Victor Kaliakin

Victor Kaliakin is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware, a member of the Geotechnical Research Group, and holds affiliate roles in Kazakhstan geotechnical initiatives. He previously served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona, a researcher at Sandia National Laboratory, and held engineering roles in California.

Education: PhD (1985) and Bachelor (1978) from University of California, Davis; Master (1979) from University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on computational geomechanics, constitutive modeling for soils and polymers, and numerical methods. He authored two textbooks: Approximate Solution Techniques (2002) and Soil Mechanics: Calculations, Principles, and Methods (2017).

Research emphasizes transition soils, unsaturated soils, and thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior. Collaborations include Kazakhstan-U.S. geotechnical workshops and symposia. Active in professional societies including ASCE, American Academy of Mechanics, and the Kazakhstan Geotechnical Society.

Key contributions include finite element models for geosynthetic-reinforced systems, pile foundations in challenging soils, and biochar soil improvement. His work addresses practical engineering challenges in construction safety, soil behavior under dynamic loads, and material characterization.