The charge to this committee—to envision the future of geotechnology— is at once a grand challenge and a problem. In many ways, geotechnology is a mature field having come to its majority in the last 50 years. Many serious problems have been solved. We know how to build strong foundations, safe dams, and stable roads and tunnels. We have a good understanding about the behavior and protection of groundwater, how to extract the petroleum resources, and develop a geothermal field. We understand quite a bit about the soil conditions that lead to liquefaction during an earthquake or make landslides likely. If there is a major problem, it is that the.
