Youssef M. A. Hashash

Youssef M. A. Hashash
Youssef M. A. Hashash
  • Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering
  • John Burkitt Webb Endowed Faculty Scholar
  • Professor
(217) 333-6986
2230C Newmark Civil Engineering Bldg

Primary Research Area

  • Geotechnical Engineering

Research Areas

For More Information

Biography

Professor Youssef Hashash holds a B.S. (1987), an M.S. (1988) and a Ph.D. (1992) in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He began his career with the PB/MK TEAM in Dallas on the Superconducting Super Collider Project. In 1994 he joined Parsons Brinckerhoff in San Francisco and worked on a number of underground construction projects in the U.S. and Canada including the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel project.

Professor Hashash joined the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998. He teaches courses in Geotechnical Engineering, Numerical Modeling in Geomechanics, Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Tunneling in Soil and Rock, and Excavation and Support Systems. His research focus includes deep excavations and tunneling in urban areas, earthquake engineering, continuum and discrete element modeling and soil-structure interaction as well as resiliency and sustainability of the built infrastructure. He also works on geotechnical engineering applications of deep learning, artificial intelligence, visualization, augmented reality, imaging and drone technologies. He has published numerous journal articles and is co-inventor on four patents. His research group developed the software program DEEPSOIL that is used worldwide for evaluation of soil response to earthquake shaking. His work on seismic design of underground structures is extensively used in engineering practice. He is the geotechnical co-leader of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) led investigation into the Champlain Towers South Collapse in Surfside, Florida.

Professor Hashash is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), a past president of the Geo-institute of ASCE and has received a number of teaching, university and professional awards including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the ASCE 2014 Peck medal. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022.

Education

  • Ph.D. Civil (Geotechnical) Engineering MIT 1992
  • M.S. Civil (Geotechnical) Engineering MIT 1988
  • B.S. Civil Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1987

Academic Positions

  • William J. and Elaine F. Hall Endowed Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, August 2014-present
  • Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, August 2009-August 2014
  • Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, August 2005-August 2009
  • Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, December 1997-August 2004

Other Professional Employment

  • Senior Engineer, Parsons Brinckerhoff, San Francisco, California, March 1994-December 1997
  • Engineer II, The PB/MK TEAM, Dallas, Texas, June 1992-March 1994

Major Consulting Activities

  • Broadway Tunnel project, Vancouver, Canada, Geo-seismic reviewer, 2021-current
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Peer Reviewer, Seismic Performance Analysis of a Facility, 2019-current
  • FMI, Technical Reviewer, Smelter land reclamation project, Gersick, Indonesia, 2019
  • Mott McDonald, Geotechnical Reviewer, BART to San Jose Extension Project, 2019-current
  • San Francisco Public Utilities, San Francisco, CA, Chair, Technical Advisory Panel, Mountain Tunnel, CBSIP and Folsom Tunnel, 2017-current
  • Seattle Public Utilities, Chair, Technical Advisory Panel, Seismic Retrofit Evaluation for Buried Reservoirs, 2016-2018
  • Arup, San Francisco, CA Downtown Extension and Transbay Transit Center, 2014-2016
  • California Senate, Sacramento, Panel for review of New Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge, 2014
  • Arup, Cupertino, CA, Apple Park New Campus, Seismic Design Review
  • Black and Veatch, Chicago, Quarry, 2013-2014
  • Ardaman & Associates, I-20 Bridge over Mississippi, 2011
  • MRCE, NY, Landfill Reclamation, Lebanon, 2011-2012
  • Seattle Public Utilities, Water Storage Reservoir Seismic Analysis 2011-
  • Parson Brinkerhoff, CA, Seismic Review Panel, California High Speed Rail Project, 2010-
  • ARUP, NY, High Rise building Settlement Evaluation, Mexico City, 2010
  • URS, St. Louis, MO, Mississippi River Bridge 2008
  • Terracon, Atlanta, GA, Port of Anchorage Expansion 2004-2010
  • Arup, San Francisco, CA, Transbay Terminal 2004-2010

Professional Registrations

  • Civil Engineering, Lebanon, 1995-present
  • Civil Engineering, California, 1995-present

