Kevin Foster Email & Phone Number

Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

Developing foundation solutions for residential, commercial, and industrial clients throughout New Zealand, whilst contributing to new workflows and systems for a young geotechnical & civil team within an established structural engineering specialty firm.

Christchurch, New Zealand

Regional consulting firm with projects throughout South and North Islands, New Zealand. Subsurface investigations; commercial foundation design and assessment; cantilever retaining wall assessment and design; EQC [national insurance scheme] rapid-response residential property visits to assess land damage and remediation options after natural disasters; geotechnical analyses and reporting for large highway infrastructure project; claims support (interfacing with legal team for defense in high stakes technical disputes). Specialist support including guidance on pilot project - laboratory testing regimen on new cyclic triaxial equipment; critical assessment of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for Taurange prior to the release of the updated 2022 New Zealand National Seismic Hazard Model (NZ NSHM); bespoke scripting solutions (Python, Linux shell scripting) in support of aforementioned legal disputes and for liquefaction risk screening assessments on ground improvement works for Christchurch Multi-Use Arena.

Blacksburg, Virginia

Dynamic geotechnical properties of coal fly ash, soil dynamics, numerical computing, site response analysis, liquefaction, dynamic laboratory testing (cyclic triaxial testing, resonant column testing), shear wave velocity in geotechnical engineering, coal fly ash impoundments, geotechnical earthquake engineering.

MS, Geotechnical Engineering. Teaching assistant for undergraduate Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering course, soils laboratory. Teaching assistant for graduate course in deep foundation design. Ambitious MS thesis in strong-motion seismology. Earthquake source modeling, ground motion prediction equations (GMPE), site response, residual analysis.

Construction inspection including rock-socketed caissons; micropiles; mat and piled raft foundations; pile load test readings and coordination; tieback and tiedown inspection; subgrade inspection; rock inspection; underpinning observation; vibration monitoring.Multiple subsurface investigation programs including indoor and outdoor borings; geotechnical test pits; structural test pits; oriented rock cores; groundwater observation; environmental sampling; related contractor, client, and public authority coordination; subsurface profile preparation and analysis; report production.

The geostructural division of The Structural Group specializes in specialty geotechnical construction. The first half of my summer was spent overseeing shallow soil mixing under the foundation of an old two-story garage in Queens. The existing foundation was converted to a mat and used to support a 13-story residential tower.In the second half of the summer, I worked in south-central Pennsylvania, installing rock-socketed minipiles for the construction of a new athletic facility for a university.

Full-time field inspector on site of large commercial development. Observed site construction including material placement and disposal; inspection of pipe laying operations; backfill compaction compliance (incl. in-place nuclear density testing); concrete pours (incl. standard slump, air content, sample cylinder tests). Some office work including preliminary settlement analysis on proposed developments.

Provided analysis, planning, plan and specification production and detail production for a manhole rehabilitation project in city of Merrimack, NH. Observed and inspected construction on several sites. Produced complete engineer’s cost estimates on three site development projects. Various AutoCAD work. Produced several proposed subdivision layouts. Gained familiarity with standard construction specifications and proficiency in writing technical specifications.

Performed various laboratory and field tests on soil, concrete, asphalt. Tests included standard and modified Proctor tests; grain size analysis; constant-head permeability; theoretical maximum density; specific gravity; extraction (HMA gradation); slump and air content; compressive strength for concrete cylinders; nuclear field densities.

Ph.D., Earthquake Engineering

Thesis title: "Modelling Vs30 in New Zealand Using Field Measurements, Proxy Variables, and Geophysical Methods."

M.S., Ph.D. (Incomplete), Geotechnical Engineering, Strong-Motion Seismology, Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering

Activities and Societies: Teaching assistant, undergraduate soils engineering laboratory and graduate deep foundations design. Multiple.

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Civil Engineering

Education record

High school