North American Chinese Geotechnical Engineers Association

an IRS 501(c)3 non-profit organization
© Copyright 2009 NACGEA  All Rights Reserved.
Endi Zhai, Ph.D., PE, GE
Vice President
Transportation Technical Director
Kleinfelder Inc.
Dr.Zhai is the Vice President and Transportation Technical Director at
Kleinfelder, Dr. Zhai is responsible for providing technical direction in
national transportation program.  He has 23 years of experience in projects
in bridges and highways, port and harbor developments, public works,
water resources, power facilities, tunnels and airports in the United States
and worldwide. He also serves as a technical expert company-wide to solve
challenging problems in transportation and water resource areas.
He obtained his B.Sci. and M.Sci. degrees in 1985 and 1989, respectively
from Nanjing University, China. He got his PhD from Kanazawa University,
Japan in 1997. He performed post-doctoral research at the University of
British Columbia and Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada
for about two years. He is a registered civil engineer and a licensed
geotechnical engineer in the State of California. He also registered as a
professional civil engineer in British Columbia, Canada and Geotechnical
Engineer in Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

He has published approximately 50 technical papers in geotechnical and
earthquake engineering, and has been a keynote speaker in several
international/national conferences.
Liping Yan, Ph.D., PE, GE
Geotechnical Engineering Group
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Liping Yan graduated from the Southwest Jiaotong University located in
Sichuan, China, in 1983 with a B.Eng. Degree, majoring in bridge structural
engineering. He received an M.Eng. Degree in geotechnical engineering
from the same university in 1986 and came to U.S. for further study. He
earned M.S. (1990) and E.D. (1992) from the California Institute of
Technology, and Ph.D. (1998) from the University of Southern California, all
Dr. Liping Yan's research projects have related to soil constitutive relations,
numerical analysis on seismic stability of earth dams and embankments,
dynamic analysis on soil-structure interactions, and development and
implementation of improved seismic design and retrofit procedures for
bridge abutments and footings.  He has authored and co-authored over
forty scholarly publications.  

Since 1990, Dr. Yan has been consulting for both public and private clients.
 He has been involved in or has managed a variety of projects, such as
reconstruction of I-10 Freeway bridges at Fairfax and Washington
Boulevards after the Northridge earthquake in January 1994, Port of Los
Angeles 2020 Plan, California Statewide Bridge Retrofit Program, Alameda
Corridor, Metro Gold Line, and Los Angeles Reservoir Water Quality
geotechnical issues for design and construction.  His expertise in
geotechnical analysis and construction support includes aspects of building
and bridge foundations, seismic site response, seismic hazard evaluation,
seismic retrofit design, ground improvements, highway and parking
pavements, airports, stations, earth dams, tanks, tunnels, storm drain,
pipelines, port and harbor facilities, landfill, parks, and retaining structures.  
Currently Dr. Yan works in the Geotechnical Engineering Group, Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Li Yan, Ph.D., PEng, PMP
Geotechnical Group Leader
British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority
Dr.Yan received his B. Eng. degree in Civil Engineering from China in 1982,
and his M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in 1986 and 1990, respective, from the
University of British Columbia, in Geotechnical Engineering.  

Dr. Yan is a registered Professional Engineer and Project Management
Professional with over 20 years of diverse experience in geotechnical
engineering, especially in numerical analyses, site investigations and
characterization, geotechnical earthquake engineering, foundation design
and construction, ground improvement, and design, construction,
performance assessment and remediation of embankment dams.  He has
worked both in private and public sectors on a wide range of geotechnical
engineering projects (heavy industrial, mining, municipal, transportation,
Team Lead for the geotechnical group of Generation Engineering at BC
Hydro.

Dr. Yan has published numerous technical papers, and was on the
technical committees for the 2007 Canadian Dam Association Dam Safety
Guidelines, and for Geotechnical Design Guidelines for Buildings on
Liquefiable Sites in Greater Vancouver in accordance with NBCC 2005.  He
is the past President and Technical Program Director for the Vancouver
Geotechnical Society - a local branch of Canadian Geotechnical Society.
Jianping Hu, Ph.D., PE,GE
Geotechnical Design Manager
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Dr.Hu is the Geotechnical Design Manager for the Los Angeles Department
of Water and Power, Water System. He is a California licensed Civil
Engineer and received a B.S. and M.S. in Hydraulic Engineering from the
Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with
emphasis in geotechnical earthquake engineering from the University of
Southern California in 2003.

engineering, dam engineering, numerical modeling and applications of
preliminary design and analysis of several high arch dams in China, and
performed numerous geotechnical evaluations on dams and reservoirs,
tunnels, water tanks, and trunkline systems owned and operated by
LADWP.  Dr. Hu has published over 20 papers in technical journals and
conferences, and is a member of American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE), Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and
Associations of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO).