- FEBRUARY DINNER MEETING -
Join us for our next SME Tucson Dinner Meeting! Please note that the January meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 11th! Make sure to select your meal when making your reservation. Reservation deadline is Friday, February 6th.
Program:
Leveraging Advances in Seismic Geophysics for Improved Site Characterization and Ground Risk Management
Historical project performance tells us that georisks continue to play a role in unwanted engineering business outcomes and lost opportunity. For example, risks linked to tailings dams and the historical impacts of their failures highlight the necessity for identification and evaluation of potential hazards throughout the entire life cycle. Characterization of subsurface conditions in geotechnical engineering practice relies primarily on intrusive explorations with relatively limited use of geophysical methods. However, intrusive explorations represent merely a point on a map and the geo-data obtained are interpolated, often across large distances to develop subsurface models for engineering analyses.
We challenge the industry to take a fresh look to geotechnical site characterization, and present a solution that densely populates the ground model space through ambient noise tomography providing a nearly 3D representation of sub-surface conditions at an engineering scale portending a new paradigm in the management of geotechnical risk. The proposed approach will be illustrated through selected case studies including a tailings dam in central Chile. Integrating initial ANT screening and intrusive investigation significantly increases confidence that the site has been effectively and efficiently characterized leading to higher levels of confidence compared to characterization through conventional methods.
Venue and Beverage Sponsor:
Meeting Sponsors:
TWO SPOTS AVAILABLE!
Reach out to Omar Smith or Liliana Pinedo if you are interested.
Speaker: Thaleia Travasarou, Regional Technical Director, Fugro
Thaleia Travasarou is the Regional Technical Director for Fugro’s Land Division in the Americas, with more than 20 years of experience in the field of geotechnical and earthquake engineering. She has led numerous major projects spanning a variety of sectors with an emphasis on developing and implementing approaches for reliable management of ground-related risks. Her career is marked by a commitment to advancing geotechnical engineering through innovative research, practical application, and education. She has published numerous impactful papers and received the ASCE Arthur M. Wellington Prize in 2013. Her innovative approaches to assessing seismic slope displacements have been widely used by geotechnical practitioners and have set new standards in the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering.
Thaleia holds an M.S. and PhD in Geoengineering from the University of California and is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) and Geotechnical Engineer (GE) in California. In 2024, she was inducted to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni (ADA) of the UC Berkeley Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for her distinguished and innovative leadership at the national and international stage in geotechnical and earthquake engineering.
Agenda:
- 6:00pm - 7:00pm Social Hour
- 7:00pm - 7:45pm Dinner
- 7:45pm - 8:00pm Announcements
- 8:00pm - 8:30pm Program
- 8:30pm - 8:45pm Q&A
Location:
HEXAGON, 40 E Congress St #300, Tucson, AZ 85701. CLICK FOR MAP.
Costs:
- $55 for SME Tucson members
- $65 for non-members
- Free for UA SME Student Chapter members
Payable at the door by cash, credit card, or check payable to SME Tucson.
Cancellations and No Shows:
Please call or email by the registration deadline to cancel. If you do not cancel your reservation by the deadline, SME is still required to pay for your dinner, and you will in turn be billed. Thank you.
Thank you to all our 2025 Scholarship Fundraiser Sponsors:
| Mother Lode |
ASARCO, Hexagon Mining, Komatsu, South32
|
| Bonanza |
AMES Construction, Freeport-McMoRan Sierrita Operations, Stantec
|
| Big Nugget |
Call & Nicholas, Granite, M3 Engineering, WSP |
Pay Dirt |
Ausenco, Clear Creek Associates, Redhawk Exploration, Florence Copper, GroundProbe, Independent Geomechanics, McCraren Compliance, Montgomery & Associates, Phillips Heavy Civil, Piteau Associates, Southwest Energy |
| Prospect |
Hatch, Tetra Tech, Joe Keffer |
| Supporters |
Cori Hoag, Mayes Consulting, Ray Valenzuela |
