Internationally-Known Geotechnical Engineer to Speak at Next MBTC Distinguished Lecture Series

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — John Christian is best known for his work on Boston’s underground highway tunnel, popularly known as the “Big Dig.” He recently directed a study through the National Academy of Engineering on the many problems associated with the venture, the cost of which has gone from an original estimate of $2.8 billion to the current $14.5 billion price tag for the still incomplete project.

The lecture will be at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in Combs Auditorium, Room 282 of the Bell Engineering Building. A social will precede the lecture at 5:15 p.m.

The National Academy of Engineering study answered two questions: Where is the project now and how can it be completed? Christian has finished this work and recently presented his conclusions before a congressional committee. The study will be the topic of this MBTC Distinguished Lecture.

Christian has had a long and distinguished career as a geotechnical engineer. He served for a time on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before going to work for the consulting firm of Stone and Webster. He currently runs his own consulting firm in Massachusetts and has extensive experience in geotechnical engineering, soil dynamics, earthquake engineering, geotechnical reliability, computer applications, finite-element analysis, and engineering management.

Christian is the recipient of many honors and awards. In 1996 he received the Middlebrook Award for a paper in which he applied probabilistic methods to geotechnical earthquake engineering. In 1999 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his contributions and leadership in geotechnical earthquake engineering, computer methods in geotechnical engineering, and engineering education standards. Christian is also an honorary member of American Society of Civil Engineers and the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section, ASCE, for his contributions to earthquake engineering, as a pioneer in the use of computer methods in geotechnical engineering, and for his leadership in accreditation. Christian is the former chair of the ASCE Geotechnical Division and of the U.S. national chapter of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. He has served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering. In 2003 he chaired the National Research Council study, “Completing the 'Big Dig’: Managing the Final Stages of Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel Project.”

He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. At age five, his father took a job with the Brazilian Telephone Co., and his family moved to Rio de Janeiro, which he called home for the next 22 years. During his time in Brazil, John was sent to high school in the United States at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn. After high school, John received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from MIT. He then served in the Air Force, serving in Germany when the Berlin Wall went up and during the Cuban missile crisis. After his military service, Christian returned to MIT to obtain his doctoral degree, and his wife, Lynda, went to Harvard. It was during Christian’s time at MIT that he became interested in computers and numerical methods.

Christian is a very accomplished engineer. He has published over 90 papers, and is considered a pioneer in the use of computer methods, serving as the coauthor and coeditor of a seminal book on numerical methods in geotechnical engineering. He also coauthored a book on productivity tools for geotechnical engineers, and another on reliability and statistics in geotechnical engineering.