Monday, March 9, 2026

Full Day Course |8:00 am – 5:00 pm

CPT and Pile Foundations: Past Insights, Present Trends, and Future Prospects
Instructors: Abolfazl Eslami

In-situations penetration testing offers a more realistic understanding of soil characteristics and their variations on the investigated site than other common methods. This course provides valuable insights into applying CPT and CPTu to predict the axial bearing capacity of deep foundations via various direct and indirect methods. It explores scale effects in the correlation between piles and penetrometers, considering both toe and shaft capacity, including embedment depth, influence zone, diameter, penetration rate, and mechanism.

Morning Courses |8:00 am – 12:00 pm

CPT and Pile Foundations: Past Insights, Present Trends, and Future Prospects
Instructors: Kristin Ulmer

In recent years, several databases have been developed to advance geotechnical earthquake engineering by providing access to key data for a broad community including researchers, government agencies, and industry professionals. These include open-access relational databases such as the Next Generation Liquefaction (NGL) database, the Ground Motion database (GMDB), and the Shear-wave Velocity (Vs) Profile Database (VsPDB). In this pre-conference workshop, attendees will learn about the development of these databases, methods to access relevant data, and potential future benefits of using these resources.

Artificial Intelligence for Geoprofessionals
Instructors: Nick Machairas

This short course involves a review of the rapidly growing interest in AI/ML within geotechnical engineering research and practice, the rise of generative AI, data-centric AI, and opportunities in the profession to turn data into value. The short course also includes specific examples, while exploring the challenges related to big data and structured data within the geotechnical engineering profession and opportunities with open-source technologies.

Afternoon Courses | 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Simple Methods to Rapidly Characterize and Model Unsaturated Soil Behavior
Instructors: Xiong Zhang

Although significant progress has been made in the past six decades, unsaturated soil mechanics is not extensively used in routine engineering projects for several reasons: (1) the equipment needed to characterize unsaturated soils is expensive (80–150k), (2) the suction-controlled tests are time-consuming (1–3 months/soil, 3–5 years/soil), and (3) the theories for unsaturated soils are complicated to understand and model. This workshop will introduce simple methods to rapidly characterize and model unsaturated soils as follows: (1) A Modified State Surface Approach (MSSA) is used to explain unsaturated soil behavior, which can be easily understood by engineers without previous background in constitutive modeling. (2) Conventional testing equipment (single-cell triaxial, oedometer, and unconfined compression test apparatus) for saturated soils is used to rapidly characterize unsaturated soils (4–8 hours/test, 1–2 weeks/soil). (3) Step-by-step procedures are given to analyze these results for constitutive modeling purposes without sacrificing the theoretical accuracy. (4) Examples will also be given to demonstrate how to use the results for numerical simulation of unsaturated soil-related boundary-value problems. The well-known Barcelona Basic Model (BBM) will be used to demonstrate the proposed methods.

Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment of Geo-systems
Instructors: Mina Lee

The short course will address the growing importance of sustainable practices in geotechnical engineering by offering an overview of sustainability concepts and the application of life cycle assessment in geotechnical engineering. Topics covered include principles of sustainability, the scope of sustainable geotechnics, state-of-the-art methodologies for sustainability assessment in geotechnical engineering, and case study applications to highlight benefits and challenges.

The Basics of Risk Mitigation
Instructors: Dan Becker, Dan Harpstead

This short course will cover project financial risk management, schedule risk analysis, and mitigation strategies for geotechnical projects. Participants will learn structured approaches for identifying risks, evaluating potential impacts, and implementing effective mitigation strategies. Real-world examples and case studies will demonstrate how risk management principles can be applied in practice to reduce uncertainty and improve project outcomes.