Welcome
With supporting letters from Prof. Guy Houlsby and his former student, Prof. Giang D Nguyen, Dr Nguyen was given a unique opportunity to carry out research in the geotechnics section at Imperial College London, which is home to many leading figures, including Sir Alec Skempton and Professor Alan Bishop. Many alumni are Rankine lecturers, who inspire me very much. Dr Nguyen obtained a PhD in Civil Engineering from Imperial College London, working under the supervision of Professor Catherine O'Sullivan. The title of this work is: "Micromechanics of shear wave propagation and non-linear stiffness of granular materials." The thesis was examined by Prof. Jamie Standing (Imperial College London) and Prof. Matthew Coop (University College London). A Vied-Newton PhD scholarship and a Dixon scholarship from Imperial College London sponsored this study. Dr Nguyen is grateful to Prof. Malcolm Bolton and Prof. David Potts for their inspiration through their love of research.
The Terzaghi and Rankine Lectures are often called the Nobel prize of geotechnics.
After my PhD, I spent almost two years (2021-2023) working as a postdoc research associate in computational geomechanics at the University of Liverpool, focusing on developing numerical tools for large deformation analysis using the particle finite element method. Between 9.2023 and 9.2024, I worked as a Postdoc research associate at RWTH Aachen University in Professor Julia Kowalski’s group, focusing on developing advanced numerical methods combined with surrogate models (Gaussian process regression and other machine learning techniques) for geotechnical engineering stability and flow-like geohazards. I have collaborated with Professor Rita Sousa at New York University, working on applications of machine learning surrogate models to geotechnical engineering analysis.
I am deeply grateful to Professor Guy Houlsby at Oxford University and Professor Malcolm Bolton at Cambridge University for their inspiration during my research career. Their guidance and support have been invaluable in my academic journey. Professor Guy Houlsby’s supporting letter was instrumental in my journey to study at Imperial College London, and he continues to be a role model in my research career.