Raymond L. Sterling

Dr. Sterling is Professor Emeritus at Louisiana Tech University. From 1995 to 2009 he was the Contractors’ Educational Trust Fund Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the Trenchless Technology Center at Louisiana Tech University. Previously, from 1977 to 1995, he was the founding director of the Underground Space Center at the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Sterling received a B.Eng degree in civil and structural engineering from the University of Sheffield in 1970. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota in 1975 and 1977. He is a Past Chairman of the International Society for Trenchless Technology and the North American Society for Trenchless Technology, a Past Chairman of the U.S. National Committee on Tunneling Technology, and a Past Animateur for the International Tunnelling Association’s Working Group on Direct and Indirect Advantages of Underground Structures. In 2003, he received the Stephen D. Bechtel Pipeline Engineering Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was selected as the Person of the Year by the Trenchless Technology Magazine in 2001 and as Most Valuable Professional by the Gulf Coast Trenchless Association in 1999. In 2009, he received the Gold Medal from the International Society for Trenchless Technology for outstanding contributions to the field. He has authored approximately 200 books, technical papers and reports on a wide range of topics related to underground space use, underground construction, geomechanics and trenchless technology and for the past 10 years has served as a Senior Editor of the international journal Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology. He is registered engineer in the U.S. and is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.