Kate Williams, New Zealand – RW Prize Contender

Kate Williams is an Engineering Geologist with Tonkin & Taylor Ltd based in Auckland, New Zealand. She has over ten years of engineering geology experience.

Kate Williams - New Zealand

She graduated with a BSc in Earth Science at the University of Waikato before completing a MSc (Hons) in Geology at Auckland University in 2000. Kate specialises in ground investigation, geological and geomorphic mapping, geotechnical assessment, stability assessment, supervision and reporting. She has extensive experience in landslip assessments and other hazards associated with natural disaster events.

She is an active member of the New Zealand Geotechnical Society (NZGS), involved on the management committee as the Young Geotechnical Professionals Representative and is currently co-editor of the NZGS newsletter publication, “NZ Geomechanics News”.

Luiz Fernando D’Agostino, Brazil – RW Prize Contender

Luiz Fernando is a Brazilian young professional, who graduated in Geology from University of São Paulo in 1999.

Luiz Fernando D’Agostino - Brazil

With nine years working experience in environmental and engineering geology he has obtained a Master of Science degree in Chemical and Geological Oceanography (2002) and a Ph.D. in Engineering (2008), from the University of São Paulo, Brazil with research into hydraulic fills and tailing dams.

Helen Reeves, United Kingdom – RW Prize Contender

Dr Helen Reeves is an engineering geologist with 13 years post graduate experience. Currently, Helen is the Head of Science for Land Use, Planning & Development at the British Geological Survey.

Helen Reeves - United Kingdom

As Head of Science she has overall responsibility for the success, scientific development and coordination of this scientific research area in BGS. The key scientific areas of research within the Land Use, Planning & Development science theme are investigating the engineering geological, geotechnical, geophysical & geochemical properties of the UK land mass. Using this knowledge and information this science area are developing novel techniques and methodologies to monitor and model these properties particularly in the urban environment to aid in urban planning, sustainable development & human health. Previously in BGS, Helen was the: Team leader for the Geo-Engineering Properties & Processes research in the Land Use, Planning & Development science area; task leader for the geomechanical rock testing component of a multi-disciplinary, multi-organisational (co-researchers include Imperial College, BRGM, BGR), co-funded EU research project into the development of “safety cases” for to enable the storage of carbon dioxide in old oil/gas reservoirs & lead investigator for the engineering geological mapping and modelling project of the Mersey Corridor, in NW England, & the mapping project of the Glossop landslides, in NW England.

Before Helen joined BGS she worked for a number of UK based ground investigation companies (Ian Farmer Associates & Dunelm Geotechnical & Environmental). For her doctorate degree, from University of Durham, she analysed geophysical borehole logs (including image logs) and hydrogeological data, from Nirex’s Sellafield Scientific investigations, and identified fractures within the rock mass and how they related to the hydrogeological and stress regime within the Sellafield area. She gained her undergraduate Geological Sciences degree from the University of Leeds and has an MSc in Engineering Geology from the University of Durham.

Müge Akın, Turkey – RW Prize Contender

My name is Müge Akın and I was born in 1975 in Ankara (Turkey). I am now a lecturer in Engineering Geology at the Department of Geological Engineering of the Yuzuncu Yil University, Van (Turkey).

Muge Akin - Turkey

When I graduated from the university in 1997, I decided to specialize in engineering geology. While I was working for different engineering geological projects in several geotechnical companies and governmental organizations, I have completed my master’s degree. Having completed my M.Sc., I have started to work as a research assistant and I have continued my academic career. I finished my Ph.D. in December, 2009 in the Middle East Technical University in Ankara (Turkey). Other than taking some courses at different universities in Turkey, I have also attended educational programmes at ITC (The Netherlands) and Rose School (Italy). Furthermore, I had “Fulbright Visiting Scholar” for 12 months between July 2008 and July 2009 in the University of Washington-Seattle (USA) in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. I have 21 published technical papers, of which 5 are in peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, I was involved in 8 research projects.

My research fields are the application of GIS-based seismic microzonation techniques for urban planning, site response, liquefaction, landslides, slope stability and rockfall hazards. Currently, I am focused on the site response analyses of an urban area which is located on the main fault zone of Turkey.

