Geoscientists Without Borders^®

Port-au-Prince, Haiti: "Shear Wave Velocity Measurement and Estimation of Seismic Site Response in Port-au-Prince, Haiti"

Project Manager:
Dr. Michael E. Kalinski
Hardin-Drnevich-Huang Professor
University of Kentucky, Department of Civil Engineering

Professor Kalinski earned his BSc in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1985, and his MS and PhD degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994 and 1998, respectively. He is currently the Hardin-Drnevich-Huang Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Kentucky, where he has taught since 2002.

During his 27-year career, Professor Kalinski has accumulated a broad breadth of experience in engineering and exploration geophysics, including extensive experience in seismic surface wave testing as a graduate student, consultant, and educator. His field experience includes reflection seismic surveying for Shell Oil along with numerous engineering studies where various methods, including SASW testing, have been applied. He recently traveled to Thailand where he performed DC resistivity surveying and electromagnetic surveying to help identify karst aquifers for rural irrigation purposes, and also spent 12 months in Oslo at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute helping to develop surface wave testing capabilities. In 2007, Professor Kalinski earned a prestigious National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award for research on understanding and predicting the dynamic behavior of fine-grained mine tailings. He currently teaches a graduate-level course in geotechnical earthquake engineering, which includes instruction on seismic site response analysis methods. He is a licensed professional engineer in California, Texas, and Kentucky, and a registered geophysicist in California. He is also highly regarded as an educator, and received the Great Teacher Award from the University of Kentucky Alumni Association in 2008.

Additional project contribution: