EVENT DETAIL

 

Silas Nichols, P.E.

Silas Nichols is the Principal Geotechnical Engineer for the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Infrastructure. Mr. Nichols is responsible for providing leadership and direction for the FHWA National Geotechnical Team through policy support, technical developments, and coordination with industry and professional groups. His experience is in both public and private sector engineering work. Professional experience includes design and construction services for numerous routine, and complex or unusual projects throughout the United States; development and delivery of instructor led and web based training for continued education of transportation engineers; development and delivery of university courses; invited and keynote presentations; authoring technical articles and editorial columns; and various levels of participation on technical and steering committees.

Mr. Nichols is internationally recognized for accomplishments related to design and construction, risk in project delivery, and quality assurance in foundation construction. He has led, and overseen a variety of research efforts and the development of several geotechnical engineering circulars (GECs) that have established or updated the state of the practice for highway geotechnics, provided expert forensic assistance in several high-profile projects throughout the United States, and provided technical training and expert assistance to numerous foreign agencies on a diverse selection of topics. He is a Certified Instructor and a Master Trainer for the National Highway Institute (NHI) and teaches classes part-time at the University of Delaware. Silas has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Syracuse University, and a master’s Degree in Geotechnical Engineering from Tufts University.

 

Archie Filshill, Ph.D., ENV SP

Mr. Filshill is the founder of Aero Aggregates and manages the daily operations for the company. He has over 25 years of international experience in the geotechnical market, encompassing a vast range of experience in executive management, engineering, project management, construction, and manufacturing. He started his career as a regional manager for an environmental products company and went on to become Managing Director of European operations for a global manufacturing company. After returning to the states, he started an international contracting company focused on solid waste and industrial landfills, soft soil stabilization, coal ash, shale gas development, sediment remediation, reinforced earth structures and lightweight fill. This experience guided him to establish Aero Aggregates. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Temple University and a Master of Science and Ph.D. from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He is an adjunct professor at Temple University in the Graduate Engineering School and past Chair of the Delaware Valley Geo-Institute. In 2023, Mr. Filshill was named the Delaware Valley Engineer of the Year. 

Anahita Modiriasari, Ph.D.

Dr. Modiriasari is a Geotechnical Engineer at WSP USA in New York City, where she is working on local and national infrastructure projects such as the Van Wyck Expressway Capacity and Access Improvement Project and the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel Replacement Project. She has a strong geomechanics background and has specialized in underground construction, support of excavation design, and numerical modeling of soil-structure interaction.

Before joining WSP, she was a Post-Doctoral research assistant in geotechnical/geomechanical engineering in Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats group at Purdue University. Leveraging her background in geomechanics and underground construction, she analyzed the possibility of the existence and geotechnical structural stability of lunar lava tubes so as to determine their suitability as safe and resilient permanent extraterrestrial habitats. Dr. Modiriasari earned her Ph.D. in Civil (Geotechnical) Engineering from Purdue University.

Dr. Modiriasari’s work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences. Her research on lunar lava tubes has been covered in more than 30 media outlets from around the world. She co-authored a book in “The Role of Rock Mechanics in the 21st Century”. She received the Dr. N.G.W. Cook Ph.D. Dissertation award by American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA) and is selected as a member of ARMA Future Leaders Program.

 

Ziad AlAawar, Ph.D., P.E.

Dr. AlAawar is a Lead Engineer at WSP. He is now located in Dallas, Texas, and supports both local and national infrastructures projects as the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel Replacement Project, TXDOT Interstate 35E widening in Dallas, Texas, and the IH-30 Canyon in Dallas.  He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. AlAawar has worked on Geotechnical Engineering design and Analysis in Texas, Tennessee, and New York where he accumulated more than 17 years of experience. His work experience includes transportation infrastructure, and energy facilities, and covers a wide range of geotechnical engineering areas as foundation design, slope stability, settlement analysis, and retaining structures.

 

Mangtao (Monty) Du, P.E.

 

Monty Du is a Senior Vice President and Senior Director at WSP USA.  A longtime resident in Connecticut, Mr. Du is one of the leaders in WSP’s national Geotechnical & Tunneling practice, with a focus on the New England market.  He has over 29 years of experience in geotechnical engineering with a diverse practice encompassing bridges, ports and marine structures, tunnels, buildings, airports, dams and levees, railroads, environmental remediation, and industrial facilities. He is passionate over exploring, analyzing, and improving the physical world around us and solving problems when they inevitably arise during design and construction.  Mr. Du performs engineering with 100% commitment: whether it is for raising the Bayonne Bridge 64 feet for navigation clearance, building heavy wind ports throughout the Northeast, or design and construction of the deep foundations holding up the Second Bangkok International Airport through the deep, ever-settling, soft clays.  His specialty includes deep foundations, ground improvement, tunneling, earth retaining structures, slope stabilization, cofferdams, temporary and permanent SOE and dewatering systems, and geotechnical earthquake engineering. Throughout his career, he has served as an engineer, team leader, project manager, operations manager, as well as a mentor to younger members of the engineering profession. Besides his strong technical aptitude and project experience, he is well-versed in business development, staff development and team building in the engineering consulting environment.

