Biographical Sketch

Dr. Giroud, a former professor of geotechnical engineering, is a consulting engineer, and Chairman Emeritus and founder of Geosyntec Consultants. Dr. Giroud is past president of the International Geosynthetics Society (the IGS), and Member of the US National Academy of Engineering. In the 1960s, Dr. Giroud worked on foundation design and authored 80 publications on this subject. In 1970 he started being involved with geosynthetics and he coined the terms “geotextile” and “geomembrane” in 1977. Dr. Giroud has authored over 300 publications on geosynthetics and he has developed many design methods used in geosynthetics engineering, in particular for unpaved roads, filters, drainage and liner systems. Dr. Giroud conceived and designed for the first time a number of geosynthetics applications, in particular for landfills, reservoirs, and dams. In 2002, Dr. Giroud has been recognized by the IGS as “the father of the IGS and the geosynthetics industry”.