COURSE 1: NON-INVASIVE SITE CHARACTERIZATION USING OPEN-SOURCE TOOLS

Dr. Vantassel is an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Dr. Vantassel earned his bachelor of science (BS) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in civil engineering through coursework focused on geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, and geology. Dr. Vantassel completed his MS and PhD from The University of Texas at Austin (UT) under the supervision of Professor Brady Cox focusing on non-invasive 1D site characterization methods using surface waves. Following his PhD, Dr. Vantassel worked as a research associate in the data intensive computing group at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) before joining the faculty at Virginia Tech. Dr. Vantassel research seeks to advance subsurface imaging toward more robust and uncertainty-aware solutions through the intersection of field experiments, numerical simulation, and high-performance computing. Dr. Vantassel has authored thirteen peer-review journal publications, five peer-review conference proceedings, six technical reports for projects located in the U.S. and abroad, and four open-source Python packages. One of these Python packages named hvsrpy, which will be discussed as part of the course, has gained widespread popularity in the short time since its release in February of 2020 with over 36,000 downloads and an active community of users located around the world.

Dr. Cox is a Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Utah State University (USU). Prior to joining USU, he served on the faculty of The University of Texas for eight years and The University of Arkansas for six years. Dr. Cox specializes in geotechnical engineering, with emphasis on issues related to seismic design and in-situ site characterization for major construction projects. His research efforts combine experimental field testing with computational analyses and high-performance computing for subsurface imaging purposes. He has led teams deployed to collect seismic site characterization data at ground motion recording stations, soil liquefaction sites, and structural failures following significant earthquakes in the U.S. and around the world (e.g., Ecuador, Haiti, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Turkey). He has also participated in numerous dynamic site characterization projects for the seismic design of critical facilities (e.g., nuclear power plants, U.S. DOE laboratory sites, bridges, tunnels) in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Cox is a recipient of the prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers (PECASE), which he received in a ceremony at the White House from President Barack Obama. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has taught eight different courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels at three different universities.