Academy of Distinguished Alumni
Rudolph Bonaparte Ph.D., P.E., D.GE., N.A.E.
Inducted to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni on
Rudolph (Rudy) Bonaparte received his M.S. (1978), and Ph.D. (1981) degrees in Civil (Geotechnical) Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. He received his B.S. (civil) from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977, where he received the Outstanding Engineering Graduate Award. For the past 27 years, he has been a Principal at Geosyntec Consultants, Inc., serving as President and CEO for the past 17 years. Geosyntec is an employee-owned 1,000-person consulting and engineering firm practicing in the geotechnical, environmental, water resources, and structural engineering disciplines.
Dr. Bonaparte has focused his professional engineering practice in the areas of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering; geological hazard evaluation and mitigation; and solid, hazardous, and radioactive waste disposal facility design, permitting, and performance evaluation. He is the author or co-author of more than 50 peer-reviewed technical papers, several book chapters, and six technical manuals published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Navy, U.S. Department of Transportation, and others. Dr. Bonaparte was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2007. He is recipient of the Engineer-of-the-Year Award for the Georgia Engineering Alliance, co-recipient of the 2000 J. James Croes Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and co-recipient of the 1994 IGS Award from the International Geosynthetics Society. He has served on the Board of Governors of the ASCE Geo-Institute. He is a Registered Civil Engineer in California and 14 other states, a Diplomate of the Academy of Geo-Professionals, and a Board Certified Environmental Engineer by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.
Dr. Bonaparte has long been active in service to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Berkeley. Since 2006, he has served on the CEE Advisory Council, chairing the council from 2008 to 2012. In this capacity, he was instrumental in helping establish both the undergraduate CEE Professional Development Certificate Program and the Civil and Environmental Engineering Student Leadership Endowment. He has also been an invited speaker at the CEE Annual Geo-Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series.