Shideh Dashti News

Professor receives Fulbright award to study combined natural hazards in Chile

sugl6437 — Fri, 15 May 2026 16:36:18 +0000

Professor receives Fulbright award to study combined natural hazards in Chile sugl6437 Fri, 05/15/2026 - 10:36

Susan Glairon

Shideh Dashti, a professor of geotechnical engineering and geomechanics, has received a Fulbright award to study combined seismic and rainfall-related geohazards at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (PUC).

As part of the prestigious U.S. State Department program, Dashti will spend four months at PUC developing tools and curriculum to help engineers better understand and prepare for overlapping rainfall and earthquake geohazards.

Chile faces multiple natural hazards—including drought, floods, wildfires and earthquakes—that increasingly occur concurrently or sequentially.

“Chile offers unique access to case histories of combined geohazards that could support our research and modeling efforts, along with advanced building codes and outstanding expertise in the field of hazards engineering,” said Dashti, who studies compound climatic-seismic geohazards.

The project aims to help shift infrastructure design and engineering education from focusing on single hazards to addressing the compound impacts of hazards on critical infrastructure.

Rainfall simulation box designed for �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s 400 g-ton centrifuge facility at the Center for Infrastructure, Energy and Space Testing (CIEST) to simulate how combined rainfall and earthquake loading affect scaled slopes and embankments.

“The effects of compound geohazards have been understudied, partly due to the lack of well-documented field data and partly lack of related physical model studies,” she said. “They are currently not included in the training of future hazards engineers and professionals or in our codes and standards. My goal is to collect and analyze well-documented case histories in Chile that support a fundamental study of these effects.”

Perfect storm

Simultaneous seismic and rainfall-related hazards can destabilize hillsides, weaken soil and increase the risk of infrastructure failure, Dashti said. For instance, intense rainfall followed by even a minor earthquake can trigger significant landslides, while rain-saturated soil may lose strength during earthquake shaking and undergo liquefaction, behaving more like a liquid and damaging roads, buildings and other critical infrastructure.

“The aging physical infrastructure, such as the earthen slopes and embankments that support critical transportation, water, telecommunication and power lifelines in Chile and the U.S. is not ready for increasingly likely concurrent or sequential extreme events, amplifying risk imposed on our communities” she said.

Dashti was also a principal investigator and steering committee member of the National Science Foundation-funded Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER), which coordinates geotechnical data collection and field investigations following major international disasters.

In Chile she will work with colleagues to collect multi-hazard case histories, while sharing findings and best practices through lectures, seminars and workshops with Chile’s practicing geotechnical engineers.

After the four-month Fulbright Fellowship in Chile, she will use centrifuge and computational modeling inspired by the collected case histories to study how combined rainfall and earthquake hazards affect slopes and earthen infrastructure using �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s unique experimental and computational resources. The models will help interpret real-world case studies, evaluate current engineering tools and identify conditions where existing single-hazard design approaches may be unsafe.

The research will also help determine how different rainfall conditions change earthquake risks and will support the development of preliminary engineering guidelines tailored to Chile’s hazards, geology and infrastructure vulnerabilities.

Shideh Dashti, a professor of geotechnical engineering and geomechanics, has received a Fulbright award to study the combined impacts of seismic and rainfall-related geohazards at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). The project seeks to advance infrastructure design and engineering education by shifting the focus from single-hazard approaches to addressing the compound effects these hazards pose to critical infrastructure.

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Iran faces widespread land subsidence amid escalating water emergency

Susan Glairon — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 18:14:57 +0000

Iran faces widespread land subsidence amid escalating water emergency Susan Glairon Mon, 04/21/2025 - 12:14

Associate Professor Shideh Dashti highlights how land subsidence from excessive groundwater extraction for farming threatens Iran's critical infrastructure, like transportation and pipelines. The rapid land sinking adds to earthquake risks, compounding the danger.

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Shideh Dashti named 2025 EERI Distinguished Lecturer

Susan Glairon — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 18:02:26 +0000

Shideh Dashti named 2025 EERI Distinguished Lecturer Susan Glairon Tue, 02/04/2025 - 11:02

Associate Professor Shideh Dashti received the 2025 EERI Distinguished Lecture Award for her groundbreaking work in geotechnical earthquake engineering.

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Extreme heat, flooding, wildfires – Colorado’s formerly incarcerated people on the hazards they faced behind bars

Susan Glairon — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 19:41:22 +0000

Extreme heat, flooding, wildfires – Colorado’s formerly incarcerated people on the hazards they faced behind bars Susan Glairon Wed, 01/22/2025 - 12:41

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder researchers Shideh Dashti and Shawhin Roudbari discuss how 75 percent of Colorado prisons and jails face climate risks—like extreme heat, wildfires and floods—disproportionately impacting incarcerated individuals, especially Black and Latino inmates.

