T.H. WU DISTINGUISHED LECTURE

The T.H. Wu Distinguished Lecture is a signature event in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering (CEGE). Presented yearly, the lecture features prominent scholars and practitioners in the field of geotechnical engineering. The lecture is held in honor of the late Dr. Tien H. Wu, professor emeritus and former chair of CEGE.

The Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering invites you to join members of the CEGE and geotechnical communities for the 2023 T. H. Wu Distinguished Lecture.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Joseph Wartman, Director, Natural Hazard and Disaster Reconnaissance Facility (RAPID) and Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Wasington, will serve as the 2023 T. H. Wu Distingiushed Lecturer.

Friday, February 3, 2023 at 3:30 pm 

130 Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry Building (CBEC)

151 W. Woodruff Avenue  |  Columbus, OH 43210 

PDH available.

RSVP today!  https://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eEi5cDZJeLnIPtQ

Joe Wartman, PhD

Director, Natural Hazard and Disaster Reconnaissance (RAPID) Facility, University of Washington Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington

Joe Wartman directs the Natural Hazard and Disaster Reconnaissance (RAPID) Facility headquartered at the University of Washington (UW), where he is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He specializes in disaster risk reduction with a specific interest in geologic hazards and their impacts on communities. Over the past two decades, he has investigated and analyzed major natural hazard events worldwide, including earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides, and public health emergencies. His current work focuses on developing low-cost, high-resolution techniques to map geologic hazards and their associated risks. These techniques include the Rockfall Activity Index (RAI) system and the Multimodal Landslide Hazard and Risk mapping platform. A strong advocate for global scientific cooperation, he collaborates with international partners on projects set in New Zealand, Lebanon, Indonesia, Japan, Spain, and Latin America.

In addition to his scientific publications, Dr. Wartman's non-technical writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Seattle Times, The Conversation, and EOS, among other venues. He and graduate student William Pollock won the Association Media and Publishing EXCEL Silver award for their feature article "No Place to Flee", which reported on the burdens natural hazards place on refugee communities worldwide.

At UW, Dr. Wartman teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on geotechnical engineering, landslides, risk assessment, and engineering geology and instructs short courses and training workshops on field reconnaissance and disaster data collection and analysis for the RAPID Facility. Before joining UW in 2010, Dr. Wartman spent nearly ten years at Drexel University, where he was founding Co-Director of Engineering Cites, a research initiative on the urban environment. Prior to his academic career, Wartman worked as a licensed professional engineer in Pennsylvania and California. Wartman currently maintains a specialized professional practice (Ground Zero Projects), advising government officials, non-governmental organizations, and public authorities. As an undergraduate student at Villanova University, he studied engineering and studio art. Wartman later earned M.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.