Shideh Dashti
· Professor • Associate Chair for AdministrationUniversity of Colorado Boulder · Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering
Active 2008–2026
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About
Shideh Dashti is a Professor and Associate Chair for Administration in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on resilient infrastructure with an emphasis on sustainability and equity, particularly in the context of geotechnical engineering and geomechanics. Her work involves physical modeling, seismic soil-structure interaction, underground structure response in urban environments, and the consequences of soil liquefaction and seismic hazards on infrastructure. She is actively involved in advancing understanding of soil liquefaction mitigation, seismic response of structures, and the impact of compound hydrologic-seismic hazards on earthen infrastructure. Professor Dashti holds a PhD and MS from the University of California at Berkeley and a BS from Cornell University. She has received numerous honors and distinctions, including the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Distinguished Lecture Award, the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from ASCE, and the NSF Early CAREER Award. She is engaged with professional societies such as ASCE, EERI, ISSMGE, and BSSC, contributing to seismic safety standards and research initiatives. Her work integrates experimental, numerical, and probabilistic approaches to improve infrastructure resilience against natural hazards, with a particular interest in urban seismic response, liquefaction mitigation, and environmental justice.
Research topics
- Engineering
- Soil science
- Geology
- Structural engineering
- Sociology
- Social Science
- Political Science
- Geotechnical engineering
- Public relations
- Physics
Selected publications
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering · 2021 · 44 citations
In urban environments, structures are often built in close proximity to each other. Seismic coupling and structure-soil-structure interaction (SSSI) are known to affect system accelerations, settlement, and tilt with consequential impact on structural damage. Yet, the extent and nature of these interactions are poorly understood, particularly on ground susceptible to liquefaction. In this paper, we use dynamic centrifuge and numerical modeling of isolated and neighboring, similar and dissimilar,…
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering · 2020 · 36 citations
Dense granular columns (DGCs) are generally known to mitigate the liquefaction hazard through a combination of (1) installation-induced ground densification, (2) enhanced drainage, and (3) shear reinforcement. However, the relative contribution of these mitigation mechanisms remains poorly understood. A recent case history of successful embankment performance on a liquefiable site treated with DGCs that had relatively low area replacement ratios (Ar) (where drainage is not notably enhanced) sugg…
Disaster resilience and sustainability of incarceration infrastructures: A review of the literature
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction · 2022 · 27 citations
Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · 2024-10-13 · 8 citations
articleThis article draws on the stories of formerly incarcerated people to examine the ways in which the physical and social infrastructures of carceral facilities increase incarcerated people's vulnerability to environmental hazards exacerbated by climate change. We present qualitative data from interviews and focus groups with people who have been incarcerated in prisons and/or jails in Colorado regarding their experiences with incarceration infrastructure, amplifying the voices of formerly incarcer…
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering · 2024-12-28 · 6 citations
articleMost natural granular deposits are spatially variable due to heterogeneities in soil hydraulic conductivity, layer thickness, relative density, and continuity. However, existing simplified liquefaction evaluation procedures treat each susceptible layer as homogeneous and in isolation, neglecting water flow patterns and displacement mechanisms that result from interactions among soil layers, the groundwater table, foundation, and structure. In this paper, three-dimensional, fully coupled, nonline…
Recent grants
NEESR: Seismic Response of Shallow Underground Structures in Dense Urban Environments
NSF · $705k · 2011–2016
Performance of Buildings on Liquefiable Soils: Evaluation and Mitigation
NSF · $363k · 2014–2018
CAREER: Toward a New Paradigm in Evaluating and Mitigating Urban Liquefaction
NSF · $532k · 2015–2022
Frequent coauthors
- 65 shared
Abbie B. Liel
University of Colorado Boulder
- 42 shared
Brad P. Wham
University of Colorado System
- 31 shared
Yu‐Wei Hwang
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
- 21 shared
Caroline Bessette
University of Colorado Boulder
- 21 shared
Zach Bullock
California Institute of Technology
- 20 shared
Jonathan D. Bray
University of California, Berkeley
- 18 shared
Keith Porter
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
- 16 shared
Lianne Brito
University of Colorado Boulder
Education
- 2004
B.S.
Cornell University
- 2005
M.S.
University of California at Berkeley
- 2009
Ph.D.
University of California at Berkeley
Awards & honors
- 2025 Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Distin…
- 2024 Campus Sustainability Award, CU Boulder
- 2021 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Price, ASCE
- 2020 Provost Faculty Achievement Award, CU Boulder
- 2018 Arthur Casagrande Professional Development Award, ASCE
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