Faculty
Alejandro Martinez, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of California, Davis
Email: amart (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Link to faculty page
Link to professional CV
Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015.
Advanced Teaching Certificate, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015.
M.S.C.E., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012.
B.S., Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2010.
I joined UC Davis in 2016, after finishing my post-doc and graduate school at Georgia Tech. My research interests include soil-structure interface behavior, biogeotechnics, micromechanics of granular media, and deep foundations. I strive to employ a variety of tools, such as custom-made and conventional laboratory experiments, discrete- and continuum-based numerical simulations, and physical modeling using geotechnical centrifuges, as to approach a given research topic from different angles and spatial scales.
Current Members
Ph.D. Students
Riya Anilkumar
Email: ranilkumar (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Self-burrowing Probes
Research Interests: Bio-inspired and bio-mediated geotechnical engineering
Link to CV
B.Tech , Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (2017-2021)
Foreign Exchange Program at KAIST, South Korea (2020)
Riya completed her undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2021. She also completed a semester at KAIST, South Korea, through a semester exchange program during her undergraduate education. For her Bachelor's thesis, she worked in the domain of 3D particle shape characterization. In addition to her coursework, she also worked in the fields of bio-inspired and bio-mediated geotechnical engineering. She started her graduate studies at UC Davis in the Fall of 2021.
Mandeep Singh Basson
Email: mbasson (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Fabric properties of granular soils under Monotonic and Cyclic loads
Research Interests: Discrete Element Modelling, Granular Mechanics, Computational Geomechanics
Link to CV
M.Tech, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, 2018
B.Tech, Thapar University, 2015
Mandeep completed his undergraduate in Civil Engineering from Thapar University in 2015 and obtained his Master’s in Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2018. He did his Master's research at Technical University at Munich for seven months as a DAAD fellow. Apart from numerical simulations of Granular media, he has worked on numerous consultancy projects ranging from 3D seepage analysis to forensic slope stability analysis. He started his Ph.D. in Fall of 2018 and, currently, he is a representative to Graduate Student Association and a member of Academic Senate (DTA Committee).
Brahian Roman Cabrera
Email: broman (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Physical modeling of mine tailings
Research Interests: Tailings and Waste, Slope Stability, Earthquake
Link to CV
M.E, University of Tokyo, Japan, 2018
B.E, National University of Engineering, Peru, 2012
Brahian is a Peruvian civil engineer with a master’s degree on Geotechnical Engineering from The University of Tokyo (Japan). He has 10 plus years of overall experience in geotechnical design, and construction oversight of large infrastructure and mining projects in Peru, Chile, Australia, Panama, and Brazil. Furthermore, he has two years of experience in applied research using advanced laboratory equipment (high-pressure triaxial testing). He is a Peruvian nominated member for the technical committees TC-203 (Earthquake) and TC-221 (Tailings and Waste) of the ISSMGE. Currently, he is conducting research on static and cyclic liquefaction of fly ash surface impoundments at UC Davis aiming to obtain a PhD degree.
Matthew Burrall
Email: mnburrall (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Tree Root Inspired Foundations
Research Interests: Optimization, Physical Systems Modeling, Anchorage Mechanics, Bioinspiration
M.S. Civil Engineering, UC Davis, 2020
B.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley, 2013
Matthew Burrall obtained his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2013. Then he competed in the game of Go and trained under Professional Player Kim Myung-Wan 9P before moving to Davis to begin graduate school. Efforts with the tree root inspired foundations project have led to experience in the development of bio-inspired design concepts, geotechnical centrifuge modeling of root inspired anchors, data acquisition and field testing of root system anchorage, structural modeling of flexible hierarchical anchorage systems, and shape optimization. He is currently serving as President of the Student Leadership Council for the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics.
Lin Huang
Email: hlhuang (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Self-burrowing Probes
Research Interests: Probes, Site Characterization, Bio-inspired
Link to CV
B.S., Civil Engineering, UC Davis, 2018
M.S., Civil Engineering, UC Davis, 2020
Lin Huang finished obtained his high school degree in P.R. China and started his Bachelor study in US at Diablo Valley College during 2012. In 2015, Lin transferred to UC Davis and completed the undergraduate degree at 2017. During his B.S., Lin studied Civil Engineering emphasized in geotechnical field, and worked on multiple geotechnical researches including MICP applications and Tree root foundations. In the fall of 2018, Lin started his graduate studies at UC Davis.
