Geotechnical Engineering & Geomechanics

Professor receives Fulbright award to study combined natural hazards in Chile

sugl6437 — Fri, 15 May 2026 16:36:18 +0000

Professor receives Fulbright award to study combined natural hazards in Chile sugl6437 Fri, 05/15/2026 - 10:36

Susan Glairon

Shideh Dashti, a professor of geotechnical engineering and geomechanics, has received a Fulbright award to study combined seismic and rainfall-related geohazards at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (PUC).

As part of the prestigious U.S. State Department program, Dashti will spend four months at PUC developing tools and curriculum to help engineers better understand and prepare for overlapping rainfall and earthquake geohazards.

Chile faces multiple natural hazards—including drought, floods, wildfires and earthquakes—that increasingly occur concurrently or sequentially.

“Chile offers unique access to case histories of combined geohazards that could support our research and modeling efforts, along with advanced building codes and outstanding expertise in the field of hazards engineering,” said Dashti, who studies compound climatic-seismic geohazards.

The project aims to help shift infrastructure design and engineering education from focusing on single hazards to addressing the compound impacts of hazards on critical infrastructure.

Rainfall simulation box designed for CU �ֲ��ý’s 400 g-ton centrifuge facility at the Center for Infrastructure, Energy and Space Testing (CIEST) to simulate how combined rainfall and earthquake loading affect scaled slopes and embankments.

“The effects of compound geohazards have been understudied, partly due to the lack of well-documented field data and partly lack of related physical model studies,” she said. “They are currently not included in the training of future hazards engineers and professionals or in our codes and standards. My goal is to collect and analyze well-documented case histories in Chile that support a fundamental study of these effects.”

Perfect storm

Simultaneous seismic and rainfall-related hazards can destabilize hillsides, weaken soil and increase the risk of infrastructure failure, Dashti said. For instance, intense rainfall followed by even a minor earthquake can trigger significant landslides, while rain-saturated soil may lose strength during earthquake shaking and undergo liquefaction, behaving more like a liquid and damaging roads, buildings and other critical infrastructure.

“The aging physical infrastructure, such as the earthen slopes and embankments that support critical transportation, water, telecommunication and power lifelines in Chile and the U.S. is not ready for increasingly likely concurrent or sequential extreme events, amplifying risk imposed on our communities” she said.

Dashti was also a principal investigator and steering committee member of the National Science Foundation-funded Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER), which coordinates geotechnical data collection and field investigations following major international disasters.

In Chile she will work with colleagues to collect multi-hazard case histories, while sharing findings and best practices through lectures, seminars and workshops with Chile’s practicing geotechnical engineers.

After the four-month Fulbright Fellowship in Chile, she will use centrifuge and computational modeling inspired by the collected case histories to study how combined rainfall and earthquake hazards affect slopes and earthen infrastructure using CU �ֲ��ý’s unique experimental and computational resources. The models will help interpret real-world case studies, evaluate current engineering tools and identify conditions where existing single-hazard design approaches may be unsafe.

The research will also help determine how different rainfall conditions change earthquake risks and will support the development of preliminary engineering guidelines tailored to Chile’s hazards, geology and infrastructure vulnerabilities.

Shideh Dashti, a professor of geotechnical engineering and geomechanics, has received a Fulbright award to study the combined impacts of seismic and rainfall-related geohazards at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). The project seeks to advance infrastructure design and engineering education by shifting the focus from single-hazard approaches to addressing the compound effects these hazards pose to critical infrastructure.

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Introducing Sam Sohn, new CIEST director

Susan Glairon — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 18:34:33 +0000

Introducing Sam Sohn, new CIEST director Susan Glairon Tue, 10/14/2025 - 12:34

At CU �ֲ��ý, the Center for Infrastructure, Energy, and Space Testing (CIEST) is where innovation meets impact. The facility brings together students, faculty and industry partners to explore how infrastructure and materials perform under real-world conditions—from powerful geotechnical centrifuges to advanced structural and materials testing systems.

Now, under the leadership of Sam Sohn, CIEST’s new director, the center is deepening opportunities for hands-on learning, research collaboration and industry partnerships.

How does your background align with the mission of CIEST?

I earned my PhD in materials science from Virginia Tech in 2000, and have since worked in R&D and product developments across a range industries— including polymers, electronic materials, solar cells, EV batteries and automotive systems. These broad experiences have shown me how science and technology impact our daily lives.

The core mission of CIEST is to study infrastructure at small, medium and large scales such as building and underground systems—and to build a scientific foundation for improving resilience against natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. In many ways, this aligns with my career path: leveraging science and technology for the benefit of society.

