Principal Investigator (PI)
Prof. Lyesse Laloui
Prof. Lyesse Laloui is the recipient of the Advanced ERC Grant for his project BIOGEOS. He is chaired professor and Director of the Soil Mechanics Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL, Lausanne, where he developed a major research group in the areas of Soil Mechanics, Geoengineering and CO2 sequestration. He is also Director of the EPFL Civil Engineering Section as well as adjunct professor at Duke University, USA. Moreover, he is acting as advisory professor at Hohai University, China. His main research interests are in Geomechanics (Constitutive and numerical modelling of multiphysical coupling processes, laboratory advanced testing), and Environmental and Energy Sustainability (Nuclear waste underground storage, Petroleum Geomechanics, CO2 Geological Sequestration, Geothermal Energy).
Senior researcher
Dr. Dimitrios Terzis
Dr. Dimitrios Terzis is a Senior Researcher at the Soil Mechanics Laboratory of EPFL and Science entrepreneur. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanics at EPFL in 2017 with his doctoral dissertation titled “Kinetics, Mechanics and Micro-structure of bio-cemented soils”. He holds a M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (2014) and between 2011-2012 he studied Civil Engineering at École Spéciale des Travaux Publics, du bâtiment et de l’industrie (Paris, France) as an exchange student. In 2017 he received the “Earth and planetary Sciences award” of the faculty of Environment, Architecture and Civil Engineering of EPFL for his publication titled “3-D micro-architecture and mechanical response of soil cemented via microbial-induced calcite precipitation”” published in Scientific Reports, a Nature research journal. He is the recipient of an EPFL Innogrant, a prestigious innovation grant, which supported his tech transfer venture in 2018.
Post-doctoral researchers
Dr. Jose Bosch
Dr. Jose A. Bosch is a Scientist at the Soil Mechanics Laboratory of EPFL. He obtained a PhD degree in Mechanics at EPFL (2021) with a thesis entitled “Studies on the mechanical evolution of compacted bentonite subjected to environmental actions”. During his doctoral studies he developed new numerical approaches for predicting the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of bentonite clay barriers in the context of deep geological storage of nuclear waste. Prior to this he worked as a research assistant at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC, Spain) within the Hydrogeology Group, where he was involved in modelling groundwater flow in heterogeneous fractured media. He holds a MSc in Geotechnical Engineering (2017) and a BSc in Civil Engineering (2015), both from UPC.
Ph.D.
Ariadni Elmaloglou
Ariadni Elmaloglou successfully defended her Ph.D. Thesis with title “Influence of pore-scale heterogeneity on the precipitation patterns in Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation”, which she conducted in the context of the BIOGEOS project at the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics (LMS) of EPFL, on 16th of January 2023. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from DTU – Technical University of Denmark, with Major in Water Resources and a Master in Civil Engineering from NTUA – National Technical University of Athens, with Major in Geotechnical Engineering.
Scientist
Sofie ten Bosch
Sofie ten Bosch is a Scientific Assistant at the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics (LMS) of EPFL. In December 2020 she completed her M.Sc. thesis entitled “Modelling subsidence in the Dutch Holocene coastal-plain”, as part of her M.Sc. in Geo-Engineering at Delft University of Technology. She also did her B.Sc. Civil Engineering at Delft University of Technology, and spent some time at Luleå University of Technology during her B.Sc.
Alumni Ph.D.
Ray Harran
Ray Harran successfully defended his Ph.D. Thesis with title “Mechanical Performance and Up-scaling of Bio-cemented Soils”, which he conducted in the context of the BIOGEOS project at the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics (LMS) of EPFL, on 29th of September 2022 .
Alumni Postdocs
Dr. Roba Houhou
Alumni Interns
Ghita Najid
Ghita Najid is studying MSc Civil Engineering at EPFL. She conducted a 2 month internship in summer 2022 within the Biogeos Project group focusing on experimental study of biocemented clays, under the supervision of Dr. Roba Houhou, Dr. Dimitrios Terzis and Prof. Lyesse Laloui.
Henri Lechevallier
Henri Lechevallier is studying Continuum Mechanics at Ecole Polytechnique, France. He conducted a 4 month internship within the Biogeos Project group in spring 2022, focusing on numerical bio-chemo-hydraulic modelling of MICP, under the supervision of Dr. Jose Bosch, Ariadni Elmaloglou, Dr. Dimitrios Terzis and Prof. Lyesse Laloui.
Paolo Gandolfi
Paolo Gandolfi studied Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin. He conducted his Master Thesis at the Laloui Group, EPFL, entitled “”Assessing the effect of pore scale heterogeneity on glass beads treated with microbially induced calcite precipitation” under the supervision of Ariadni Elmaloglou, Dr. Dimitrios Terzis and Prof. Lyesse Laloui. Following this, he conducted a 3 month internship within the Biogeos Project group focusing on the investigation of deposition of MICP on sands of different gradation.
Judith Gouin
Judith Guin performed a summer internship within the Biogeos Group, as part of her studies in Mechanics at Ecole Polytechnique, France, under the supervision of Dr. Charles Thoumyre, Dr. Dimitrios Terzis, and Prof. Lyesse Laloui focusing on modeling the biochemical aspects of MICP.
Ziad Sahlab
Ziad Sahlab holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from Kyoto University and a MSc in Civil Engineering from EPFL. He conducted a summer internship within the Biogeos Group, during his master studies at EPFL, under the supervision of Ray Harran, Dr. Dimitrios Terzis and Prof. Laloui. During his internship he performed an experimental campaign to determine the shear properties of bio-cemented soils.