International Workshop on Soil Environment Interactions Across Scales: Key Challenges for Future Geo-Engineers.

Sustainable design requires a fundamental understanding of the interactions between geomaterials and their environment. Emerging geotechnical areas are at the intersection between mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology, thermodynamics, and mathematics. The proposed workshop will focus on five to eight emerging geotechnical areas, with the goal to identify a common set of required technical skills, as well as possible gaps in current curricula. The workshop will be held at the University of Cambridge (England) on September 5th and 6th, 2014. The workshop will gather 40 to 50 people including faculty members and Ph.D. students, with a minimum of twenty participants from the E.U. The group of U.S. participants will involve scholars with various levels of seniority: a limited number of Full Professors will be invited, and and a balanced proportion of Ph.D. students and Assistant and Associate Professors will be selected upon review of an application package. Activities will include plenary presentations and discussions, group work and panel discussions. The workshop will focus on undergraduate education. The main questions that will be addressed include: What courses outside the engineering curriculum are needed? Are changes in the basic Chemistry, Physics, Biology courses desirable for engineering students? What knowledge of soil mechanics is needed for students pursuing a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering with no intent to practice geotechnical engineering? For students who plan to become geo-engineers? In addition to curricular recommendations, workshop participants will propose two to three options of in-class activity that could be integrated in a module at the undergraduate level.