What excites you most about taking on the role of director?

My role has three core missions: supporting faculty in undergraduate and graduate teaching, providing the right experimental tools for research and bringing internal and external research to expand the center. The work is anything but routine—it demands creativity, collaboration and a strong drive for success, keeping me engaged every day.

What are some of the lab’s current or upcoming research projects that you’re most excited about?

CIEST supports several CEAE faculty research projects in geotechnical and structural engineering, ranging from concrete research to earthquake impact simulations using a centrifuge. The center also conducts multiple pipeline-related industrial research programs.

How is CIEST advancing testing capabilities for large-scale infrastructure, materials or energy systems?

CIEST is equipped with four hydraulic actuators, covering both uniaxial and bi-axial testing ranging from 110 kip and 220kip, (1 kip = 1,000 pounds). Our largest actuator can handle up to one million pounds. A series of centrifuges from small teaching units to large industrial-scale machines—enables a full spectrum of geotechnical research. These capabilities are versatile and can also be applied to aerospace and energy research.

What role do industry partnerships play in your research and testing programs?

Industry partnerships are critical, providing financial stability and strong connections for our students. Industry brings real-world, complex challenges to CIEST, requiring advanced equipment and expertise, which creates opportunities for mutual growth and prepares students for professional success.

How do students—both undergraduate and graduate—get involved in CIEST projects?

CIEST offers multiple ways for students to get involved. Some undergraduate students are hired directly by the center, while others work on research tied to their master’s or doctoral dissertations through their faculty advisors.

CIEST also hires postdoctoral researchers to lead and support industrial projects.

The center operates with a small professional staff and a large team of students and postdocs. One of CIEST’s core missions is hands-on education: students help design experiments, set up tests and analyze results, gaining a full understanding of how research is conducted from start to finish.

What skills or experiences do you hope students gain from working in the lab?

We live in an “AI-driven” era, where access to advanced knowledge is easier than ever. This makes higher education even more valuable, as success will depend less on “what you know” and more on “how you use it.” At CIEST, students gain practical, hands-on experience, applying scientific and engineering principles in real-world research. This experience equips CEAE graduates with the skills to innovate and excel in their careers.

In today’s AI-driven era, success depends less on what you know and more on how you use it, says Sam Sohn, the new director of CIEST. That’s what makes the center so vital. At CIEST, students gain practical, hands-on experience applying science and engineering to real-world challenges—preparing CEAE graduates to innovate and lead in their careers.

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Iran faces widespread land subsidence amid escalating water emergency

Susan Glairon — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 18:14:57 +0000

Iran faces widespread land subsidence amid escalating water emergency Susan Glairon Mon, 04/21/2025 - 12:14

Associate Professor Shideh Dashti highlights how land subsidence from excessive groundwater extraction for farming threatens Iran's critical infrastructure, like transportation and pipelines. The rapid land sinking adds to earthquake risks, compounding the danger.

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Shideh Dashti named 2025 EERI Distinguished Lecturer

Susan Glairon — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 18:02:26 +0000

Shideh Dashti named 2025 EERI Distinguished Lecturer Susan Glairon Tue, 02/04/2025 - 11:02

Associate Professor Shideh Dashti received the 2025 EERI Distinguished Lecture Award for her groundbreaking work in geotechnical earthquake engineering.

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Shideh Dashti: What Libya’s floods, Morocco’s earthquake can teach us about resilient infrastructure

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:03:36 +0000

Shideh Dashti: What Libya’s floods, Morocco’s earthquake can teach us about resilient infrastructure Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/20/2023 - 09:03

In this interview with Shideh Dashti, an associate professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering, Dashti shares her thoughts on the recent and devestating floods in Libya and earthquake in Morocco, what engineers can learn from these events and how countries can build resilient cities.

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Yida Zhang’s CAREER award targets role of tiny grains in dam failures

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 21:15:05 +0000

Yida Zhang’s CAREER award targets role of tiny grains in dam failures Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/14/2023 - 15:15

Susan Glairon

Yida Zhang is deeply passionate about assessing the stability of dams, but his approach is unconventional. Rather than studying the large aging structures, his research zeroes in on the tiny sand grains beneath and surrounding them. He investigates how the grain size distribution evolves under stress and its potential to compromise the stability of dams, especially in cases of extreme weather events.

“In geotech, we design based on the properties of soils at the moment of construction,” says Zhang, an assistant professor in CU �ֲ��ý’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. “That’s the end of the story. We don’t ask how the material evolves and degrades over time.”

