Future students

What careers paths do geotechnical engineers have?: In conjunction with the Australian Geomechanics Society, we have put together career profiles of several Australian geotechnical engineers over a wide time frame in their careers.

Dr Terry Wiesner: Dr Terry Wiesner is currently Managing Director of Douglas Partners Pty Ltd and a Principal Geotechnical Consultant. He graduated with 1st Class Honours from Sydney University.

He initially worked for Sinclair Knight & Partners in a diverse range of areas of engineering consulting before joining a then subsidiary of Frankipile, a piling contractor.

After 2 years carrying out geotechnical investigations in Australia, Terry was seconded for a further 2 years to the head office of Franki International in Liege, Belgium. In 1983 Terry returned to join Douglas Partners, which was formed to purchase Ground Test from Franki.

Terry was appointed a Director of Douglas Partners in 1987 and Managing Director in 1996.

Geotechnical

Geotechnical engineers:

Investigate sites, to find out what is under the ground surface;
design foundations, ensuring safety and service ability;
design road, rail and canal cuttings through soil and rock;
work off-shore, investigating and designing pipelines, cable routes and foundations for oil and gas production facilities;
design earth and rock-fill dams, making sure that they don’t collapse or leak too much;
design landfills for society’s waste products, protecting the environment;
remediate contaminated soil sites, cleaning up the environment.

Geomechanics is one of four areas of specialisation in the Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney. It is one of the fastest growing disciplines in civil engineering, and Sydney was one of the first universities in the world to include it as a full subject. The University of Sydney is home to the Centre for Geotechnical Research which is a leading national and international source of training, research, industry advice and expertise.

Some career profiles of geotechnical engineers are located on the website of the Centre for Geotechnical Research.

A tunnel boring machine - Geotechnical engineers must ensure the integrity of the increasing number of intrastructure tunnels in the world

The University of Sydney - Civil Engineering

Geotechnical