J. Carlos Santamarina
G. Wayne Clough Chair and Professor
Office: Mason 2131C
Research Interests
Prof. Santamarina explores the scientific foundations of geomaterial behavior and subsurface processes using particle-level and pore-scale experiments, combined with numerical methods and high-resolution process monitoring systems. This conceptual and experimental framework is advancing the study of phenomena and the development of solutions in energy geotechnology with contributions to: resource recovery (petroleum, methane hydrates), energy geo-storage, efficiency and conservation, and energy waste (carbon geological storage, fly ash and nuclear waste).
Education
• Ph.D. Geotechnical Engineering, Purdue University, 1987.
• M.Sc. Geotechnical Engineering, University of Maryland, 1984.
• I. Civil. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina, 1982.
Employment
• 2023 – Present Georgia Institute of Technology [G. Wayne Clough Chair and Professor]
• 2017 – 2020 Energy Resources and Petroleum Eng. Program [Director]
• 2015 – 2022 Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center [Associate Director]
• 2015 – 2022 KAUST, Physical Science and Engineering Division [Professor]
• 2002 – 2015 Georgia Institute of Technology [Goizueta Professor]
• 1998 – 2015 Georgia Institute of Technology [Professor]
• 1996 – 1998 Georgia Institute of Technology [Associate Professor]
• 1992 – 1995 University of Waterloo, Ontario [Associate Professor]
• 1987 – 1991 Polytechnic University, Brooklyn [Assistant Professor]
Honors and Awards
• Best paper 2022: A Constitutive Mechanical Model for Gas Hydrate Bearing Sediments Incorporating Inelastic Mechanisms (with M. Sánchez and X. Gai – 2017), Computers and Geotechnics.
• Best paper 2021: The critical state line of nonplastic tailings (with Luis Torres Cruz – 2021). (1) Jennings Award, South African Institution of Civil Engineering SAICE; (2) Quigley Award Honourable Mention, Canadian Geotechnical Society.
• Tarek Al-Qasabi Award, Excellence in Civil Engineering in Saudi Arabia (2019 – with J. Park)
• KGS Award, Korean Geotechnical Society (2017)
• ASTM International Hogentogler Award (2016)
• ALERT 2012 Research Medal, Europe (2012)
• IACMAG Award (2008)
• ASTM International Hogentogler Award (2005)
Named Lectures
• Casagrande Lecture, Repetitive Loads (2024).
• ISSMGE Honour Lecture, Energy Geotechnics (2022)
• Bishop Lecture, Sydney (2022)
• Prague Geotechnical Lecture – Czech Republic (2015)
• Milligan Lecture, Queens University – Canada (2015)
• Terzaghi Lecturer 50th (2014) – 50th Terzaghi Lecture Video
• Montero Olarte Lecture, Bogota (2014)
• Leonards Lecture, Purdue University (2012)
• BGA Touring Lecturer, British Geotechnical Association (2012)
• Osterberg Lecture, Northwestern University (2012)
• Weston Lecture, University Wisconsin-Madison (2011)
• Shaw Lecture, North Carolina State University (2011)
• Tewkesbury Lecture, U. Melbourne (2010)