Journal Editorships

  • Special Issue Editor, Earthquake Spectra, Nepal Issue (2016-2017)
  • Associate Editor, Tunneling and Underground Space Technology 2010-current
  • Geotechnical Informatics specialty editor, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 2008-current
  • Editorial Board Member, Computers and Geotechnics, 2007-current
  • Advisory Board Member, International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 2007-current
  • Editor, Special Issue, Computers and Geotechnics 2007
  • Editorial Board Member, ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2004-2015

Professional Societies

  • 2022-Present Member, National Academy of Engineering
  • 2020-2021 ASCE Task Committee to Review Organizational Efficiency
  • 2018-2019 GeoInstitute Board of Governors - Past-President
  • 2017-2018 GeoInstitute Board of Governonrs - President
  • 2016-2017 Geoinstitute Board of Governors - Vice President
  • 2015-2016 Geoinstitute Board of Governors - Treasurer
  • 2014-2015 Geoinstitute Board of Governors - Member
  • 2016 ASCE GeoCongress Organizing Committee
  • Editorial Board Member Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
  • 2014-current Associate Editor, Journal of Earthquake Engineering
  • 2014-2019 Member of Board of Governors, GeoInstitute of ASCE
  • Session Moderator: Seismic Earth Pressures on Retaining Structures and Basement Walls, Speaker: Nicholas Sitar Session Moderator: Braced Excavations in Soft Soils, Speaker: Demetrious C. Koutsoftas, P.E. Session Moderator: Seismic design of retaining Structure 2012 GeoCongress, Oakland, Ca, March 2012
  • Session moderator, Geotechnical Issues, 9th International Conference on Urban Earthquake Engineering/ 4th Asia Conference on Earthquake Engineering, March 6-8, 2012, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo, Japan.
  • Session co-moderator, Breakout Session 2c: Geotechnical Engineering , E-Defense/NEES collaboration on Underground Structures testing, 2010 Quake Summit, San Francisco, CA
  • 2008-2010 Chair, Earth Retaining Structures Conference ER 2010 held in Bellevue, WA. This is a conference held once every 20 years and is a landmark conference in the area of retention structures
  • EERI/FEMA 2005-2006 graduate fellowship selection committee, 2005
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Session co-Chair, “Breakout session T1d “Underground Structures” GEESD IV, Tuesday, 2008, Sacramento, California.
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Session co-chair, Earth Retaining Structure, 10:30-12:0 Monday Feb 19 2007, GeoDenver, Denver Colorado.
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Session Chair, Track 4, Advances in Computing in Geotechnical Engineering, Internation conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, Cancun, Mexico2005
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Co-Chair, Sessions I & II, Computational Geomechanics Minisymposium, Seventh US National Congress on Computational Mechanics, Albuquerque (Summer 2003)
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Co-lead discusser, “New Areas for Cooperative Research Activities,” US-China Millennium on Earthquake Engineering, Nov 2000, Beijing, China.
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Chair of workshop on Research Needs and Opportunities for Urban Underground Facilities, Third national Conference of the Geo-Institute of ASCE, Wednesday June 16, 1999, 2:45-5:30 pm
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Session Moderator, Third national Conference of the Geo-Institute of ASCE, "Numerical Methods for Underground Projects," Monday June 14, 1999, 4:00-5:30 pm.
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Session Moderator, ASCE National Convention, October 1998, Boston, “Design Criteria, Specialty Testing and Construction and Instrumentation monitoring for CA/T project Session Time: 2:00-3:30 PM Monday Oct 19
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Reviewer, Earthquake Engineering
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Reviewer, Tunneling and Underground Space Technology
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Reviewer, ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Member International Tunneling Association, Working Group 2: Research
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Member, Performance of Structures During Construction, SEI, 2000-2006, Chair 2003-2006
  • American Society of Civil Engineers : Member, Earth Retaining Structures Committee, GeoInstitute, 1994-current, Chair Oct-2007-2013

Service on University Committees

  • 2019-2021 Named Positions Committee, Grainger College of Engineering

Service on Department Committees

  • Curriculum committee, 2017-2018
  • Faculty search committee and chair of Area 2 search 2017-2018
  • Award committee, 2017-current
  • Coordinator, Geotechnical Group 2017-2018
  • Chair, CEE Advisory Committee 2016-2018
  • Chair, CEE Faculty Search Committee 2015-2016
  • Promotion and Tenure Committee 2015-2017
  • Faculty Search Committee, CEE, Geotechnical Group, Fall 2002-Spring 2003
  • Faculty Search Committee, CEE, Transportation Division, Spring 2000
  • Physics Liaison Committee, Fall 1999, Spring 2000, Fall 2000, till present
  • Curriculum Committee, CEE, Fall 1999, Spring 2000, Fall 2000
  • Outcomes Assessment, Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Spring 1999
  • Computer Support Committee, Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Fall 1998, Spring 1999, Fall 1999, Spring 2000, Fall 2000, current, Chair 2006-current
  • Information Technology Committee, Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Summer 2001, Fall 2001, Spring 2002, current

