BOSTON—GEI Consultants, Inc., one of the nation's leading geotechnical, environmental, water resources, and ecological science and engineering firms, announced that Jorge Meneses, Ph.D., PE, D.GE, F.ASCE, has joined the company as a senior consultant.

Meneses is one of the world's recognized leaders in seismic engineering, with more than 25 years of experience in consultancy, research, and teaching.

 

"Jorge brings deep knowledge of various earthquake environments to GEI," says Francis D. Leathers, PE, F.ASCE, D.GE. "He is widely recognized as one of the premier experts in seismic hazard evaluation and ground motions development, and his expertise will further support GEI's work with existing and new clients in vertical construction, transportation, water resources, and other sectors. We're proud to add him to our growing geotechnical practice." Based in Carlsbad, Calif., Meneses has been the technical lead on numerous domestic and international projects involving geotechnical earthquake engineering, foundation engineering, numerical modeling, and advanced geotechnical testing. In 2011, he was called to Japan as the lead member of one of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) missions to evaluate damage and seismic performance after the Japan earthquake and tsunami. He joins GEI's experienced team of dam and foundation engineering professionals. "GEI stands out by offering its clients direct access to practice leaders who are themselves client-focused project managers," says Meneses. "I'm thrilled to be contributing to this already-successful service delivery model."

A part-time faculty member at San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego Extension, Meneses is also the published author of more than 50 articles in various technical journals and conferences. He will retain his post as leader of the local organizing committee for the GeoCongress 2013, which will be held in San Diego, Calif. in March. He is also president of the San Diego chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI); honorary chair of the ASCE Geo-Institute of San Diego; and an active member of GEER. In addition, he is a member of the Strong Ground Motion Committee of the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC); PEER (Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research); NEES (Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation); and the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI). He received a master's degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo.

Meneses is joining a group of GEI professionals that routinely concentrate on work that includes the following services:

· Site characterization
· Fault studies
· Probabilistic and deterministic seismic hazard analyses
· Site response and liquefaction analyses
· Selection and modification of earthquake time histories
· Seismic stability and deformation analyses of natural slopes and geotechnical infrastructure
· Alternatives analyses for seismic retrofitting
· Ground improvement design to mitigate for liquefaction and lateral spread concerns
· Dam and foundation design
· Regulatory compliance evaluations
· Seismic peer review

Recent work by the firm includes a seismic stability evaluation of Lake Wohlford Dam for the City of Escondido, Calif.; a seismic analysis of the River City Casino foundation for Case Foundation Company in St. Louis, Mo.; and a seismic evaluation for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Fast 14 Rapid Replacement Bridge Project in Boston.