Hyeon Jung Kim
Email: hyki (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Snakeskin-Inspired Interfaces
Research Interests: Bio-inspired geotechnical engineering, deep foundations
Link to CV
B.S., Civil Engineering, CU Boulder, 2016
M.S., Civil Engineering, CU Boulder, 2017
Hyeon Jung obtained his undergraduate degree from CU Boulder in Civil Engineering in 2016 and completed his Master’s in Geotechnical Engineering from CU Boulder in 2017. For his Master’s thesis, he worked on the numerical investigation of nonlinear consolidation and secondary compression. After graduation, he worked for an IT company (MIDAS IT) and developed and managed civil engineering-related software programs. Next, he worked as a research engineer in geotechnical engineering consultant (C&Tech) and investigated soil sites and conducted experiments. In the Fall of 2022, he started his Ph.D. at UC Davis.
Damon Nguyen
Email: dtlnguyen (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Snakeskin-Inspired Interfaces
Research Interests: Bio-inspired geotechnical engineering, Snake-Skin interfaces
Link to CV
B.S., Civil Engineering, UC Davis, 2021
M.S., Civil Engineering, UC Berkeley, 2022
Damon completed his master’s degree in geomechanics at UC Berkeley right after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis. During his time as an undergraduate student, Damon helped develop an open-source program called “QuSTo,” which quantifies the shape of asperities on a biological surface. This aided the bio-inspired design of snakeskin-like surfaces for geotechnical mechanisms where anisotropic strength is beneficial. Now Damon is back at Davis to continue and expand upon his work on this project.
Alejandro J. Perez
Email: ajperez (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Effects of Internal Erosion on the Strength and Settlement of Gap Graded Soils
Research Interests: Internal Erosion, Internal Stability, Suffusion/Suffosion
Link to CVCV
B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Davis, 2018
M.S., Civil Engineering, UC Davis, 2020.
Alejandro Perez attended Contra Costa College in San Pablo, CA before transferring to UC Davis in 2015, and thereafter completed his is B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2018 with an emphasis in Water Resources and Geotechnical Engineering. Alejandro continued his focus in Water Resources and Geotechnical Engineering for his M.S degree at UCD, completing his Master’s thesis in 2020 on the filtration of colloidal particles in porous media. In addition to his academic career, Alejandro has had professional experience as a student intern at the CA Dept. of Water Resources for the past 4 years assisting in technical analysis for CA state programs. Alejandro now uses his interdisciplinary training to research internal erosion effects for embankment dam safety purposes.
Master's Students
We're welcoming applications!
Postdoctoral Scholars
Yuyan Chen
Email: yych (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Self-burrowing Probes
Research Interests: Probes, Site Characterization, Bio-inspired
Link to CV
M.E., Tongji University, 2018
B.S, Wuhan University, 2015
Yuyan Chen attended Wuhan University, Hubei, China in 2011 and got her bachelor degree in Civil Engineering in 2015. After that, as a student with the exemption of examinations, Yuyan enrolled in Tongji University, Shanghai, China. In addition to her course work and thesis project which focus on building’s seismic performance, Yuyan worked with Professor Jiang Qian and Professor Dimitri E. Beskos in the dynamic response of a poroelastic half-plane to a distributed moving load on its surface. She also attended the International Workshop of Performance-Based Seismic Design of Structures, Oct 2017. Yuyan got her Master degree in Civil Engineering in June 2018 and began her study as a PhD student in UC Davis in the fall of 2018. During this period, she attended Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics Annual Meeting, Nov 2018.
Jiarui Chen
Email: jrcchen (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
Research Topic: Centrifuge modeling of coal ash materials
Research Interests: Physical modeling, advanced laboratory testing, flow liquefaction
Link to CV
Ph.D., Geotechnical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2022
M.S., Geotechnical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017
B.S. Civil Engineering, Southeast University, 2015
Jiarui completed his undergraduate in Civil Engineering from Southeast University, China, in 2015. He started his study in geotechnical engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2015 as a master's student and commenced his research on soil liquefaction in 2017 for his doctoral thesis. His Ph.D. study mainly focuses on understanding and quantifying the post-liquefaction shear strength of problematic soils via experimental tools (e.g., laboratory direct simple shear tests and geotechnical centrifuge models) and analysis of field flow liquefaction failures. In September 2022, Jiarui joined the Granular Materials Lab and started working on centrifuge modeling of coal ash materials.
Undergraduate Students
Fabian Zamora
Email: fazamora (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
B.S., Civil Engineering, UC Davis, 2024
Fabian Zamora has been studying at UC Davis since 2020 and is expected to graduate in 2024 with his B.S. in Civil Engineering with emphases in Geotechnical and Structural Engineering. Fabian has recently started work as an undergraduate research assistant in the Summer of 2022, and he is looking forward to participating in more research as he works towards his degree. Upon completion of his undergraduate degree, Fabian plans on pursuing a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering.