 

Ryan Kalleberg, P.E., DBIA

Ryan Kalleberg, P.E. DBIA, is the Senior Director / Assistant Facility Engineer at Robert F. Kennedy Bridge for Bridges and Tunnels Business Unit of MTA Construction and Development in New York City. Mr. Kalleberg has had diverse experience in public and private sectors projects in transportation and infrastructure design and construction. His professional experience includes being a designer for over 12 years of transportation/infrastructure projects in New York City and more recently, over six years of design-build project management experience at the MTA C&D. After years of design and Construction Support Services in NYC infrastructure, he chose to move to Bridges and Tunnels to pursue Design-Build experience and obtained his DBIA certification. Alongside assisting with the major capital program development and administration, Mr. Kalleberg also assists with planning and managing the major maintenance program with MTA C&D.

 

Benjamin Rivers, P.E.

Benjamin Rivers is a senior geotechnical engineer with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Resource Center.  As part of his responsibilities, he advances geotechnologies and champions proven and effective geotechnical related innovations for transportation applications. Mr. Rivers is currently focused in program areas related to geotechnical site characterization, geohazards, geotechnical asset management and performance, and digital technology advancements for improved transportation project and management applications. Ben leads the ongoing A-GaME initiative to advance geotechnical site characterization practices, including Measurement-While-Drilling (MWD), for transportation applications.

 

Brendan FitzPatrick, P.E.

Mr. FitzPatrick is the President of DuroTerra, LLC, located in Braintree, MA.  He received a BS in Civil Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and a MS in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Geotechnical Engineering from Virginia Tech.  He has over 20 years of experience in geotechnical design/build construction ranging from design to construction to material supply. He has been with DuroTerra for the past 9 years. Prior to joining DuroTerra, he served as Vice President with Geopier in Charlotte, NC.  He is a registered professional engineer in 15 states including all New England states and NY.  He has also authored or coauthored more than a dozen technical papers on ground improvement and deep foundations. He is active in industry groups including ASCE, DFI, and PDCA.

 

Joseph Juzwin, P.E.

Joe Juzwin is a Technical Advisor and HNTB Associate Fellow in the Geotechnical and Foundation Services Group at HNTB’s Parsippany, New Jersey office, where he has worked since 2008. He has managed and contributed to geotechnical and foundation designs for a wide range of highway, railroad, and aviation projects throughout the eastern United States and Texas, with a particular focus on deep foundation systems design for railroad structures and geotechnical techniques for Accelerated Bridge Construction, and is an active member of AREMA Committee 1. Mr. Juzwin holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Civil Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

 

Joseph Zwetchkenbaum, P.E., ENV SP

Joe Zwetchkenbaum is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer in the Geotechnical and Foundation Services Group at HNTB’s Parsippany, New Jersey office. In his 9 years of geotechnical experience, he has contributed to investigation, design, and construction services on a variety of highway and railroad projects in the US Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest. He has provided geotechnical solutions utilizing a variety of ground improvement techniques, alternative backfills, and deep foundations. Mr. Zwetchkenbaum currently serves on the DFI Subsurface Characterization Committee and DFI Sustainability Committee. He received his Master of Science in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech and received his Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering at The Cooper Union.

 

Brian Bucek, P.E.

Brian Bucek is a Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia and CJGeo's in-house Geotechnical Engineer for Preconstruction. Mr. Bucek has worked as a geotechnical engineer consultant for over 15 years prior to joining CJGeo in May 2022. His project site experience is broad ranging from small to large residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation site developments and local to interstate roadway improvements. His current duties include performing engineering calculations for bearing, buoyancy, settlement, and lateral pressure considerations; and review and oversight of third-party laboratories performing unconfined compression testing on CJFill cellular concrete.

 

Kirk Roberts

Kirk Roberts is Vice President of Preconstruction at CJGeo, a lightweight and chemical specialty grouting contractor. Mr. Roberts focuses on special projects, most of which involve addressing unanticipated challenges in the underground & civil markets with chemical and cellular grouts. From solving a 25MGD mine infiltration problem to stabilizing shafts that are sinking, not being sunk, the more unique, the better.