Service on College Committees

  • 2015 Dean's Committee of new CS Marketing specialty degree
  • 2011-2012 Engineering Facilty Leadership Forum
  • Fall 2011 Dean's Committee on Curriculum review of Technology and Management Program Review, a joint program between the College of Engineering and College of Business

Service on Campus Committees

  • Alternate Campus Represntative to Dr. M. Loots, Campus represntative on Board of Great Lakes Consortium for Petascale Computation, 2010-current

Service to Federal and State Government

  • 2022-current Committee on Geological and Geotechnical Engineering. National Research Council of the National Academies.
  • 2021-current NIST Federal investigation of Champlain Tower South collapse. Geotechnical Project co-lead
  • 2016-2017 Member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Spirit Lake System
  • 2015 USGS Proposal Review
  • 2014-NSF proposal review panel
  • 2012 - NSF proposal review panel
  • 2011- NSF proposal review panel
  • National Academies - National Research Council - member - Committee on Underground Engineering for Sustainable Development 2010-2012
  • Coordinator of the Geotechnnical Working Group for "Next Generation Attenuation Relationship for Central and Eastern U.S.", through Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center sponsored by Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Geologic Survery (USGS) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Responsible for coordinating $1 million of research activity. The product of the group will affect the seismic hazard maps of US east of the Rockies.
  • Technical Reviewer - Project on : Improved Procedures for Characterizing and Modeling Soil-Structure Interaction for Performance-Based Seismic Engineering - Advanced Technology Council (ATC-83) NEHRP Consultant Joint Venture Task Order 10, for NIST. 2010-2012
  • Steering Committee, TURKEY FLAT, USA SITE EFFECTS TEST AREA, Strong-Motion Test, California Geologic Survey, 2004-2006. Carl Stepp (chair), Earthquake Hazards Solutions; C.Y. Chang, Geomatrix Consultants; Brian Chiou, California Department of Transportation; Chris Cramer, U.S. Geological Survey; I.M. Idriss, University of California, Davis; Marshall Lew, MACTEC Engineering & Consulting Inc; Maurice Power, Geomatrix Consultants; Charles Real, California Geological Survey; Wolfgang Roth, URS Corporation; Anthony Shakal, California Geological Survey; Jonathan Stewart, University of California, Los Angeles;
  • Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) National Steering Committee, Earthquake Hazards Program, US Geologic Survey: i. Alternate Member representing Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, 2001-2006 ii. Member, 2006- 2009
  • USGS NEHRP Earthquake Effects review panel, August 2008.
  • USGS NEHRP Earthquake Effects review panel, August 2007.

Other Outside Service

  • 2021-current Member of International Advisory Board, Department of Civil Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
  • 2020 Member of International group of external reviewers for the Department of Civil Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
  • 2015 co-leader GEER team to investigated the aftermath of Nepal Earthquake
  • 2012 - Presentation on Geotechnical Engineering and Field Visit of Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory (Mar 13, 2012) to 4th and 5th grade classes of Next Generation Elementary School
  • 2011- Presentation on Japan Earthquake with hands on experience, Next Generation School, Grade 1 & 3 classes.
  • 2011-Spring Newspaper interview and quotation, San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/transportation/2011/03/corroding-muni-tunnels-have-never-been-seismically-tested
  • Keynote speech, Order of Engineering Initiation Ceremony, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Spring 2010
  • 2010 - Presentation on Chile Earthquake, Next Generation School, Kindergarten and Grade 2 classes.
  • Newspaper interview, Daily Illini, Dec 2005, Pakistan Earthquake.
  • Newspaper interview, News Gazette, Nov 2005, Pakistan Earthquake.
  • Radio Interview, WILL, Nov 2005, Pakistan Earthquake.
  • Television Interview with WCIA, Nov 2005, Paksitan Earthquake.

