Education

• B.E. 1970, N.E.D. Engineering College – Civil Engineering
• M.S. 1973, Asian Institute of Technology – Water Science and Engineering
• Ph.D. 1982, Cornell University – Agricultural Engineering

Dr. Nelson is Professor Emeritus of Colorado State University having served on the faculty for 39 years. He was a founding partner of Shepherd Miller, Inc., prior to forming Engineering Analytics after retiring from CSU.

Dr. Nelson has a broad range of experience dealing with expansive and collapsible soils and mill tailings dams, He also has experience regarding landslides and slope stability, compacted fills, soft soils, seepage and water movement in soils, and design of embankment dams.

He is the senior author of two books, including Foundation Engineering for Expansive Soil and Expansive Soils: Problems and Practices in Foundation and Pavement Engineering. He has served as expert witness on numerous cases dealing with construction defects related to expansive soil, collapsible soil and slope stability.

He has also testified in cases relating to dams and mill tailings management. He was the Chief Technical Reviewer for the USNRC for the Church Rock tailings dam failure. He is the engineer of record for the design of raises of tailings dams in Arkansas and New Mexico. He testified in Federal Court on litigation involving failure of a tailings dam in Idaho. He was also the designated expert for litigation involving seepage from large tailings impoundments in Arizona. Most recently he served as the designated expert regarding the Mount Polley Tailings Dam Failure in British Columbia.

He is the author of more than 100 technical papers and reports.

Education

• B.S. 1960, Illinois Institute of Technology – Civil Engineering
• M.S. 1962, Illinois Institute of Technology – Civil Engineering
• Ph.D. 1967, Illinois Institute of Technology – Civil Engineering

Dr. Robert Meroney’s teaching and research focused on the disciplines of fluid mechanics and wind engineering.  He completed over 40 years at Colorado State including time spent as Chairman of the Engineering Science Program, Program Leader in Fluid Mechanics and Wind Engineering, Director of the Hydraulics and Wind Engineering Division, and Director of the Wind Engineering and Fluids Laboratory (formerly the Fluid Dynamics and Diffusion Laboratory).  Currently he is an Emeritus Professor beginning Spring 2004.  He continues to teach workshops and study institutes on fluid mechanics, computational fluid mechanics and wind engineering .  Most recently his research emphasized Computational Wind Engineering considering air pollution and building aerodynamics as well as the spread of smoke and heat from fires in atria, urban areas and forests.

Education

B.S., University of Tennessee
M.S. and Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

Personal website

Jim Loftis’ research areas were environmental statistics, design of environmetnal monitoring programs, and nonpoint source pollution. His research sponsors have included the National Park Service, US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Department of Agriculture, teh US Geological Survey, the US National Science Foundation, and IBM Corporation.  Other activities have included the design of a water quality monitoring network for the Big Thompson Watershed Forum, statistical evaluation of reservoir monitoring data for several cities along the Colorado Front Range, and development of modeling and monitoring approaches for managing selenium contamination in the Gunnison River Basin.

Dr. Loftis taught 20 different courses at Colorado State University, focusing on water and the environment in courses such as Environmentla Statistics and Nonpoint Pollution. To serve the professional community, he taught short courses in Water Quality Monitoring Network Design and Environmental Statistics in the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia.

Dr. Loftis has long been an active player in Colorado Water issues through applied research, outreach, and participation in water organizations such as the American Water Resources Association, Colorado Lake and Reservoir Management Association, and Big Thompson Watershed Forum. He has recently organized the Front Range Drinking Water Consortium to facilitate information exchange among university researchers and Colorado Front Range water providers.

Education

• B.S. 1974, Oklahoma State University – Agricultural Engineering
• M.S. 1976, Colorado State University – Agricultural Engineering
• Ph.D. 1978, Colorado State University – Agricultural Engineering

Dr. Darrell G. Fontane was a Professor, Associate Department Head and Director of the International School for Water Resources in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Colorado State University. His areas of teaching and research were water resources decision support systems, computer aided water management, integrated reservoir water quantity and quality management, and Internet-based education and training.

As Director of the International School for Water Resources, he was responsible for organizing and administering special, non-degree training for international engineers in various aspects of water resources engineering. Dr. Fontane has personally conducted water resources training in more than twelve countries. He has served as principal or co-principal investigator for research projects funded by various organizations the World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. National Park Service, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Energy–Western Area Power Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, and the Korea Center for Water Resources and Quality Management. Dr. Fontane has served as a Visiting Associate Professor at the Center for Water Resources and Quality Management, Korea, 1991, a Visiting Research Engineer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, 1992, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2001-02. He has served as a technical consultant to the Korea Water Resources Corporation, the World Bank, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2003-Course Co-coordinator and presenter in the World Bank Web-based Short Course on Water Resources Management. Prior to coming to Colorado State University, he served as Supervisory Research Hydraulic Engineer, Acting Chief of the Reservoir Water Quality Branch of the Hydraulics Laboratory, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1972-78.

