2026 Reese Lecture: Carlos Santamarina: The Enduring Legacy of Lymon C Reese

Professor Lymon C. Reese had a 33-year career at UT Austin, conducting pioneering work in performing field studies with instrumented piles and drilled shafts. Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1975, he developed analytical methods now widely used in the design of deep foundations. Professor Reese was the ASCE Karl Terzaghi lecturer in 1976. Please join us in celebrating his lifetime of achievement and service. The 2026 Reese Lecturer was Carlos Santamarina of Georgia Tech. The full title of his lecture was "Building on Insight: The Enduring Legacy of Lymon C. Reese." Lymon Reese’s seminal contributions, documented through his research papers and the two classical FHWA manuals, have established a foundational body of knowledge that continues to shape geotechnical engineering practice today. This presentation revisits key aspects of his work and explores their enduring impact in our field and beyond, with a focus on: drilling muds (weight, invasion, filter cake, and sensing muds); offshore foundations (sediment properties, characterization, and observation); sediment response to repetitive loading (mechanical, thermal, and moisture cycles); load distribution and downdrag effects; non-destructive evaluation of deep foundations; corrosion; and grouting techniques, including annular and internal repair applications. Together, these topics highlight Reese’s lasting influence on both research and engineering practice. J. Carlos Santamarina is Professor and Clough Chair at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned his undergraduate degree from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and completed his graduate studies at the University of Maryland and Purdue University. He has held faculty positions at NYU Polytechnic, the University of Waterloo (Canada), KAUST (Saudi Arabia), and Georgia Tech. Santamarina’s research integrates experimental and numerical approaches to investigate the behavior of geomaterials, including sediments, fractured rocks and complex fluids, with applications in geotechnical engineering and energy geotechnology. A frequent keynote speaker, he has delivered the Terzaghi, Casagrande, and Bishop Lectures. He is a member of both Argentine National Academies and has received numerous honors, including ASTM’s Hogentogler Award, the Korean Geotechnical Society Award, and Saudi Arabia’s Tarek Al-Qasabi Award. The Geo-Institute is a technical society with about 12,000 geotechnical engineers and geologists as members. Find out more or join at http://www.geoinstitute.org. #geotechnicalengineering #geotech #civilengineering #universityoftexas