Education:
- Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, 2014
- M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, 2010
- B.S./M.Eng. in Civil Engineering (Summa Cum Laude), National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, 2007
Academic Appointments:
- Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, 2016 – present
- Assistant Professor, The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 2014 – 2016
Graduated Students:
- Brian Morales (MS – 2020)
- Hussain AlShawaf (MS – 2020)
- Karla Santacruz-Reyes (PhD – 2016 , co-advised with Professor George M. Filz, Virginia Tech) [currently: Faculty in Ecuador]
- Evangelos Kontozoglou (MS – 2015) [currently: Parsons Brinckerhoff UK]
Honors and Awards
- 2021-2026 National Science Foundation CAREER Award
- 2021 Arthur Casagrande Professional Development Award, ASCE
- 2018-2019 Wakeham Fellow
- 2018 – Outstanding Reviewer Recognition, Elsevier Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
- 2017 – Greek International Woman Award in Science
- 2016 – Outstanding Reviewer Recognition, ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and GeoEnvironmental Engineering
- 2017 – Engaged Learning and Teaching Community at UC Davis
- 2016 – Anonymous Thank A Teacher Letter (recognition program Virginia Tech)
- 2016 – Teacher of the Week – Virginia Tech CIDER (Center for Instructional Develoment and Educational Research)
- 2015 – W(H)YDOC Young Doctors in Geomechanics Fellow
- 2015 – ExCEEd (Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) ASCE Fellow
- 2014 – Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Travel Award
- 2014 – Graduate Student Travel Award, Dean’s Office, University of California, Davis
- 2014 – Best Presentation Award – Geotechnical Graduate Student Society, UCD, Round Table
- 2014 – Best Poster Award – Geotechnical Graduate Student Society, UCD, Round Table
- 2013 – Fugro West Graduate Fellowship
- 2013 – PEER Delegate – Travel Award for 10th Conference on Urban Earthquake Engineering
- 2012 – Idriss Award for Excellence in Geotechnical Engineering
- 2012 – Golden Key International Honor Society
- 2011 – 2012 Gerondelis Scholarship
- 2008–2011 International Fulbright Science and Technology Award
- 2007 – Ippokleides Vogiatzopoulos Award (Top of NTUA class of 2007)
- 2007 – Thomaideio Academic Award and Medal of Honor (Top of NTUA class of 2007)
- 2007 – Nikolaou Ι. Kritikou Award (Top of NTUA class of 2007)
- 2002-2003 – Technical Chamber of Greece Scholarship for Excellence
- 2005-2006 – Technical Chamber of Greece Scholarship for Excellence
- 2002–2003 – Excellence in Mathematics: C. Papakyriakopoulos Honor
- 2003 – 2004 – Nikolaou Ι. Kritikou Scholarship
- 2002–2003 Ioannis Chatsopoulos Honor for Excellence in Descriptive Geometry
Professional Affiliations
- Engineer In Training – 151437, State of California
- Licensed Engineer – Technical Chamber of Greece (Registration Number: 115349)
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Associate Member
- American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), Professional Member
- Geo-Institute (ASCE), Member
- Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), Member
- United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research (USUCGER), Member
- United States Society on Dams (USSD)
- Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association – Member
- Seismological Society of America (SSA) – Affiliate Member
- Association of Civil Engineers of Greece (SPME), Member
- Greek Women in Engineering Association (EDEM), Member
- Association for Women in Science (AWIS), Member
- Geotechnical Graduate Student Society of UC Davis (GGSS), Alumni Member
Service
Professional Committee Service
- Member (2016 – present) – Center for Biomediated and Bioinspired Geotechnics (CBBG) Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
- Scientific Committee (2016 – present) – International Conference on Natural Hazards and Infrastructure (recurring) http://iconhic2016.com/conference
- Member (2014-present) – ASCE Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics Committee
- Member (2018-present) – Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Young Members Committee (YMC)
- Secretary (2015) – Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Young Members Committee (YMC)
- Corresponding Member (2014 – present) – Technical Committee TC203 on Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Associated Problems ISSMGE
Journal Reviewer
- Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
- Earthquake Spectra
- Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
- Computers and Geotechnics
- Canadian Geotechnical Journal
- Geotechnique Letters
- Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
- Japanese Society of Civil Engineers – Soils and Foundations
- Earthquakes and Structures
- Geofluids
- Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk
Research Proposal Reviewer
- National Science Foundation
- United States Geological Survey
- METRANS Transportation Center (University of Southern California and California State University)
Conference Session Moderator / Organizer
- Ziotopoulou, K., and Hu, J. Session Chair and Moderator “Underground Structures”, Performance Based Design III (PBDIII) Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Vancouver, Canada, July 16-19.
- Yniesta, S., and Ziotopoulou, K. Conference Minisymposium Chair and Organizer – “MS 63 Recent Advances in Constitutive Modeling for Geotechnical Engineering”, Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference, June 4-7, 2017, San Diego, CA.
- Ziotopoulou, K., and Montgomery, J. Conference Session Chair and Organizer – Liquefaction Session Geofrontiers 2017, Orlando, FL.
- Ziotopoulou, K. and Dashti, S. Conference Session Chair and Organizer – “Ground failure and liquefaction: Analysis and Effects on Structures and Lifelines”, International Conference on Natural Hazards and Infrastructure, June 28-30, 2016, Chania, Greece.
- Ziotopoulou, K. Conference 5-in-5 Session Moderator “Soil Structure Interaction”, International Conference on Natural Hazards and Infrastructure, June 28-30, 2016, Chania, Greece.
- Mackie, K. and Ziotopoulou, K. Conference Session Chair – “EMI-MS-37 Computational Modeling in Civil Engineering”, Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference, May 22-25, 2016, Vanderbilt University, TN.
- Planning Committee – Meet the Leaders Event (April 6, 2016) – EERI 68th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
- Session Moderator – Soil Structure Interaction – Soil / Tsunami, 10th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, July 21-25, 2014, Anchorage, Alaska.
University Service
@ University of California, Davis
- Graduate Program Committee – Geotechnical Group Representative (Summer 2017 and on)
@ Virginia Tech
- Faculty Advisor (January 2016-present) – XE (Chi-Epsilon) Honor Society at Virginia Tech
- Faculty Advisor (January 2015-present) – Library Center for Geotechnical Practice and Research
- Judge (April 24, 2015) – Civil and Environmental Engineering Research Day Poster Competition
- Panel Member (August and October 2014) – Via Academic Preparation Program for Ph.D. Students looking for Faculty positions, Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
- Guest lecturer (October 23, 2015) – ENGR 1014 Freshman Research Seminar “Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering: Research topics and opportunities for undergraduate involvement in research”
- Guest lecturer (October 2, 2015) – “inVenTs Slush Rush” event with freshmen “Making connections with faculty in a casual setting and learning important networking skills”