Sustainable Geotechnics in Highway and Energy InfrastructureCurrent PostdocCurrent Graduate StudentsAlumni

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Hua Yu
Hua Yu completed his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on rock mechanics and geomechanics. His research focused on the changes in geomechanical properties of reservoir rocks due to the injection of supercritical CO2. He obtained his B.S. degree in Mining Engineering (2011) from Hunan University of Science and Technology (China) and M.S. degree in Geological Engineering (2014) from University of Wisconsin-Madison. He previous research focused on the beneficial use of industrial byproducts on transportation projects and fine grained soil stabilization using fly ash.

Prapti Giri
Prapti Giri completed her PhD degree in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Geotechnical Engineering. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering, Nepal. She worked with a private company and involved in performing many different soil tests and geotechnical investigations. She developed a hazard monitoring and warning system for mining, water structures and transportation infrastructure.

 

Pramila Adhikari
Pramila Adhikari completed her PhD in Civil Engineering with a major in Geotechnical Engineering. She completed her Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering and Masters of Science in Geotechnical Engineering from Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering, Nepal. Just after her undergraduate she worked as a part-time lecturer in Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering, Nepal for a semester. She was then appointed as Civil Engineer in Department of Irrigation by the Government of Nepal in June, 2013. She joined University of Wyoming in August, 2016 and completed a research project to develop the LRFD resistance factors for driven piles in soft rocks.

MD Shafiqul Islam
Md. Shafiqul Islam is pursuing his MS in Civil Engineering with a major in Geotechnical Engineering. He completed his Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET), Bangladesh in 2013. He joined at the University of Wyoming in August 2019 and is currently working in a project focusing on the development of LRFD recommendations of Piles driven into shales.

Sajan Pudasaini
Sajan Pudasaini completed his master’s degree in Civil Engineering with a major in Geotechnical Engineering. He  completed his Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering, Nepal. He worked in a consulting firm as a structural design engineer for six months. He also worked with government for the detail damage assessment of the earthquake damaged building for a year. Then, he was recruited by the government of Nepal as a reconstruction Engineer. His duties were to monitor and supervise the construction of earthquake resistant building and assess the geotechnically vulnerable site for reconstruction. After working for 3 year, he joined University of Wyoming in August, 2018 and his research focused on the applicability of fly-ash based Geopolymer as a building material based on its mechanical properties.

Melake Anghesom Brhanemeskel
Melake Brhanemeskel completed his Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering with a focus in Geotechnical Engineering. He earned his Bachelor degree from Eritrean Institute of Technology , College of Engineering, Asmara, Eritrea, in 2014. Before coming to the University of Wyoming, he worked at DNC construction company, Debarwa, Eritrea. His research project focused on Enhancement of Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) for Roadway Design, Construction and Rehabilitation. 

 

Yrgalem Zewde
Yrgalem Zewde obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Eritrea Institute of Technology (EIT) in 2010.  He worked for three years as a graduate assistant in the Department of Civil Engineering at EIT. He also worked as a part time civil engineer with a private construction company. Yrgalem completed his MS in Civil Engineering with a research focus on the Development of Load and Resistance Factor Design Procedures for Driven Piles on Soft Rocks in Wyoming.

 

Seyed Yasrobi Yashar
Seyed Yashar Yasrobi received his Master degree in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Geotechnical Engineering. He received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (2009) from Tabriz University, and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering (2011) from Tarbiat Modares University, both in Iran. Before coming to Wyoming, he worked as a research assistant at Middle East Technical University of Turkey for a year. He worked on a research project focusing on bridge approach slabs.

Christopher Savan
Christopher Savan, E.I.T. completed his Master degree in Civil Engineering. His research involves applications of intelligent compaction as a method for increasing the quality and cost effectiveness of roadway construction. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Wyoming in 2013 and also holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington. Christopher worked in city planning from 2007 to 2010. He enjoys writing music, playing basketball, and cooking in his free time.

