Academy of Distinguished Alumni
Elizabeth M. Smith,
B.S. 1986, M.S. 1988
Terracon

Elizabeth Smith has 28 years of experience in geotechnical engineering and specializes in geotechnical engineering for bridges and highway projects. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1986 and a master's degree in 1988 from the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She has significant expertise in geotechnical design for highway structures and has successfully managed several complex geotechnical design-build projects with geotechnical fees over $7.5 million. She is a registered professional engineer in 11 states, a licensed Geotechnical Engineer in California, and is recognized as a Diplomate in Geotechnical Engineering as awarded by the Academy of Geo-Professionals.

While at Virginia Tech, she started working as a co-op student in 1982 with the Norfolk District US Army Corps of Engineers and worked in the safety department, a construction field office, the dredging management branch on a survey boat, and the geotechnical engineering branch. That's where she became drawn to geotechnical engineering as a profession and decided to pursue a Master's Degree at Tech. After graduating she worked at Haley & Aldrich in Portland, Maine; CH2M Hill in Irvine and Sacramento California; and Kleinfelder in Sacramento, San Diego, and finally Austin in 2002. In 2006, Terracon recruited and hired her as a Principal to lead major transportation projects company-wide and build Terracon's transportation practice in Texas. Terracon promoted Liz to Senior Principal in 2014.

At Terracon she has been involved in other areas of transportation geotechnical engineering that include consulting for design-build teams to resolve geotechnical problems on complex projects; providing consulting and oversight for the Owner on design-build projects; and designing repairs for foundation, slope and retaining wall failures. She has served as the design lead for several major projects such as the I-35E Managed Lanes Project in Dallas and Denton Counties, Texas. This $1.4 billion design-build project is a major urban highway widening over 30 miles through nine cities. Other noteworthy Texas projects include the SH 121 Segment 6 Chisholm Trail Parkway near Fort Worth, US 281 Loop 1604 Design Build Project in San Antonio, and the 183A Turnpike in Austin. Ms. Smith has been the geotechnical engineer of record on projects and major pursuits in Texas, Missouri, New Mexico, California, Washington, Arizona, Minnesota, and Hawaii.

In 2010, she provided geotechnical design management for a portion of a $306 million design build project for the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The Eastside Transit and HOV Project is the eastern end of the SR 520 floating bridge project that included widening and improving access to SR 520. Ms. Smith was asked by the design-build contractor to become involved in the project after a landslide occurred during construction. She worked successfully with the state of Washington and the design-build team to reach consensus on a suitable landslide repair, which led to her leading design re-evaluations of several other locations in similar geologic conditions.

She has a vast array of over 20 presentations and publications. She is a mentor and advocate for the field of engineering, focusing on encouraging up-and-coming young professionals through personal guidance in the field. She is former chair and 2-term member of the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Board and is also active in several professional organizations including the Transportation Research Board, Deep Foundations Institute (DFI), Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), American Society of Civil Engineers GeoInstitute, ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling, and WTS (former president of the Austin chapter). She is a former first-grade Sunday school teacher, is active in her neighborhood homeowner's association and enjoys participating in the neighborhood wine tasting group.

Ms. Smith recently celebrated her 30th anniversary with her husband Jack. She has three sons in college: Carson (Austin Community College), Dylan (University of North Texas) and Ethan (Texas Tech).