Research Interests

• Geotechnical earthquake engineering
• Constitutive modeling of soils
• Liquefaction and its effects on structures and lifelines
• Numerical modeling of soil-structure systems
• Biomediated soil improvement
• Laboratory testing of soils
• Development of numerical tools
• Systems engineering

Research Grants

• Collaborative development of geotechnical experimental lab testing protocols. Co-PI, PI: Diane Moug, $6,000, Seed Grant from NSF Award 1536542 Collaborative Research: Connecting Women Faculty in Geotechnical Engineering – Thriving in a Networked World.
• Mentoring Women through Critical Transitions in Engineering – Developing tools for academic and industrial mentors to guide early career mentees. Co-PI, PI: Colleen Bronner, Center for Biomediated and Bioinspired Geotechnics CBBG, $43,912, Start Date: 08/01/2019.
• In-situ Characterization and Dynamic Response of Well-Graded Coarse-Grained Soils. co-PI, PI: J. T. DeJong and A. Martinez, $695,745, National Science Foundation, Start Date: 07/01/2019.
• Blended mentoring approaches towards building and sustaining developmental networks: from a diverse first-generation graduate group to the boundaryless world – University of California, Davis Office of Graduate Studies Wakeham Fellowship. $10,000, Start date: 10/01/2018.
• Collaborative Research: Soil-Structure-Water Interaction Effects in Buried Reservoirs - Centrifuge and Numerical Modeling. PI, co-PI: Youssef Hashash, $764,740 (UC Davis portion $439,096), National Science Foundation 1763129, Start Date: 07/01/2018.
• Validation of Design for Liquefaction-Induced Downdrag on Piles. California Department of Transportation PI, Co-PI: Bruce L. Kutter, Budget: $294,405.00, Start Date: 06/15/2018.
• Upscaled Numerical Modeling of Bio-Cemented Soils. Center for Biomediated and Bioinspired Geotechnics CBBG, PI, Budget: $79,253.00
• Ladder Mentoring as a Continuous Support System: Investigating, Formalizing and Expanding Methods. PI, co-PIs: Colleen Bronner and Diane Moug, $4,875, Seed Grant from NSF Award 1536542 Collaborative Research: Connecting Women Faculty in Geotechnical Engineering – Thriving in a Networked World.
• Sustainable Water and Energy Pipeline Networks: A multilayer quantitative approach bridging the gap between technical and supply chain resilience. Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science – Virginia Tech, $118,895, FY 2016-2018, PI, Co-PI: Christopher Zobel (VT – Pamplin College of Business).
• Rammed aggregate piers: Investigation of seismic integrity at sites prone to large deformations. GeoPier – Tensar Corporation, PI, $20,000, 06/2015 – 09/2015.

Funding agencies