Dr. Lingwall’s current research interests include: surface fault
rupture, numerical modeling of large strain phenomena, burned soils and
hydrophobicity, soil microbial communities and erosion mitigation,
resilient infrastructure systems, landslides in shale, liquefaction of
non-classical sands, and lateral spreading during subduction zone
earthquakes. He is leading efforts to understand the anchorage systems
of mega-flora and design and construction of Magnetic Particle Tracking
instruments for research of porous and granular media. His current
funding sources include private industry, SDDOT, FHWA, National
Academies Science and Engineering, and NSF. He is currently partnering
with Princeton University, Smith College and Colorado State University
in development of the BIO-ARC, the BIO-inspired Adaptive Resiliency
engineering research Center in cooperation with several state and
federal infrastructure agencies.
Bret Lingwall, PhD, PE is an Assistant Professor specializing in the
areas of geotechnical, bio-geotechnical and earthquake engineering. He
joined SDSMT in 2015. He has a PhD from the University of Utah and is a
Professional Engineer (UT). His current work focuses on bio-geotechnics
which includes microbial bio-cements and the foundations of mega-flora.
His active research portfolio includes numerical modeling of geologic
materials, soil-structure interaction, dams and levees, liquefied soils,
seismic hazards analysis, surface fault rupture mitigation, very soft
soils, retaining walls, geosynthetics, paving materials, and laterally
loaded foundations. Dr. Lingwall has 12 years of global design
experience on high dollar infrastructure, building, and energy projects.
He has served as a technical advisor for a variety of projects in
Canada, South Korea, and Guam. He continues to serve the profession as a
consultant and peer reviewer of earthquake engineering and numerical
modeling in civil engineering. He is the current VP of SD-ASCE.
Professor Lingwall teaches geotechnical, foundation, earthquake,
pavement and transportation engineering in the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering at SDSMT. He also teaches advanced soil
mechanics and advanced foundation engineering. His teaching emphasizes
active learning, case histories, and project-based learning experiences.
Student participation in laboratory experiments and field trips are
frequently utilized. To enable in-class discussions and activities he
utilizes flipped classroom formats. Major emphases for Professor
Lingwall’s classes are: 1) help students develop critical engineering
practice skills; 2) help students be able to reason through complicated
design problems; and 3) help students think creatively about problems
and potential solutions.