Danny Hellrung
Danny Hellrung, E.I.T. was a Master student from Arvada, Colorado. He graduated from the University of Wyoming with a B.S. in Civil Engineering emphasizing in Transportation. During his senior year, he completed a design project focused on redesigning the Interstate-25 and College Drive interchange in Cheyenne, Wyoming to accommodate the anticipated traffic growth. The project made recommendations for the interchanges geometric design and pavement design. While completing his undergraduate degree, Danny worked for the Wyoming Technology Transfer Center as a Student Research Assistant. He assisted with gravel road surface evaluations as well as analyzing truck traffic patterns to determine the appropriate time to collect traffic counts. Danny is also a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers student chapter at UW.

Ram Sundar Chakradhar
Ram Sundar Chakradhar graduated in Spring 2014 with his Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering. After completing his Bachelor’s Degree from Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering, Nepal, he gained professional industry experiences in Civil Engineering for more than three years. He worked as a material engineer and hydropower project engineer before working as a research assistant at the University of Wyoming.. He worked on a research entitled “Laboratory Investigation of Geotechnical and Hydraulic Influences during Abutment Scour”. He involved in a numerical modeling using ABAQUS to simulate the abutment scour experimental results.

Zachary Henrichs
Zachary Henrichs is a native of Avondale, Colorado. He graduated from Pueblo County High School in 2008. Zach then attended the University of Wyoming on Academic and Rodeo scholarships. Zach graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in May 2013. He completed his Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering with a focus in Geotechnical Engineering. His research focused on developing a modified resilient modulus test procedure for the Wyoming Department of Transportation. He enjoys hunting, camping, and boating. His future dreams consist of a career, family, early retirement, and traveling the world.

Rami Ksaibati
Rami Ksaibati was born and raised in Laramie Wyoming. His strong desire to become an engineer from early on led him to complete over a semester of coursework while finishing high school. Rami entered the University of Wyoming just three years ago and worked with the Laramie Design Squad for WYDOT. In this position, he worked on roadway projects around the state of Wyoming and aided in the development of plans and contract documents required to construct the projects. He completed his Master degree in Civil Engineering. His research was on pile setup. He developed a method to quantify the amount of pile setup based on soil types and properties into which a driven pile is driven.

Dawit Mebrahtom
Dawit Mebrahtom graduated in Spring 2017 with his Master’s degree in Geotechnical Engineering. He received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (2012) from Eritrea Institute of Technology, College of Engineering, Asmara, Eritrea. Before coming to University of Wyoming, he worked as a site engineer at Infrastructure Department of Municipal City, Asmara, Eritrea, China SFECO Group, Asmara and Debwin Construction Company, Asmara. Also, he was a design engineer at Precon Company, Khartoum, Sudan and EL- Construction Company, South Sudan. His research Project focused on quantifying the resilient modulus of base materials for implementation of MEPDG in Wyoming.

Roshan Poudel
Roshan Poudel graduated in Spring 2017 with his Master degree in Geotechnical Engineering. After completing his Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu Engineering College, Nepal, he worked for two years in industry. He monitored the construction of various school buildings in remote areas of Nepal before joining the University of Wyoming as a research assistant. His research focused on Thermal-Hydro-Mechanical Interaction for Geothermal Energy and Wellbore Stability.

 

Zachary Hutson
Zachary Hutson was born in Denver, CO, but his family moved to Riverton, WY when he was three years old. He was raised to be a hard worker and help others. Outdoor activities (e.g. snowboarding, hunting, camping) and family are his life. Some of his interests are learning about new technologies, current politics, and history. He received his B.S. in Civil Engineering at the University of Wyoming in December 2013. He is currently working on a M.S. in Civil Engineering with a Geotechnical emphasis. His research is dedicated to assisting WYDOT update their pavement design guide to the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). The MEPDG program will replace the current AASHTO 1993 Guide due to its localized and efficient manner. He is personally helping design a workable database that WYDOT will use to locate relevant data and design values for pavement designs. Additionally, he will be performing a correlation analysis on different soil types’ modulus of resilience values (Mr-values) against the more readily obtained resistance values (R-values). This analysis will give WYDOT one of many options for determining a soil’s Mr-value without the need for expensive or time consuming tests.