Amy Cerato

Amy Cerato is a Rapp Foundation Presidential Professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science at the University of Oklahoma. Her research focuses on geotechnical engineering with special emphasis on expansive soil behavior, helical piles as sustainable foundations, slope stability, and soil stabilization. She has received significant recognition including the 2009 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

Dr. Cerato's primary research investigates expansive unsaturated soils that cover one-fourth of the United States and cause billions in infrastructure damage annually. Her innovative approach examines microscopic soil surface phenomena to predict macroscopic behavior. She also researches helical piles as sustainable foundation solutions and analyzes shallow slope failures in Oklahoma's roadway systems caused by clayey soils with high plasticity.

• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), 2009
• Rapp Foundation Presidential Professor honor

Dr. Cerato leads National Science Foundation-funded research on expansive soils and collaborates on Oklahoma Transportation Center projects examining slope stability. Her educational philosophy emphasizes bridging geotechnical theory and practice while actively recruiting and retaining women and minorities in engineering. She frequently conducts field work throughout Oklahoma, utilizing the OU Geotechnical Engineering Facilities for laboratory testing and analysis.

Her extensive field investigations include geological sites across Oklahoma such as the Salt Flats, Pawnee Bill Landslide areas, Wichita Mountains, Arbuckle formations, and Palo Duro Canyon in Western Oklahoma, where she regularly takes students to study geological phenomena firsthand.