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�鶹��Ѱ��study claims prison system falls short in protecting inmates from climate disasters

Susan Glairon — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 10:53:14 +0000

�鶹��Ѱ��study claims prison system falls short in protecting inmates from climate disasters Susan Glairon Tue, 11/26/2024 - 03:53

In this 9NEWS article, Associate Professor Shideh Dashti highlights the need for prison infrastructure to prioritize inmate well-being rather than solely containment, urging updates like evacuation plans and improved facilities to address extreme conditions and poor air quality.

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How prisons fall short in protecting the incarcerated from climate disasters

Susan Glairon — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 21:42:32 +0000

How prisons fall short in protecting the incarcerated from climate disasters Susan Glairon Thu, 11/07/2024 - 14:42

In a new paper, drawing on accounts from nearly three dozen previously incarcerated people, �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder researchers reveal a disturbing story of how prisons and jails in Colorado have failed to provide humane protections from growing environmental hazards brought on by climate change.

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Shideh Dashti wins Campus Sustainability Award

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 22:02:10 +0000

Shideh Dashti wins Campus Sustainability Award Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:02

Shideh Dashti, an associate professor of geotechnical engineering and geomechanics, has won a Green Faculty award through the 27th annual Campus Sustainability Awards Program. The award was given to Dashti for her leadership in establishing Resilient Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RISE), a research initiative focusing on climate change, disaster resilience and sustainability, notably shedding light on the climate vulnerabilities of incarcerated populations in Colorado.

The Campus Sustainability Awards program recognizes outstanding individuals and departments who demonstrate a sincere commitment to enhancing �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s longstanding commitment to sustainability. Awardees exhibit innovation that directly reduces the university's ecological footprint, enhances social cohesion and equity in the campus community and/or integrates sustainability into the culture of Boulder and our local communities. This year, there are eight campus sustainability awardees

Awards will be in the form of a 100 percent recycled-content plaque presented by campus leadership at the 31st annual Campus Sustainability Summit on April 25.

Associate Professor Shideh Dashti won a Green Faculty Award through the Campus Sustainability Awards Program for her leadership in establishing RISE, a research initiative focusing on climate change, disaster resilience, and sustainability, highlighting climate vulnerabilities of incarcerated populations in Colorado.

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Colorado prisons vulnerable to natural disasters but may be ill-prepared

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 20:15:00 +0000

Colorado prisons vulnerable to natural disasters but may be ill-prepared Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/25/2023 - 14:15

Seventy-five percent of incarceration facilities in the state are vulnerable to climate-related hazards, such as wildfires, extreme heat, floods or landslides, and many are ill-equipped to handle them, new research by Geotechnical Engineering Professor Shideh Dashti suggests.

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Shideh Dashti: What Libya’s floods, Morocco’s earthquake can teach us about resilient infrastructure

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:03:36 +0000

Shideh Dashti: What Libya’s floods, Morocco’s earthquake can teach us about resilient infrastructure Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/20/2023 - 09:03

In this interview with Shideh Dashti, an associate professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering, Dashti shares her thoughts on the recent and devestating floods in Libya and earthquake in Morocco, what engineers can learn from these events and how countries can build resilient cities.

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Assoc. Prof. Shideh Dashti & Prof. Abbie Liel on Incarceration in a Warming World panel, Sept. 29, 3-4:30, DLC 1B70

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 16:11:26 +0000

Assoc. Prof. Shideh Dashti & Prof. Abbie Liel on Incarceration in a Warming World panel, Sept. 29, 3-4:30, DLC 1B70 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/15/2023 - 10:11

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Shideh Dashti News

Professor receives Fulbright award to study combined natural hazards in Chile

Perfect storm

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Iran faces widespread land subsidence amid escalating water emergency

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Shideh Dashti named 2025 EERI Distinguished Lecturer

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Extreme heat, flooding, wildfires – Colorado’s formerly incarcerated people on the hazards they faced behind bars

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�鶹��Ѱ�����study claims prison system falls short in protecting inmates from climate disasters

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How prisons fall short in protecting the incarcerated from climate disasters

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Shideh Dashti wins Campus Sustainability Award

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Colorado prisons vulnerable to natural disasters but may be ill-prepared

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Shideh Dashti: What Libya’s floods, Morocco’s earthquake can teach us about resilient infrastructure

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Assoc. Prof. Shideh Dashti & Prof. Abbie Liel on Incarceration in a Warming World panel, Sept. 29, 3-4:30, DLC 1B70

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�鶹��Ѱ��study claims prison system falls short in protecting inmates from climate disasters