Research Interests

  • Tunneling in Soil and Rock
  • Discrete Element Modeling
  • Deep Learning
  • Bio-engineering
  • Visualization in geomechanics
  • Soil-structure interaction
  • Numerical modeling in geomechanics
  • Inverse analysis
  • Deep excavations
  • Underground structures
  • Seismic Site response
  • Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
  • Geotechnical Engineering

Research Statement

Dr. Hashash's research interests include deep excavations, tunneling, discrete element modeling, soil constitutive behavior, earthquake engineering, numerical modeling, and soil-structure interaction. He is also involved in the use of deep learning, artificial intelligence, visualization and virtual reality techniques in geotechnical engineering applications.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Please contact me with expression of interest. I encourage undergraduate students to join my research group, and often have several students working with graduate students on challenging and exciting research projects. in my group.

Primary Research Area

  • Geotechnical Engineering

Research Areas

Books Authored or Co-Authored (Original Editions)

Books Edited or Co-Edited (Original Editions)

Selected Articles in Journals

Articles in Conference Proceedings

Other Publications

Patents

  • Patent 8,095,344 B2, Notice of Allowance 12/250,936, Methods and systems for modeling material behavior. Publication date 10 Jan 2012. Filing date 14 Oct 2008.
  • Patent 8,070,679 B2, patent “Accurate Determination of Intraocular Pressure and Characterization of Mechanical Properties of the Cornea,”. Publication date 6 Dec 2011. Filing date 21 Jul 2008
  • Patent 7,447,614 B2 (Notice of Allowance, U.S. Patent Application: No. 10/409,882 Methods and systems for modeling material behavior.Publication date 4 Nov 2008. Filing date 9 Apr 2003.
  • Patent 7,356,449 (Notice of Allowance U.S. Patent Application: No. 10/123,357): Methods and program product for solid mechanics modeling. Youssef M.A. Hashash. Publication Date: 8 Apr 2008. Filing Date: 16 Apr 2002.
  • Patent 7,246,047: Methods for Modeling Material Response to Applied Force., J. Ghaboussi and Youssef M.A. Hashash. Publication Date 17 Jul 2007. Filing Date: 9 Apr 2003.

Magazine Articles

Reports

Teaching Honors

  • Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising (Spring 2022)
  • Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising (Spring 2021)
  • Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising (Spring 2019)
  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their students (Spring 2011)
  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their students (Spring 2010)
  • 2010 Outstanding Advisors List (May 3, 2010)
  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Fall 2009)
  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Spring 2009)
  • 2009 Outstanding Advisors List (April 28, 2009)
  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Spring 2008)
  • Informal recognition - “Celebration of Teaching Excellence” by the Provost (May 2, 2007)
  • Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Fall 2006)
  • 2006 Collins Award for Innovation in Teaching, College of Engineering, UIUC (2006)
  • Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Fall 2005)
  • Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Spring 2005)
  • Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Fall 2004)
  • Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Spring 2004)

Research Honors

  • 2024 Hogentogler Award by ASTM Commitee D18 (2024)
  • Korean Geotechnical Society Award Lecturer (2021)
  • 17th Annual William Barclay Parsons Lecturer (2019)
  • 2014 Peck Medal, Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (2014)
  • 2012 Japan-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, Irvine, CA (2012)
  • CEE Research Innovation Grant (2011-2012)
  • 2009 Xerox Award for Faculty Research, UIUC (2009)
  • 2006 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, ASCE (2006)
  • 2005-2006 National Center for Supercomputing Applications Faculty Fellow (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2005)
  • 2003 Xerox Award for Faculty Research, UIUC (2003)
  • 2002-2003 Beckman Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies, UIUC (2002)
  • 2001-2003 American Bridge Faculty Scholar Award, CEE, UIUC (2001)
  • 2000 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, President of the United Sates of America, William J. Clinton (2000)
  • 2000 Arthur Casagrande Professional Development Award, Geo-Institute, ASCE (2000)
  • 1999 National Center for Supercomputing Applications Faculty Fellow (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1999)
  • 1997 Thomas Middlebrooks Award, American Society of Civil Engineers (1997)
  • 1994 James Croes Medal, American Society of Civil Engineers (1994)

Public Service Honors

  • Chi-Epsilon Honorary member, University of Illinois Chapter (2014)
  • Computer and Geotechnics Editor Award (2009)
  • 2006 Committee of the Year Award, ASCE Geo-Institute (2006)

Other Honors

  • 2022 - Elected - National Academy of Engineering (2022)