My career expectations include post-doctoral studies about natural hazards especially the seismic related hazards. I am expecting to receive my assistant professor degree in a year period from the university that I work for. Then, I will give lectures about the important topics of engineering geology. I believe that the theoretical background should be supported by experimental works and they should be shared with other colleagues. I would like to contribute to new publications including new projects. It is a great honor to be nominated for the Richard Wolters Prize by the International Association of Engineering Geology and the Environment Turkish National Committee.

Petr Miklyaev, Russia – RW Prize Contender

Hello, my name is Petr Miklyaev, I am 35 year old. I am a PhD in geology, employed as a senior researcher at the Sergeev Institute of Environmental Geoscience, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Petr Miklyaev - Russia

For more than 10 years I have been being involved in the investigation of radon occurring in the environment and the earth’s crust and in the radon risk assessment. The distribution and behavior of radioactive elements (including radon) in the earth’s crust and radon migration from the Earth’s interior to the surface is the basic field of my research. The main aim of my study is the development of quantitative methods of radon hazard prediction in the buildings under construction. Being an author of 85 scientific publications, I have published 27 papers that are particularly devoted to this topic.

A profession of geologist interested me since my childhood. I dreamed of traveling far away, of sleeping in an open air and cooking my meal at a fire. I was always interested in secrets of the Earth’s interior. It is difficult to imagine that mankind have penetrated into the Earth for only 15 km deep (a distance comparable to that between two neighbor settlements), whereas the space journeys for many thousand and even millions kilometers are quite common now. Now, after having graduated from the Moscow State University (1997) and having defended my PhD thesis (in 2002), I still preserve the romantic attitude to life. I go in for downhill skiing and tourism, I like mountains, hot sun and good strong wine. I was married, and my daughter is 16 years old now. She also wishes to become a geologist.

In the future, I plan to expand and deepen my knowledge and to implement it intensely into practice for providing ecologically safe construction.

Vassilis Marinos, Greece – RW Prize Contender

Vassilis Marinos was born in Athens, Greece and he is 34 years old. He has a bachelor in Geology from the National University of Athens, a Masters Degree in Engineering Geology from Imperial College in United Kingdom and a PhD from the National Technical University of Athens. He is now a Lecturer in Engineering Geology at the Geological Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Vassilios Marinos - Greece

His research work, as a graduate and postgraduate researcher at the National Technical University of Athens, had been mainly focused on the geotechnical classification and engineering geological behaviour of weak and complex rock masses in tunnelling. The fundamental source of the research was the design and construction records of 62 tunnels, recently driven in the Greek mountains. In order to process this material, a geotechnical database was originally created enabling, in various ways, the analysis and correlation of numerous engineering geological and geotechnical information. He has also participated in several other research programs, referred in slope stability in protective archeological sites, risk evaluation of extensive slides, on the assessment of potential erosion phenomena and finally in the pollution of groundwater aquifers.  He has published thirty one papers in the field of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology in international journals and conferences. His research plans and goals for the next years are focused on the engineering geological behaviour of rock masses, based on their nature, micro and meso-structure, in engineering works effectively linked to the geotechnical design.

As a professional, he participated in a consultant group for engineering geological and hydrogeological issues in the design and construction of a large variety of metro works of the Metropolitan Railway of Athens and the Metro of Thessaloniki. He has also worked as an Engineering Geologist with Egnatia Highway S.A. (670 km highway) in reviewing engineering geological designs of tunnels.

He is finally an active member of several International and Greek professional bodies and societies, while he has participated in numerous conferences.

Vassilios other activities are skiing and sailing and that is another reason why he anticipates visiting New Zealand.

Hengxing Lan, China – RW Prize Contender

Dr. Hengxing Lan is a full time professor in the State Key Lab of Resources and Environmental Information System (LREIS), Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Hengxing Lan - China

Since he obtained his Ph.D. degree in geological engineering in the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2001, he has worked in the department of civil and environmental engineering in Hong Kong University in 2003 and the University of Alberta in Canada in 2004. As a team leader, he has led the development of application of GIS technology to geotechnical data integration and hazard/risk assessment in the Center for Risk Assessment and Geohazard studies in Canada before he joined the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009.

He has over 10 years of experience in the research of geological and geotechnical engineering. He has also been involved n many international projects in North America and Europe.  His research currently in progress includes:

(1) Process modeling for ground hazard;

(2) risk assessment for ground hazard;

(3)coupled modeling of behavior of hard rock;

(4) use of high technology (GIS,LiDAR, InSAR) in geological engineering.

