underground Construction in Soft Ground (TC204, ISSMGE); the Asian Regional Technical Committee on Urban Geo-Engineering (ATC6, ISSSMGE); the Execution Technical Committee of the Central Alps Tunnels for the Superconducting Maglev; and the Mechanized Execution Technical Committee for the Hokkaido Shinkansen. Also he is a member of the editorial committee of several journals including Journal of Tunneling Engineering (JSCE); Soils & Foundations(JGS); and Journal of Geotechnical Engineering (SEAGS & AGSSEA). A member of several geotechnical and tunnel engineering societies, Prof. Sugimoto has lectured very widely in Asia, Europe and North America.

Dr. Chiwan Wayne Hsieh

Chiwan Wayne Hsieh graduated in Hydraulic Engineering from the Feng-Chia University, Taiwan in 1980. He obtained a Ph.D. in the Department of Civil and Environment Engineering at the Penn State University, USA in 1991. From 1989 to 1992 he worked for Gannett Fleming Inc, Pennsylvania, USA, specialising in geotechnical design and construction of Highway projects. From 1992 he has been Professor of Civil Engineering at the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, where he specialises in designing of geosynthetics, trenchless technology, and civil engineering material property evaluation. He is the author of over 100 technical papers on the subject of geosynthetics and characteristic of civil engineering materials, and has been a keynote speaker at many conferences and symposia. Chiwan Hsieh is a Fellow of ASCE and CICHE, Council Member of the International Geosynthetics Society and member of several international technical societies.

Dr. 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

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 forthcoming Indian GeoTechnical Conference-2016.

Dr. 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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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. Chung-Tien Chin

Dr. Chung-Tien Chin received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from National Taiwan University in 1980, and his Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986. Dr. Chin is a registered professional civil engineer in the ROC, and was among of the first 25 APEC Engineers in Taiwan.

Dr. Chin joined CTBC Financial Holding Co., Ltd. in 2015. Currently, he is the senior vice president of Taiwan Life Insurance specializing in land development and engineering related projects.

After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Chin initially worked for Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers in New York. Upon his return to Taiwan, he joined Moh and Associates, Inc. (MAA), where he worked on several Taipei Rapid Transit System projects before becoming a senior vice president in charge of various design departments. During his time at MAA, Dr. Chin actively participated in numerous overseas projects throughout Asia, including the New Bangkok International Airport. In China, he helped to expand business opportunities, such as the establishment of a joint venture, Agiletech, with the Beijing Urban Engineering Design & Research Institute in 2007. Agiletech is a consulting firm that focuses on risk management for Beijing’s subway system.

From 2010 to 2013, Dr. Chin served as the president of Star Energy Corporation, known for its excellent track record in Engineering–Procurement -Construction services for electric power plants and transmission systems. Dr. Chin has helped Star Energy strengthen its commitment to promoting renewable energy sources. Examples include th Senjin solar power system and the Yunlin onshore wind power system.

Dr. Chin joined Mott MacDonald Taiwan as a director of renewable energy in March 2013. He was then promoted to chairman six months later. During his tenure as Chairman, he has expanded the company’s core business in the rail sector. Their services cover almost all system and civil works in technical advisory and design consultancy in railway, metro, and LRT. He also developed PCM projects in the private sector, such as the Foxconn Building in Shanghai.

Dr. Chin has more than 100 technical papers published. He has also taught at various universities in Taiwan including National Chiao Tung University, National Taiwan Institute of Technology and Science, and National Central University since 1987. Outside of Taiwan, Dr. Chin has also been invited to be an advisory professor at Hohai University in Nanjing and an adjunct professor at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. Most recently, Dr. Chin was an adjunct professor at the Management School of National Taiwan Normal University from 2013 to 2014.

Over the years, Dr. Chin has also volunteered his time to local and international professional societies. From 2007 to 2010, he was president of the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society. Dr. Chin is an active leader in the Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE). Presently, he is serving as the vice chairman of APEC Engineers Monitoring CommitteeCIE. Furthermore, Dr. Chin has also frequently been invited by the government to assist in various projects. From 2010 to 2012, he has been a member of the Consultation Committee of the National Science and Technology Program– Energy. From 2013 to 2015, he served as an adjudicator of the Public Construction Commission, Executive Yuan.

In 1991, the Chinese Institute of Engineers honored Dr. Chin with the “Outstanding Young Engineer” award. In 2008, the CIE bestowed the “Distinguished Engineer” award upon him.

Ir. Liew Shaw Shong

M.Eng,Sc.(UNSW),B.Sc.(NTU),FIEM,MACEM,APEC Eng, IntPE,P, Eng,ASEAN C.P.Eng

Ir. Liew Shaw Shong obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering with First Class Honours from National Taiwan University at Taipei in 1991 and worked as a geotechnical engineer in Sino Geotechnology Inc. at Taipei for a year. In 1992, he continued his post-graduate study in University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and obtained his Master of Engineering Science in 1993. He then returned to Malaysia to work as geotechnical engineer in a multi-discipline engineering consultant firm. During the six years of working, he has exposed himself to numbers of major infrastructure projects, likes Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong, Tanjung Pelepas Port, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, etc. In 1999, he jointly established a geotechnical specialist consulting firm with another two partners to continue the consultancy practice till now. He is now the senior director of G&P Geotechnics Sdn Bhd. In the past twenty five years of his professional career, he has involved in numbers of forensic investigations of landslide problems at mountainous roads. He is one of the project team members in the National Slope Master Plan Study commissioned by Public Work Department, Malaysia. He also conducted numbers of short courses and delivered lectures on subjects covering subsurface investigation, instrumentation, dam engineering, slope engineering, soft ground engineering, pile and retaining wall designs, geotechnical case histories and forensic engineering.

Ir. Liew was the past chairman of Geotechnical Engineering Technical Division of the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) for Session 2010 to 2013 and is currently the advisor of Geotechnical Engineering Technical Division of the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) for Session 2014 to 2015. He is also presently the secretary general of Malaysia Geotechnical Society.

He has published more than 50 technical papers on geotechnical engineering in local and overseas conferences and seminars. In 2005, he won the Ir. Tan Sri Hj. Yusoff Prize for the best IEM Technical Paper Award.