Terzaghi, Peck and Deere Geotechnical Laboratory

Engineering geologist Don U. Deere (PhD 55) and geotechnical engineer Ralph B. Peck, both professors of civil engineering at Illinois, and “father of soil mechanics” Karl von Terzaghi, a visiting research professor and frequent lecturer at Illinois, built the world’s premier geotechnical engineering program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. These pioneers shaped the education of geotechnical engineering leaders around the world, both directly and through their mentorship of the Illinois geotechnical engineering faculty who followed them — and redefined the field of geotechnical engineering in the process. Additional funding is required to fully furnish and equip this lab.