About Our Speakers

President Emeritus
The University of Texas at Dallas

Bio

Dr. David E. Daniel, P.E., earned BS, MS, and PhD degrees in civil engineering from UT Austin. Between MS and PhD degrees, he worked for 3 years as a staff engineer at Woodward Clyde Consultants in Oakland, California. After earning his PhD, he spent 16 years on the faculty at UT Austin, and then went to the University of Illinois where he served as Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and then as Dean of Engineering. In 2005 he became the President of UT Dallas. From 2015 to 2018 he served as Deputy Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer of the UT System in Austin. He retired from full-time work in 2018 and currently serves as a part-time engineering consultant in Dallas and on several non-profit boards and committees. Awards from ASCE include the Norman Medal, Croes Medal, Middlebrooks Award, Terzaghi Lecture, President’s Award, and Geotechnical Hero’s Award. In 2000 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. From 2006-2007 he chaired the ASCE External Review Panel that investigated what went wrong with the flood protection system in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina. He also served on the National Academy of Engineering panel that investigated the causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. Professional organization service includes past President of the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology; Chair of the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program advisory committee; past member of the governing board of the National Academy of Engineering; Chair of the Hill Prize Selection Committee; and past Editor in Chief of the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering.

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