Research Team

Dr. Michael Hendry is co-Principal Investigator of the RGHRP at the University of Alberta. His current research is focused on the strength of soft foundation soils under heavy axle loading, the degradation of railway ballast and its effects on the integrity of the track structure, and the fundamental soil mechanics of peat and organic soils. He is a strong proponent of field-based studies and has an interest in finding new means to measure soil behaviours in the field.

Dr. Jean Hutchinson is co-Principal Investigator of the RGHRP at Queen's University. Her research areas include work on engineering geology risk assessment, natural hazards and landslides, mining induced ground subsidence, underground rock support design, in situ and remote sensing techniques for assessing ground conditions, and engineering education. Dr. Hutchinson co-funds and co-supervises the Geomechanics Computational Laboratory and the Geomechanics Imaging Laboratory at Queen's University.

Dr. Renato Macciotta is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta. His areas of practice and research include risk engineering and safety assessments for natural and human-made slopes, mining structures, transport operations, dam structures and operations, ground hazards and reclamation. His expertise also includes the geomechanical characterization of rock and soil masses, slope failure mechanisms and monitoring, rock fall detachment and trajectory analysis and remote monitoring techniques. His work integrates his technical skills with risk engineering principles for the design and operation of engineered systems and structures.

Dr. David Elwood is an Associate Professor at the University of Saskatchewan. His research focuses on the characterization of hard, overconsolidated soils and soft rocks (argillaceous formations) for a variety of applications, including slope stabilization, foundation design and tunneling applications. Furthermore, he has designed instrumentation and monitoring programs for a wide variety of geotechnical projects including, slope stability, embankment construction, tunnel excavation, and temporary support systems for deep excavations. His particular area of research is the in-situ determination of stiffness in ground and how this information can be translated to geotechnical design.