Murad Y. Abu-Farsakh, Ph.D., P.E. Dr. Abu-Farsakh received his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering in 1997 from Louisiana State University (LSU). Currently he is working as a Research Professor and Director of Geotechnical Engineering Research Laboratory at the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) / College of Engineering, LSU. Dr. Abu-Farsakh has a vast knowledge and experience on research related to geotechnical and pavement engineering, deep foundation, geosynthetics, field instrumentations and monitoring, advanced laboratory and in-situ testing, soil-structure interaction and finite element numerical modeling. Dr. Abu-Farsakh's research is highly appreciated by the professional community, which resulted in a scholarly record of 160+ publications including 110 Journal and Geotechnical Special Publications. He gave about 100 presentation to national and international conferences. Dr. Abu-Farsakh supervised 7 Ph.D. and 14 M.S. students and is currently advising an additional 4 Ph.D. and 4 M.S. students. Dr. Abu-Farsakh is currently serving as a member of several national and international committees, such as ASCE Geo-Institute committee on Deep Foundation, ASCE Geo-Institute committee on Engineering Geology and Site Characterization, ASCE Geo-Institute committee on Geosynthetics, TRB committee on Soil and Rock Properties, TRB committee on Geosynthetics, and a member of Deep Foundation Institute, DFI. Dr. Abu-Farsakh was the Technical Publication Committee Chair/Editor of Geo-Congress 2014, Geo-Characterization and Modeling for Sustainability, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Khalid A. Alshibli, Ph.D., PE. Professor Khalid Alshibli is currently serving as a faculty member at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK). He served as a faculty member at Louisiana State University (LSU) and Southern University for almost 11 years before joining UTK in 2011. Professor Alshibli earned his Ph.D in Geotechnical Engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder in 1995. He worked as a project scientist at NASA/ Marshall Space Flight Center. Professor Alshibli was the recipient of King Hussein of Jordan First Class Honors Awards for BS degree in 1988 and MS. Degree in 1991. In addition, he is the recipient of the NASA Group Achievement award in 2003, Engineering Faculty Professionalism Award from Louisiana Engineering Foundation in 2005, and 2007 Achievement Award, Department of Civil & Env. Engineering, Louisiana State University. More information about professor Alshibli research can be found at http://web.utk.edu/~alshibli/ Anand J. Puppala, PE, D.GE, F-ASCE Dr. Anand Puppala currently serves as Associate Dean - Research in College of Engineering and is a Distinguished Scholar Professor in the Civil Engineering department at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in Texas, USA. Dr. Puppala received his BE, MTech and PhD from GITAM, IIT Chennai and Louisiana State University, respectively. Dr. Puppala received many teaching and research awards including 2013 UTA Distinguished Researcher award and 2010 UT System's Regents Teaching Award. He was the First Engineering Professor from UT Arlington to receive this regents teaching honor in Texas. Dr. Puppala served as President of United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research (USUCGER) from 2007-2009. He is also one of the select few faculty members of both academies at UTA including Academy of Distinguished Scholars and Distinguished Teachers. Dr. Puppala is the current Chair of Soil Mechanics section of the National Academy of Science's Transportation Research Board (TRB). He also chaired American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)'s Geotechnical Institute's "Engineering Geology and Site Characterization" committee and TRB committee on 'Soil and Rock Instrumentation'. He has been conducting research on sustainable utilization of recycled materials, dams and embankments, stabilization of expansive soils, in situ intrusive methods for site characterization, and pavement material characterization studies. Dr. Puppala has been a recipient of several major research grants totaling well over $15+ Million from federal, state and local government agencies. Dr. Puppala's research is highly regarded by the professional community, as evidenced by his scholarly record of 365+ publications including 165 Journal and Geotechnical Special Publications and has edited seven special publications. He has supervised 23 Doctoral and 52 Masters' thesis students and is currently advising 12 doctoral students. Dr. Puppala is a current editorial member for ten major journals in Civil Engineering. He also edited several books including seven ASCE Special Publications.