Davis Kim
Email: djskim (at) ucdavis (dot) edu
B.S., Civil Engineering, UC Davis, 2023
Davis has been studying at UC Davis since 2019 and is expected to graduate in 2023 with his B.S. in Civil Engineering with emphases in Geotechnical and Water Resources Engineering. Davis previously worked on the Clearlake Research Team and is looking forward to getting more research experience in his final year. After completing his undergraduate degree, Davis plans to pursue a Master's Degree in Coastal Engineering.
Past Members
Doctoral Students
Kyle O'Hara, Ph.D., UC Davis (2023) - Snakeskin-inspired surfaces and piles
Yuyan Chen, Ph.D., UC Davis (2022) - Bioinspired self-burrowing probe - Postdoc at UC Davis
Sharif Ahmed, Ph.D., UC Davis (2021) - 3D printed and gravelly soils - Group Delta Consultants
Kevin Kuei, Ph.D., UC Davis (co-advised) (2021) - DEM simulations of well-graded soils - WSP / Golder
Master's Students
Khoa Tran, M.S. UC Davis (co-advised) (2021) - Tree root-inspired anchors - Langan Engineering
Olivia Hunt, M.S. UC Davis (2021) - Bioinspired Penetration - HDR Engineering
Sam Follett, M.S. UC Davis (2021) - Centrifuge Modeling of Flyash Impoundments - McMillen Jacobs
Jasmine Miller, M.S. UC Davis (2021) - Tree-root Inspired Soil Anchors - US Army Core of Engineers
Sophia Palumbo, M.S. UC Davis (2018) – Snakeskin-Inspired Interfaces - Geosyntec Consultants
Postdoctoral Scholars
Srikanth Madhabushi (2020) - Centrifuge Modeling of Flyash Impoundments - Assistant professor at CU Boulder
Ali Khosravi - Bioinspired probes - Assistant professor at Auburn University
Mahesh Sharma - Tree root-inspired anchors - Assistant professor at Himachal Pradesh University
Visiting Scholars
Aliyeh Afzali-Nejad - Interface shear behavior
Gayathri Venu Latha - Snakeskin-inspired interfaces
Undergraduate Students
Alex Orlando, B.S. UC Davis (2022) - Offshore anchors - MS student at UCLA (Structural Engineering)
Damon Nguyen, B.S. UC Davis (2021) - Snakeskin-inspired surfaces - MS student at UC Berkeley (Geotechnical Engineering)
Justin Moreno, B.S. UC Davis (2021) - Bioinspired self-anchoring device
Mogan Teng, B.S. UC Davis (2020) - Tapered piles
Seth Talkington, B.S. UC Davis (2020) - 3D printed soils, Snakeskin-Inspired Interfaces
Saman Lavasani, B.S. UC Davis (2021) – Centrifuge Modeling of Flyash Impoundments
Kevin Chavira, B.S. UC Davis (2020) – Centrifuge Modeling of Flyash Impoundments
Henry Wijaya, B.S. UC Davis (2020) - Centrifuge modeling of fly ash impoundments - MS student at UC Davis (Geotechnical Engineering)
Jasmine Miller, B.S. UC Davis (2019) - Shear wave velocity relationships in 3D printed soils - US Army Core of Engineers
Lin Huang , B.S. UC Davis (2018) - Thermal conductivity of biocemented sands - PhD student at UC Davis (Geotechnical Engineering)
Danielle Charleston, B.S. UC Davis (2018) – PIV for Snakeskin DSS Tests - MS student at UC Berkeley (Environmental Engineering)
Osvaldo Villa, B.S. University of Arizona – Database for Snakeskin Profiles - PhD student at Univ. Southern California (Biology)
Hussain Al Shawaf, B.S. UC Davis (2018) – Database for Snakeskin Profiles - MS student at UC Davis (Geotechnical Engineering)
Aliya Karimi, B.S. UC Davis (2018) – 3D printed soils
Hsiang Huang, B.S. UC Davis (2018) – Shear wave velocity in DSS - Hultgren-Tillis Engineers
Harley Lorson - Compliant snakeskin-inspired surfaces – BS student at Shippensburg University (Biology)
Julia Loshelder - Honeybee-inspired soil penetration – PhD student at the University of Arkansas (Geotechnical Engineering)
Jasmin Lugo - Centrifuge modeling of fly ash impoundments - BS student at the University of Connecticut (Civil Engineering)