Zhang was recently granted a prestigious CAREER award, a $600,000, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation, to support his research, “Decoding the Grain Size Evolution of Granular Soils under High Stresses.” The CAREER program stands as NSF's highest honor in support of early-career faculty with the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education.

The funding enabled Zhang to establish his research group, the Multiphysical Geomechanics Lab, to pursue research on granular soils under extreme stresses and environmental loadings over extended time spans.

Rising dams, extreme weather
Amid the construction of increasingly taller dams and the escalating threat of extreme weather events, Zhang underscores the critical importance of his research. During construction, carefully controlled grain size distributions and construction protocols are utilized to achieve desirable geotechnical properties of the soil and to ensure mechanical and hydrological stability. However, the long-term effects of high stress, which can crush, degrade and erode the grains, are often overlooked, he says.

For example, one of the most common methods for safe, long-term storage of tailings, a mining waste consisting of crushed rocks and residual chemicals, is to construct tailings dams. Tailings first go through a hydrocyclone process to separate the coarse grains for dam construction. Then, the finer fraction, mixed with water, is stored upstream of the dam to prevent it from transforming into a dense, toxic mudflow. Crushed sand grains would substantially hinder dam drainage, which is crucial to swiftly evacuate water from behind the dam; draining the water reduces the risk of liquefaction in the event of an earthquake.

Zhang’s goal is to develop a numerical approach that leverages grain-size distribution data to inform the engineering designs of large critical geostructures. Engineers would be able to use this tool when designing tall dams, enabling them to anticipate how grain size will evolve under stress and how the factor of safety will change over time. Unlike current technology, this grain-sized informed approach will empower engineers to design dams with a safety margin exceeding the minimum requirements over the long run, effectively preventing failures arising from grain size shifts or soil breakage, he says.

Education components
The project also includes educational tools designed to illustrate to high school students the ways in which civil engineers address climate change and to make civil engineering topics more accessible. This initiative aims to counter the national decline in the recruitment of civil engineers and secure a steady supply of skilled geotechnical engineers into the workforce.

“We need to create a pipeline for the next generation of geotechnical engineers,” Zhang says. “Without a continuous influx of talent into this field, we risk a shortage of skilled professionals as we confront new challenges related to climate change.”

Furthermore, he plans to equip graduate students with toolkits for adapting geo-structures to climate change.

“No one wants the failure of critical dams or levees, recalling memories of Katrina and, more recently, the Brumadinho dam failure in Brazil,” Zhang said. “We want to design our dams and levees with better knowledge about the material response to extreme loading after it ages. We don’t want the dams to fail.”

Photo above: Hoover Dam. Photo credit: Susan Glairon

With the construction of increasingly taller dams, Geotechnical Engineering Assistant Professor Yida Zhang is concerned about the potential effects of soil grain breakage caused by pressure. He recently received a prestigious NSF CAREER award to fund his research on the evolution of grain sizes in dams.

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Turkey earthquake a ‘poster child’ for what could happen in Southern California

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 19:09:38 +0000

Turkey earthquake a ‘poster child’ for what could happen in Southern California Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/14/2023 - 12:09

Shideh Dashti, an associate professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering and acting associate dean for research in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, says the geology underlying Turkey and Syria shares a lot in common with the West Coast of the United States.

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What is the Center for Infrastructure, Energy, and Space Testing at CU �ֲ��ý?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 20:36:22 +0000

What is the Center for Infrastructure, Energy, and Space Testing at CU �ֲ��ý? Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/24/2023 - 13:36

Jeff Zehnder

Welcome to the Center for Infrastructure, Energy, and Space Testing (CIEST) at CU �ֲ��ý, an experimental facility offering geotechnical centrifuges, structural dynamics and materials testing and research for business, government, and academic partners.

CIEST is home to a massive array of cutting edge, specialized facilities to conduct small and large scale testing with equipment, testbeds and instrumentation unrivaled in the United States.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlyBN4IJlK8]

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Video: Pioneering resilient infrastructure in the wake of earthquakes and climate-related natural disasters

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 15:14:15 +0000

Video: Pioneering resilient infrastructure in the wake of earthquakes and climate-related natural disasters Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/27/2022 - 09:14

Engineering a sustainable and equitable future takes innovation and collaboration.

Shideh Dashti is the Acting Associate Dean of Research at CU �ֲ��ý's College of Engineering & Applied Science, as well as an Associate Professor in the Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department.

Dean Dashti's research is specifically focused on geotechnical engineering, centrifuge modeling, and designing resilient infrastructure in the wake of earthquakes and climate-related natural disasters.

