Brief description
The stability of earth masses, both natural and human-made, despite advances, remains a major research direction, if the goal is ensuring public safety and supporting prosperity (which it should be). My research efforts in this area have been focused on developing multi-scale frameworks so that we can understand the mechanics of landslides under extreme climate (e.g., storms, hurricanes) and earth (e.g., earthquakes) perturbations. These frameworks require the development of robust, and scalable approaches for field data collection, surface and subsurface condition assessment, as well as big-data approaches for analyzing risk associated with large populations (i.e., possibly many thousands) of landslides. It also involves an improved understanding of the physico-chemico-mechanical response of intermediate soils and soft, weathered rocks, such as those that are encountered near the surface of the ground and are shown to be commonly prone to landsliding. My research approach involves the engagement of a range of collaborating scientists and engineers and require interdisciplinary training in fields such as robotics, data analyses, geotechnical engineering, remote sensing and geologic science. Our work in this field, has been funded by many agencies including the National Science Foundation, NASA, USGS, the World Bank and other stakeholders, and study areas in the US, Nepal, New Zealand, and Greece.