Professor Lyesse Laloui
Dr. Lyesse Laloui is a world-leading scientist in geomechanics, sustainability, and geo-energy, with a distinguished career at EPFL since 1994, where he directs the Soil Mechanics Laboratory. He is the founder and Honorary Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier journal Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment and is recognized as a top global expert in his field, ranked among the Top 1000 Scientists in Engineering and Technology by Research.com (2022). Dr. Laloui is a full member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering and Director for Europe of the Associated Research Centres For The Urban Underground Space (ACUUS).
Prof. Laloui has dedicated much of his career to understanding the natural world for the benefit of society. His research and exploration of the mechanics of geomaterials and other geology have made significant contributions to our understanding of the physical mechanisms of these materials. From this, he has developed innovative and sustainable technologies for today and the generations to come. His efforts in areas such as sustainability, climate change, renewable energy, and the optimization of natural resources have been recognized and awarded by the European Research Council with an Advanced ERC Grant for his project BIOGEOS (BIO-mediated GEO-material Strengthening), followed by an ERC Proof of Concept Grant (PoC) in 2020. Prof. Laloui has also developed several projects for the European Commission and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
As founder and Honorary Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment journal, he is a leading scientist in the field of geomechanics and geo-energy. His research portfolio includes 13 written and edited books and over 350 peer-reviewed papers, resulting in more than 18000 citations with an h-index of 67. Two of his papers are among the top 1% in the field of Engineering. Two of his books are widely used: Mécanique des Sols et des Roches and Energy Geostructures: analysis and design.
Prof. Laloui has given keynote and invited lectures at more than 50 leading international conferences. His pioneering work has led to many awards in recognition of his work, including two Honoris Causa degrees from Heriot-Watt University and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, the Excellent Contributions Award of the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics in 2008, the 2012 Vardoulakis Lecture from the University of Minnesota, the 12th G.A. Leonards Lecture from the University of Purdue in 2014, the 2016 RM Quigley Award from the Canadian Geotechnical Society, the 30th Roberval Award at the French Academy of Science in 2018, the 2020 Kersten Lecture at the Geo-congress 2020 in Minneapolis and the Vienna Terzaghi Lecture in 2022. Prof. Laloui has four patents that he is developing in the context of three start-ups (MeduSoil, Enerdrape, Nesol). He is also a founding partner of the international engineering company Geoeg.