Shideh is also a Co-Director of the College's Center for Infrastructure, Energy and Space Testing (CIEST), as well as the Director RISE - an interdisciplinary research collaboration at CU �ֲ��ý to explore the intersection of resilient infrastructure, sustainability, and equity.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUww6HOz8A8]

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Engineers deploy drones to survey Marshall Fire, gather lessons for future disasters

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 16:09:41 +0000

Engineers deploy drones to survey Marshall Fire, gather lessons for future disasters Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/14/2022 - 09:09

The drone whirs to life on a driveway in the Spanish Hills neighborhood of �ֲ��ý County. Its four spinning motors lift it to nearly 200 feet above the ground. Below, the cul-de-sac comes into view, revealing the stone chimneys and blackened foundations that dot the hillside—what remains of many of the houses in this neighborhood after flames swept through on Dec. 30 and into the morning of Dec. 31 during what would become known as the Marshall Fire.

Brad Wham trudges through the snow to join about a dozen other researchers who have gathered to watch the flight this morning. They’re wearing hard hats and neon safety vests. As an engineer at CU �ֲ��ý, Wham studies how water pipelines and other “lifelines” can maintain their functionality during natural hazards, such as earthquakes and wildfires. He also lives in Louisville, Colorado, and had to evacuate his own home on that same day.

“I’ve deployed to Japan and New Zealand to study disasters very shortly after they occurred,” said Wham, an assistant research professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE). “It has been a different experience to have them happen in my hometown.”

The Marshall Fire, which spread throughout much of �ֲ��ý County including the towns of Superior and Louisville, became the most destructive fire in Colorado’s history. More than 1,000 homes were lost, and approximately 6,000 acres burned. One person remains missing while another was confirmed dead.

In coordination with local officials, Wham and his colleagues from Oregon State and Purdue universities have been surveying the damage since first-responders extinguished the flames. The effort is part an initiative funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) called Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER), which deploys researchers to disaster sites around the world. The team hopes to better understand the disaster from a uniquely engineering perspective: Why did some houses burn, for example, while neighboring homes survived? How did critical services like water, gas and electricity hold up during one of the worst disasters in �ֲ��ý County’s history?

Time is of the essence. Soon, bulldozers and excavators will crawl through the impacted areas to begin the slow process of rebuilding—and much of that information will be gone forever.

“I think that what we’re doing here is going to be beneficial in the future, especially with other communities that are going to have fires,” said Jessica Ramos, a senior at CU �ֲ��ý who’s working on Wham’s research team.

The Marshall Fire swept through this cul-de-sac in the Spanish Hills neighborhood. (Credit: Casey Cass/CU �ֲ��ý)

Heat map

More information

For CU �ֲ��ý community members experiencing physical, financial or emotional impacts of the Marshall Fire, CU �ֲ��ý fire resources are available.

Fire resources

CONVERGE is hosting a series of virtual forums to discuss research on the Marshall Fire. Tune in for the next forum on Thursday, Feb. 17 from 2-3:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

Join the forum

Erica Fischer, a structural engineering professor at Oregon State University who leads the GEER team along with Wham, joined the researchers in Spanish Hills on this windy morning in January.

In many ways, the neighborhood shows why people have flocked to �ֲ��ý County in recent decades. Its rolling hills offer a startling view of the CU �ֲ��ý campus and the Flatirons beyond. But, Fischer notes, wildfires have been an inescapable part of these kinds of beautiful landscapes since long before humans settled here—and, as the climate warms in Colorado, they’re likely to grow worse.

“I would love to have this view,” she says, standing on a snowy hillside. “This is incredible, but beautiful scenery is created out of disaster. That’s how mountains are formed. That’s how lush forests are created. Understanding that is important.”

She and her colleagues are hoping to help people to live more safely within this dynamic environment.

They’re taking a multi-pronged approach to the research. They’ve utilized laser sensors to create 3D models of homes and retaining structures burned in the fire. They’ve also deployed flying vehicles like the quadcopter drones—on loan from the NSF-funded RAPID facility at the University of Washington.

This kind of interdisciplinary reconnaissance related to a wildfire has never been done before by GEER,” said Shideh Dashti, an associate professor in CEAE who leads an interdisciplinary research effort at CU �ֲ��ý called Resilient Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity. “The solutions we come up with need to be holistic.”

As one part of that fast-moving effort, the group is working to recreate a heat map of the path the fire took through towns like Superior and Louisville.

Fischer explained that as concrete heats up, it changes color, turning pinker the warmer it becomes. Students from Oregon and CU �ֲ��ý are inspecting the foundations of homes in the region, using custom-made color swatches to try to estimate how hot the flames got—giving them a better sense of what happened inside those homes as they burned.

