Ground Improvement and Earth Structures

Dr. Bouassida is a professor of civil engineering at the "Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tunis" of the "Université de Tunis El Manar" where he earned his B.S., M.S., Ph.D., and doctorate of sciences diplomas, all in civil engineering. He is the director of the Research Laboratory in Geotechnical Engineering and has supervised 16 Ph.D. and 29 master of science graduates. His research focuses on soil improvement techniques and behavior of soft clays. Dr. Bouassida is the (co)author of 87 papers in refereed international journals; 126 papers, including 18 keynote lectures; and three books. He is a member of the editorial committees of journals Ground Improvement (ICE), Geotechnical Geological Engineering, Infrastructure Innovative Solutions, and International Journal of Geomechanics (ASCE). He is also an active reviewer in several international journals. As a 2006 Fulbright scholar, Bouassida created a novel methodology for the design of foundations on reinforced soil by columns. He was awarded the 2006 S. Prakash Prize for Excellence in the practice of geotechnical engineering. In 2008, Bouassida launched a Tunisian consulting office in geotechnical engineering, SIMPRO. He is a co-developer of the software Columns 1.01 used for designing column-reinforced foundations. Prof. Bouassida held the office of the vice president of ISSMGE for Africa (2005-2009). He benefited from several grants as a visiting professor in the USA, France, Belgium, Australia, Vietnam, Hong-Kong and Norway.

Dr. Meguid received his Ph.D. degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Western Ontario. He spent one year as a postdoctoral fellow at Queen's University before accepting an industrial position as a project manager for a prominent consulting company in Canada. In 2004, Dr. Meguid joined McGill University as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering. During his tenure at McGill, he held numerous administrative positions, including Associate Chair of the Civil Engineering Department between 2010 and 2012 and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Engineering between 2012 and 2016. The teaching interests of Dr. Meguid include numerical methods in geomechnics, analysis and design of subsurface structures and sustainable geotechnique. His research interests are in the area of physical and numerical modeling of soil-structure interaction problems with a focus on subsurface structures. His more than 80 technical publications in the past ten years examined the long-term performance of tunnels and other buried structures. He has been consulted in several national and international projects. Dr. Meguid is a member of the Trenchless Engineering International Research Advisory Committee He received several teaching and research awards and his graduate students have been recognized with various honors from professional societies in North America.