The geological processing module (Rockfall Analyst) his team developed has been applied in over 40 organizations worldwide.

He has published over 40 refereed journal articles including international journal such as Journal of Geophysical Research, Engineering Geology, Computer & Geosciences etc. and nearly 10 refereed international conference articles. He has been appointed as the reviewer of several international journals.

The development of geological engineering demands that coupled geo-mechanical processes are sufficiently well understood to proceed with engineering design. Dr. Lan is interested in undertaking such challenging research in various aspects and scales in the future aiming the better understanding of geological behavior coupled with environmental conditions.

Please visit the following website for detail publications: http://sourcedb.cas.cn/sourcedb_igsnrr_cas/yw/zjrck/200910/t20091028_2638832.html

Paz Fernandez, Spain – RW Prize Contender

Dr. Paz Fernandez is a full time Associate Professor in Civil Engineering Department of the University of Granada, Spain.

Paz Fernandez - Spain

Since she achieved her Engineering Degree, she has worked in some companies and public administrations, like the Geological Institute of Spain (IGME) updating the national geological cartography and the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (IEO) as scientific-crew of a scientific ship, in geological campaigns at the Cantabrico Sea and Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, she obtained a Master Engineering Degree at Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) in 2003.

After this, she joined to Terrain Engineering Area at Granada University in 2004, when she won a PhD. Fellowship of National Science and Education Ministry-MEC of Spain. In 2009, she got her Ph.D. from University of Granada, Spain. She has participated in more than 10 R&D projects, has written 12 books chapters and 8 articles in research international journals, and is reviewer of several international journals included in the ISI-SCI. She has participated in a dozen of national and international congresses, and in 2007 was awarded with the best contribution prize in R&D section of the Andalusian Roads Conference. Her research fields are related with the application of Remote Sensing and Geomatic techniques to terrain motion monitoring. Currently she is working in the application of LiDAR, Laser Scanner and DInSAR techniques to monitor and quantify Landslides and Subsidence phenomena in the South of Spain.

Besides her passion for research, she enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience with her young students of the different matters she teaches at the university.

Michael Stahl, Germany – RW Prize Contender

I am 27 years old and graduated from the University of Applied Sciences Bochum, Germany with a degree in Geotechnical Engineering in 2007.

Michael Stahl, Germany

After my studies I worked on a wide variety of geotechnical projects in an engineering company in Bochum, mainly in the fields of methane-gas exploration and tailings. Since 2009 I work on my PhD-Thesis at the Technical University of Freiberg. The topic is “Numerical simulation of the interaction between geogrid and soil”. My aspiration for the future is mainly to finish my PhD-project successfully.

Ranjan Kumar Dahal, Nepal – RW Prize Contender

I am Ranjan Kumar Dahal, university lecturer and professional engineering geologist from Nepal with more than 14 years of experience in teaching, research, and consulting works.

Ranjan Kumar Dahal - Nepal

I was born and raised in Kathmandu, a historic and the capital city of Nepal perched at an elevation of 1340 m from sea level and surrounded by panoramic hills which help to form Kathmandu one of the large valleys in the Lesser Himalaya of Nepal. I received M.Sc. degree in Geology from Tribhuvan University of Nepal in 1995. After serving various engineering consulting firms and academic institutions for about six years, I joined Tri-Chandra Campus of Tribhuvan University as a Lecturer of Applied Geology in 2001, and have been a fulltime Lecturer till date. I joined the Graduate School of Engineering of Kagawa University (Japan) as a PhD candidate and conducted extensive research on rainfall-induced landslides and slope failures in Nepal and Japan. In 2009, I was awarded a PhD Degree in Engineering by Kagawa University, Japan. I also have a wide experience of working as a resource person and consultant engineering geologist in different projects in Nepal. I have published a significant number of research papers including nearly a dozen of international journal papers on landslide, landslide hazard and slope stability issues in Nepal and Japan. I have also written a 750-page volume of text book in geology targeting information seekers and graduate students of technical sciences. In addition, I have contributed chapters in two books related to geology and landslide hazard in Nepal.

Nowadays, I am busy in community based landslide risk mapping in Nepal and trying to develop suitable model for landslide early warning system in community level. I am honored to be nominated for Richard Wolters Prize and am eager to participate on the presentation of September 5.

You can get more about me and my publications in www.ranjan.net.np.