Geotechnical

Texas A&M Transportation Institute
199 Spence Street
Room 710
College Station, TX 77840
(979) 845-3795
[email protected]

Dr. Jean-Louis Briaud is a Distinguished Professor and Holder of the Spencer J. Buchanan Chair in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a Professional Engineer. He received his Bachelor degree in France in 1972 and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Ottawa in Canada in 1979. His expertise is in soil mechanics and foundation engineering. He has been President of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, President of the Federation of International Geoengineering Societies, and President of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Among other awards, he has received the ASCE Ralph Peck Award and the Huber Research Prize from the USA, the CGS Geoffrey Meyerhof Foundation Engineering Award and the Cross Canada Lecture Award from Canada, The Terzaghi Oration Award from India, the Jennings Lecture Award from South Africa, and was named a Geo-Legend by GeoStrata Magazine. Over the last 45 years, Dr. Briaud has lectured in some 80 countries and conducted about 20 million dollars of research. He has supervised 60 PhD students and 100 Master students. He has taught several thousand undergraduate students and received the Zachry Award of Excellence in Teaching from Texas A&M University. He is the author of a book entitled Geotechnical Engineering and one entitled The Pressuremeter. He has published about 300 articles and reports in geotechnical engineering. His technical contributions include developing three major engineering tools with two patents, providing solutions to protect embassies against terrorist trucks, avoiding bridge collapse due to soil erosion during major floods, minimizing house damage due to swelling soils, and advancing the development of geothermal energy. He plays tennis and jazz piano at the amateur level.