Department of Geotechnics

BUISSNESS DESCRIPTION:

The Department of Geotechnics was established in 2019 as part of the Institute of Civil Engineering as a result of the reorganization of the Faculty’s structure and continues the former Department of Geotechnics, whose head was Professor Wojciech Wolski for many years. The roots of the Department of Geotechnics go back to 1950, when the Department of Soil Science and Foundation was established. The organizer and first head of the Department of Soil Science and Foundations, and later the Department of Soil Science and Civil Engineering was prof. dr inż. Władysław Kollis (until 1960). The next heads of this unit were dr inż. Wojciech Wolski (1961–1962), prof. dr inż. Zygmunt Mikucki (until 1970) and again prof. Wojciech Wolski (until 2000). Since the establishment in 2000 of the Department of Geoengineering headed by prof. dr hab. Eng. Zbigniew Lechowicz, the Department of Geotechnics was headed by prof. dr hab. Eng. Alojzy Szymański. Currently, the Department consists of two titular professors, habilitated doctor, seven assistant professors, two assistants, two employees who are not academic teachers.

The activities of the Department include teaching, research and service and implementation works. Classes conducted by the employees of the Department are conducted in five fields of study at the engineering and master’s level, both full-time and part-time studies: Construction, Environmental Engineering, Water Engineering and Management, Environmental Protection and the field of Renewable Energy Technologies (WIP). The Department’s employees also conduct classes in doctoral studies, English-language studies in the field of Civil Engineering and subjects in English as part of the Erasmus program. In addition, in the Department since 2007. cyclical postgraduate studies “Geotechnical design” are conducted, which were organized in the 12th edition.

The research interests of employees mainly concern issues related to the development and improvement of methods of mineral and organic soil research under complex loading conditions, methods and interpretations of laboratory and field soil tests with non-destructive techniques, research methods, strengthening and designing of engineering structures, as well as communication engineering. The employees of the Department participate in the implementation of research projects and works commissioned for the benefit of the economy for the needs of general, communication, underground and hydrotechnical construction. They publish the results of their work in many specialist journals and monographs, and they are also frequent participants and speakers at numerous national and foreign conferences.

The employees of the Department take part in the works of the Committee of Civil and Water Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Section of Geotechnics and Underground Construction, the Section of Hydrotechnical Structures and the Polish Committee of Geotechnics. From 2014 to the present, the Chair is the seat of the Management Board of the Polish Committee of Geotechnics. The Department’s employees are members of the Management Board and Technical Committees of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).

The employees of the Department of Geotechnics are involved in the organization and co-organization of geotechnical scientific conferences, incl. Scientific and Technical Conference ProGeotech and the National Conference of Soil MECHANICS AND GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING