Internationally recognised as a pioneer and leading authority in geotechnics, Dr Poulos will be the first Australian to receive the Distinguished Membership which is the highest award the Society may confer, second only to the title of ASCE President. Only 12 to 13 Fellows who have attained eminence in a branch of engineering or its related arts and sciences are elected to this prestigious group a year.
In announcing the award, the Society said “Dr Poulos has conducted pioneering work in pile foundation analysis and design that has enabled the world's geotechnical specialists to have a greater understanding of the way structures interact with the ground. His research has provided a more reliable approach for pile design, replacing procedures that relied purely on experience and empiricism.
“Dr Poulos has applied his academic research to a wide range of major projects, both in Australia and overseas, including buildings, bridges, tunnels, and offshore structures. His projects include the Emirates Twin Towers in Dubai, the Burj Dubai, the Docklands project in Melbourne and the 700km long Egnatia Odos motorway in Greece. Through various leadership positions within Coffey, he has made an invaluable contribution to building a successful professional practice by providing direction for technical development, and by the application of leading edge geotechnical engineering analysis to practice.
“Dr Poulos has long been a contributor to the activities of the international geotechnical community, including the Australian Geomechanics Society, the international society of Soil mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was chosen to present the 2004 Terzaghi Lecture and has received the 1972 J. James R. Croes Medal, the 1995 ASCE State of the Art of Civil Engineering Award, and the 2007 Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award.”
Dr Poulos cites some of the major project highlights from his career, “Projects highlights that provided great satisfaction and challenges came from tall building projects from 1994 with the Burj Al Arab in Dubai where we provided due diligence engineering, leading onto the Emirates Twin Towers which was our first big solo project with full responsibility.
Subsequently there have been other buildings including the Burj Khalifa (known as the Burj Dubai prior to its opening) where we were the geotechnical peer reviewers and worked closely with the structural and foundation designers. At 828 metres tall, this is the tallest building in the world and its height was not revealed until its opening in January this year. There have been other tall building projects in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Doha and Qatar.
“Another major highlight, particularly given my ethnic background, was a major road project in Greece – the Egnatia Odos motorway which extends 700km from the western coast of Greece to the eastern Greek-Turkish border at Alexandropolis. The motorway passes through mountainous Greek regions which posed formidable engineering challenges and included many bridges in landslide areas. I was part of an expert team looking at a number of difficult issues relating to the stability of slopes and road alignment from 2001-05.”
Dr Poulos will be formally inducted as a Distinguished Member at the Celebration of Leaders Luncheon on 21 October 2010 in Las Vegas, during the 140th Annual Civil Engineering Conference.
Media contacts
Prue Bowley, External Communications Manager, Coffey
T +61 8 8418 1566; F +61 8 8224 0453; E: prue_bowley@coffey.com
