D.V. “Vaughan” Griffiths

Department Head

Dr. D.V. “Vaughan” Griffiths is a Professionally Licensed Engineer in the state of Colorado and a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. His research focuses on finite element modeling and risk assessment in civil and geotechnical engineering; e.g. slope stability, foundations and seepage analysis.

Dr. Griffiths is the author of over 400 papers and 3 textbooks that have gone into multiple and foreign language editions. He is one of the world’s most highly cited geotechnical engineering researchers. Dr. Griffiths teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Advanced Soil Mechanics, Risk Assessment in Geotechnical Engineering, Finite Element Methods and Numerical Methods for Engineers.

Education

• BSc, University of Manchester, UK
• MS, University of California at Berkeley
• PhD, University of Manchester, UK
• DSc, University of Manchester, UK

Professional Memberships and Qualifications

• P.E. (Colorado) Professional Engineer
• Dist.M.ASCE (Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers)
• BC.GE (Board-Certified Geotechnical Engineer)
• C.Eng (Chartered Engineer, UK)
• FICE (Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, UK)

Awards and Honors

• Terzaghi Lecturer (2026)
• GEOSNet Distinguished Award (2025)
• Honorary Professor, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia (2024-2026)
• Fulbright Distinguished Chair, Australia (2023)
• Wilson Tang Lecturer (2022)
• T.H. Wu Distinguished Lecture (2021)
• Awarded Honorary Fellowships at Magdalen College and St. Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, UK (2019)
• H Bolton Seed Medal and Lecture, Geo-Institute, ASCE (2017)
• Selected as the Cross Canada Geotechnical Lecturer by the Canadian Geotechnical Society (2017)
• Inaugural ISSMGE Suzanne Lacasse Lecturer (2016)
• Outstanding Paper Award, Computers and Geotechnics (2016)
• Thomas C. Keefer Medal, Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (2011)
• George Stephenson Medal, Institution of Civil Engineers, UK (1993)

Publications

For a full list of publications see this link.
For Google Scholar citation data see this link.