Members of the GEER team watch a drone take off from the Spanish Hills neighborhood. (Credit: Casey Cass/CU �ֲ��ý)

Team members survey damage from the Marshall Fire. (Credit: Casey Cass/CU �ֲ��ý)

The team plans to publish its initial findings through a publicly-available report in March.

Ultimately, the researchers hope to bring together lessons learned from the Marshall Fire for other communities across the West. Fischer noted that recommendations like the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code and the National Fire Protection Agency's FireWise Program have long laid out how homeowners can safeguard homes from wildfires. Building a gravel skirt around your house, for example, can help to buffer it from flames. But many of those recommendations are expensive to put into place, she said, and no one knows which ones give you the biggest bang for your buck.

“In 2018, there was a big hailstorm in �ֲ��ý County. A lot of people replaced their roofs. Did certain roofing materials help more than others? Did some siding materials help more than others?” Fischer said. “If homeowners have one dollar for rebuilding, where should they put it?”

Urgent response

Wham understands the urgency of the effort. At 2 p.m. on Dec. 30, he packed a bag and left his house in Louisville as flames licked the ground just a couple hundred yards away. His house made it through the night, but many others nearby didn’t.

“The fire destroyed structures all around us, to the north, the west, the south,” he said from Spanish Hills, a mile and a half from his home. “But the response is the same as if it were in another community. We want to help in any way that we can. We want to support the local institutions that are making decisions to get people back to their homes and recover from this as safely and as efficiently as possible.”

As part of that, Wham and his colleagues are also striving to understand how humans responded to this unprecedented disaster. The team has interviewed emergency management personnel and other local leaders to learn more about the decisions they made during and after the fire—how did residents evacuate neighborhoods, and how did cities and the county prioritize restoring vital services? In Louisville, for example, the local water treatment plant lost power, natural gas and communication services during the fire, severely limiting its capacity to get water to firefighters. Local officials trucked in natural gas from the surrounding area to restore the facility’s critical water pressure demands.

Lori Peek is a sociologist who directs the Natural Hazards Center at CU �ֲ��ý and an associated NSF-funded effort called CONVERGE, which coordinates research on natural disasters. She has a lot of experience collecting perishable data in the immediate aftermath of events from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 BP oil spill.

“One of the keys to doing ethical disaster research is making sure that work is grounded in the local cultural context,” Peek said. “This team multi-disciplinary team of engineers had those deep ties and has the opportunity to do grounded research that makes a scientific contribution but is also immediately useful to local leaders.”

Wham, for his part, has already taken one big lesson away from the Marshall Fire.

“People from all over the state and even from outside the state came in to fight the fires and help restore water service and power systems,” he said. “Those are really important relationships and connections that support the recovery process.”

He hopes that same wider community will help residents of the impacted neighborhoods as they begin the slow process of rebuilding their homes and their lives.

Other participants in the GEER study include CU �ֲ��ý professors Abbie Liel and Amy Javernick-Will of CEAE and Andrew Whelton of Purdue. Students Nicolas Berty, Jacob Klingaman and Hailey-Rae Rose of CU �ֲ��ý and Amy Metz and Dae Kun Kang of Oregon State are also aiding the effort.

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Geotechnical Engineering & Geomechanics

Professor receives Fulbright award to study combined natural hazards in Chile

Perfect storm

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Introducing Sam Sohn, new CIEST director

How does your background align with the mission of CIEST?

What excites you most about taking on the role of director?

What are some of the lab’s current or upcoming research projects that you’re most excited about?

How is CIEST advancing testing capabilities for large-scale infrastructure, materials or energy systems?

What role do industry partnerships play in your research and testing programs?

How do students—both undergraduate and graduate—get involved in CIEST projects?

What skills or experiences do you hope students gain from working in the lab?

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Iran faces widespread land subsidence amid escalating water emergency

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Shideh Dashti named 2025 EERI Distinguished Lecturer

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Shideh Dashti: What Libya’s floods, Morocco’s earthquake can teach us about resilient infrastructure

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Yida Zhang’s CAREER award targets role of tiny grains in dam failures

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Turkey earthquake a ‘poster child’ for what could happen in Southern California

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What is the Center for Infrastructure, Energy, and Space Testing at CU �ֲ���ý?

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Video: Pioneering resilient infrastructure in the wake of earthquakes and climate-related natural disasters

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Engineers deploy drones to survey Marshall Fire, gather lessons for future disasters

Heat map

Urgent response

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What is the Center for Infrastructure, Energy, and Space Testing at CU �ֲ��ý?