Specialties
Geotechnical and Environmental Instrumentation; Data Visualization; Dam Safety Engineering
Practice Areas
Contaminated Site Assessment and Cleanup; Environmental Management; Building Health; Water and Natural Resources; Water Management; Air Quality Management and Air Pollution Control; Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering; Waste Management; Structural and Fluid Engineering; Facility Hazards; Environmental, Social, and Governance
Education
Post-Doc, Civil Engineering, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, 2018; Ph.D., Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2017; M.S., Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2014; B.S., Civil Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010
Registration
Maryland Professional Engineer, PE 59552
Client Service
Julia’s area of expertise is in the use of geotechnical instrumentation to meet client’s direct needs as well as those of their stakeholders such as regulators and the public. Her project portfolio includes installation, maintenance, and repair of automated instrumentation networks, monthly and quarterly instrumentation monitoring and visual inspections, and FERC Part 12 inspections. This work often includes diagnostic and troubleshooting work to verify the validity of unexpected data, which starts with a fundamental understanding of how the instruments work on electrical and mechanical levels as well as knowledge of advanced geotechnical and hydrological theory. She has close relationships with several instrumentation and datalogger equipment vendors, allowing her to recommend instrumentation solutions that can meet a variety of budget, schedule, and scope constraints. Julia also specializes in advanced data visualization techniques that enhance understanding of site performance for technical and non-technical audiences as well as achieve long-term cost savings for reporting requirements.
To advance the state of the practice, Julia is an advocate for the use of Digital Twins within the civil engineering industry, particularly for dam safety. The coupling of instrumentation data with numerical models in real time represents a natural progression for the industry, particularly as an increasing number of sites transition to automated data collection systems and the necessary computing power required for fast processing of numerical models becomes cheaper and more accessible. The ability to seamlessly translate piezometer pressure and weir/drain flow measurements into estimates of water flow through a dam or deformation and pressure measurements into stability assessments in real time would provide significant value in early identification of dam safety issues as well as by providing a baseline for the natural variation of a well-performing structure.
Contact Julia at jnroberts@geosyntec.com.
