2020 Ardaman-Wissa Lecture: Geotechnics & the Climate Challenge

The University of Florida has invited ASCE chapters to their virtual 2020 Ardaman-Wissa Lecture. The lecture will be on Monday, October 26th via Zoom and will focus on geotechnical engineering. Professor Patricia J. Culligan of the University of Notre Dame will be presenting. Details and the Zoom link are below.

From rising sea-levels to changing weather patterns, the projected impacts of climate change are significant. The host of specific geotechnical challenges related to climate change range from the need for new strategies to protect coastal cities, to dealing with the consequences of melting permafrost on Arctic infrastructure. Increased severity in extreme weather events (both floods and droughts) will also jeopardize existing dams and levees, increase slope hazards and trigger excessive erosion and scour.

This lecture will discuss examples of climate change impacts likely to influence geotechnical engineering research and practice, together with the challenges such impacts pose. New advances needed to tackle the climate challenge will also be described. Green infrastructure as an example of a climate adaptation strategy will then be presented, together with the lessons learned from an extensive, multi-year green infrastructure program that is being implemented in New York City. The program is an example of an emerging class of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies that relies on local, or neighborhood level, infrastructure interventions. The final part of the lecture will deal with the implications of this new approach to the future of geotechnical engineering research, practice and training.

Title: Geotechnics and the Climate Challenge
Presenter: Patricia J. Culligan, Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Notre Dame
Time: Oct 26, 2020 09:30 AM – 10:30 AM Eastern Time (6:30 AM – 7:30 AM Pacific Time)

Join Zoom Meeting: https://ufl.zoom.us/j/98004618559
Meeting ID: 980 0461 8559
Passcode: 10262020

For more information and Professor Culligan’s biography, visit:
https://www.essie.ufl.edu/events/2020-ardaman-wissa-lecture/