Education

• B.S. 1968, Louisiana State University – Civil Engineering
• M.S. 1970, Georgie Institute of Technology – Civil Engineering
• Ph.D. 1982, Colorado State University – Civil Engineering/Hydraulics

Dr. Durnford’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the USDA, DOE and the U.S. Air Force, among others. She has served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee for the Technical Assessment of Environmental Programs at Los Alamos National Laboratories. She is a Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado and teaches graduate level courses in groundwater hydrology and hydraulics, vadose zone hydrology and groundwater contaminant transport processes. She has served as graduate committee chair for 15 PhD students and over 20 M.S. students. Dr. Durnford is also the Site Coordinator for the Louis Stokes Colorado Alliance for Minority Participation.

Education

• B.S. 1971, University of Wisconsin – Mathematics
• M.S. 1976, Colorado State University – Civil Engineering/Structures
• Ph.D. 1982, Colorado State University – Civil Engineering/Hydraulics

Personal website

Prior to joining Colorado State University in 1970, he conducted structural research at Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Ms, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Before that he was a University Fellowship recipient and research assistant at the University of Illinois; a structural designer with Clark and Enerson, Olson, Burroughs and Thomsen, Linoln, NE; and as a drafter with the Nebraska Highway Department, Bridge Division. He was a visiting scholar at the Univ. of California, Berkley, 1977-78. He was one of four founding principals of Engineering Data Management, Inc., a Fort Collins, CO consulting firm specializing in wood and utility line structures (now EDM International) and was associated with EDM from 1982-1985.

Dr. Criswell’s teaching and research were in structural behavior and design, structural analysis, structural mechanics, and construction materials, with emphasis on timber systems, reinforced concrete slab systems, fiber reinforced concrete materials and their structural applications, structural safety and design code development, wood utility structures, and manufactured homes. From 1988 through 2002, he has directed several projects on inflatable habitat structures for lunar or martian base and with planning for the infrastructure, support systems and operation of such a base. In 2001 he organized and hosted a NASA -sponsored workshop on planetary protection issues associated with a human mission to mars. He has authored or co-authored over 50 journal and proceedings publications, has over 80 presentations at professional meetings and has directed and/or taught in several short courses. He is active in several national-level technical committees of American Concrete Institute and American Society of Civil Engineers and his past service to American Society of Civil Engineers has included being chair of the Civil Engineering Division, Chair of the Rocky Mountain Section and the Society’s national Board of Directors. He has been a program evaluation of civil engineering programs for ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) since 1983.

Education

• B.S. 1965, University of Nebraska – Civil Engineering
• M.S. 1966, University of Nebraska – Civil Engineering
• Ph.D. 1970, University of Illinois – Civil Engineering

Prior to joining Colorado State University in 1976, Dr. Charlie was an Instructor of Civil Engineering at Michigan State University and an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Maine at Orono. Since joining Colorado State University in 1976, he was a Fulbright Professor at the University of Khartoum and a Visiting Professor of Civil Engineering at Cornell University and at the University of Auckland (New Zealand). He has been Project Director for research on Explosive and Earthquake Induced Soil Liquefaction, Mine Tailings, Expansive Soils, Frozen Soils, and Organic Soils. He introduced sophisticated computer data acquisistion devices for recording laboratory and field transient behavior of soils and under impact of explosives.

Professor Charlie has also worked for various government agencies and private geotechnical engineering firms including the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Peace Corps, the Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Air Force, and D’Appolonia Consulting Engineering. He has served as a geotechnical consultant to over 20 organizations located in Alaska, California, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Maine, Michigan, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Washington D.C., South Pacific, Europe, Africa, Canada, Asia and the Caribean. Topics included earthquake and blast induced soil liquefaction, industrial wastes, tailings, expansive soils, organic soils, frozen soils, and blast damage.

Education

• B.A. 1971, Michigan State University – Social Science
• B.S. 1971, Michigan State University – Civil Engineering
• M.S. 1972, Michigan State University – Civil Engineering
• Ph.D. 1975, Michigan State University – Civil Engineering

Contact Information

Office Location: Engineering A205D
Phone: (970) 491-2667
Fax: (970) 491-7727
nicole.ellison@colostate.edu

Education

• B.S.C.E 1995, Florida State University
• M.S.C.E.2015, University of Colorado, Denver
• Ph.D. 2017, University of Colorado, Denver