Teaching

I strive to create informed, marketable, and valuable UC Irvine graduates by preparing them to transfer knowledge and understanding acquired from the classroom directly to industry or graduate studies. At UC Irvine I am teaching fundamental and advanced undergraduate and graduate lecture and lab-based courses in geotechnical engineering. I hold high expectations for my students and expect them to act as consummate professionals, going above and beyond to exhibit extraordinary discipline and dedication. I desire to see my students succeed and become leaders in our field and am willing to dedicate a substantial amount of time and energy into mentoring and advising towards professional success.

As student, I will provide you with challenging but realistic design and/or research projects that require you to utilize and apply your coursework as well as creative technologies and recent advancements from academia or industry. This multifaceted approach will foster you ability to think critically and will cultivate a real-world practical understanding that will enable you to meet industry requirements upon graduation.

In order to maximize the effectiveness and everyday applicability of my teaching approach, I spend significant time and effort to bring state of the art practices and technology into the classroom.

Currrent Teaching

  • Present2012

    CEE 130 – Soil Mechanics (Undergraduate)

    The CEE 130 curriculum includes the fundamentals of soil mechanics: Mechanics of soils, composition and classification of soils, compaction, compressibility and consolidation, settlements, seepage, analysis of stresses, shear strength, lateral earth pressure, and retaining walls.

  • Present2012

    CEE 130L - Soil Mechanics Laboratory (Undergraduate)

    CEE 130L provides a hands-on laboratory experience to all undergraduate students, performing laboratory and in-situ testing of soil materials, including but not limited to: specific gravity, moisture content, sieve analyses, hydrometer analysis, Atterberg limit tests, compaction tests (modified proctor & in-situ sand cone), permeability tests, consolidation tests, shear strength tests, and unconfined compression testing.

  • Present2012

    CEE 156 – Foundation Design (Undergraduate)

    This course is very practice oriented and familiarizes students with current design formulations, standards, introduces geotechnical software, and discusses recent technologies. The course also offers several hands-on modules (e.g. on geosynthetics), field trips and guest lecturers. Topics covered in the course include: in-situ soil testing and analysis, shallow foundation design (bearing capacity, stress distribution, settlements), Mats and combined footings, deep foundation design (single piles and pile groups, axial and lateral capacity and settlement), introduction into geosynthetic (mechanics, use and design with geosynthetic materials), lateral earth pressures and retaining wall/excavation design.

  • Present2013

    CEE 231 –Foundation Engineering (Graduate) - offered every other year

    Subsurface investigations and analysis, advanced shallow foundation design (design for expansive soils, differential settlements, multilayered soil strata), ground improvement (review and analysis of ground improvement methodologies, conceptual development), deep foundation design (axial and lateral loading, single piles and pile groups, advanced numerical methods, computer modeling, interpretation of field tests), extensive use of state-of-the art geotechnical software, introduction to SSI of deep foundations.

  • Present2014

    CEE 232 – Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering (Graduate) - offered every other year

    CEE 232 relies heavily on ongoing research in the field of geotechnical EQ engineering, incorporates findings from reconnaissance efforts, webinars, research symposiums and and challenges student’s thinking beyond the typical textbook approach. Laboratory and in-situ determination of seismic soil properties, liquefaction models for granular soils, softening of cohesive materials, liquefaction induced settlements and lateral spreading analyses, ground improvement, seismic slope stability, soil structure interaction of shallow foundation systems.

  • Present2013

    CEE 195/295 Research Seminar in Structural & Geotechnical Engineering

Teaching History @ University of Chile, Santiago

  • 20152015

    Soil Structure Interaction

    (Diploma course for professional engineers, taught in English)

  • 20132013

    Geotechnical Site Characterization

    (Diploma course for professional engineers, taught in English)

  • 20112011

    CI 197F Dynamico de Suelos (Soil Dynamics & Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering )

    Graduate level course, taught in English

Teaching History @ CSUF

  • 20112010

    CE 411 Structural Dynamics (Undergraduate)

    California State University, Fullerton

  • 20112010

    CE 548 Soil Dynamics (Graduate)

    California State University, Fullerton

  • 20112010

    CE 201 Statics (Undergraduate)

    California State University, Fullerton

  • 20112010

    CE 302 Mechanics of Materials (Undergraduate)

    California State University, Fullerton

  • 20102009

    CE 509 Theory of Plates and Shells (Graduate)

    California State University, Fullerton

  • 20102009

    CE 432 CAD in Civil Engineering (Undergraduate)

    California State University, Fullerton

  • 20112009

    CE 302 Dynamics (Undergraduate)

    California State University, Fullerton

  • 20112009

    CE 325L Structural Analysis Laboratory (Undergraduate)

    California State University, Fullerton

  • 20102009

    CE 377L Engineering Materials Laboratory (Undergraduate)

    California Stat University, Fullerton