Geotechnical engineering wasn’t on David Baska’s mind when he graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in 1984 as a geological engineer, but a series of fortuitous events conspired to change that. A move to Seattle, an earthquake fire, a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley with Harry Seed, and a PhD from the University of Washington allowed Baska, now more than 40 years into his geotechnical engineering career, to bridge the gap between research theory and engineering innovation.
“Working with Dr. David Baska has been a master class in technical excellence and professional integrity,” says David Swanson, data center engineer at Microsoft. “His deep geotechnical and earthquake engineering expertise, collaborative approach and thoughtful style have consistently elevated research and project outcomes, design team dynamics and, of course, our civil engineering professions. David’s ability to combine innovation with practical knowledge makes him an invaluable contributor to our industry.”
David Baska discusses how ground conditions affect ground motion while in Concepción, Chile, after the 2010 earthquake.
Photo courtesy of David Baska
Baska insists he is simply doing what he can to continually learn about geotechnical practices. He says he can’t remember the last time he read a book for leisure; instead, his time is spent absorbing the latest research on ground motions and ground failures. “I like technical work,” he jokes. “I wouldn’t say I’m very good at innovation. I take other people’s ideas and put them into practice. I lean heavily on smart people and try to think of ways to apply their good efforts to the construction and design industry.”
He has found many ways to make these applications work in the real world.
Baska’s expertise spans seismic risk and liquefaction analysis, soil-structure interaction, and resilient structural design. Baska co-authored the NRCS Seismic Analysis Manual for Dams, and wrote most of its chapters. His diverse portfolio of projects includes bridge design in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, seismic retrofits in Oregon and Vermont, and serving on the SR-99 Alaskan Way Viaduct Expert Panel in Seattle. He has also applied performance-based design to skyscrapers such as 121 Boren in Seattle and the World Jewelry Center in Las Vegas, as well as essential facilities such as hospitals and emergency centers. Its post-earthquake recognition in Chile and New Zealand advanced earthquake engineering practices around the world.
The State Route 99 tunnel project in Seattle replaced the seismically vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct. David Baska was soon hired to advise on the program’s geotechnical needs.
Photo courtesy of Washington State Department of Transportation
“His reputation is underpinned by his extensive understanding of current industry practice as well as his hands-on approach to assessing the seismic impacts and risks of our projects,” says Jonathan Menke, lead engineer for Nextera Energy’s civil geotechnical SME team in the Eastern region.
What started in Colorado, where Baska grew up and later attended college, translated into a career largely based in the Pacific Northwest. He moved to Seattle—he was following a girl who eventually became his wife—after attending the Colorado School of Mines and, except for a nine-month stint in Berkeley, has been there ever since.
After his undergraduate work, he was an associate engineer at Haley & Aldrich before becoming president of Cascadia Earthquake Consultants in 1997. In 2001, he moved to Terracon and is vice president and senior director, celebrating 25 years there this year. It was those early days in the field where he says he learned the environmental side that prompted him to get his master’s degree in geotechnical engineering simply based on the fact that he liked the subject.
“My specialty since 1991 has been geotechnical earthquake engineering, and my time at Berkeley certainly planted the seed,” he says. “Being in Harry’s presence [Seed] and other Berkeley professors were inspiring.” After an Earthquake Engineering Research Institute annual meeting in Seattle that he attended in 1991, he “decided to focus on earthquake engineering.
He developed a business plan as an independent consultant and says he still applies that plan in his work with Terracon. Baska says he was fortunate that earthquake research was a key industry interest during his career, allowing him to focus on a specific area for so long. Along the way, however, he has built a reputation as one of the sharpest minds in the field.
“I’m interested in keeping up with current trends in construction and engineering, and trying to apply a bit of a crystal ball to where I think the profession is going and how we can fit into that need,” he says. “A key thing for me, I mean [it] as a technology transfer, I enjoy educating my fellow engineers, customers and students in terms of taking the research done in universities and applying it to the real world.”
Baska has also striven to be reliable. “I’ve always found it important that I do what I say I’m going to do,” he says. “If I say I’m going to do something at once, I do my best to keep that commitment.” Baska still finds a balance, breaking her time into a mix of career, exercise and family.
“Dave is an exceptional leader whose combination of technical excellence and collaborative mindset consistently elevates our team and the broader engineering community,” says Jared Mechetti, director of national accounts at Terracon. “He delivers clear, actionable solutions to complex geotechnical and seismic challenges with precision and professionalism. His responsiveness and commitment foster a culture of trust, making him a respected go-to resource and mentor.”
He’s certainly had the opportunity to showcase these skills as an affiliated associate professor at the University of Washington since 2007. He teaches one class per year, originally a basic design class for undergraduates and later a professional practice class to prepare students for the real world. He’s now in his second year teaching geotechnical engineering students, an online class with the message he wants to share, “specifically what it’s like to be a consultant and prepare them for the business side of what we do.”
As part of his ongoing research, Baska visited southern Chile in 2010 after an earthquake in a large subduction zone, learning about the parallels with possible events in the Pacific Northwest. This was followed by a reconnaissance trip to New Zealand in 2011 to investigate soil liquefaction and damage due to saturated soils. He ended up teaching in Canterbury for a couple of months about the Christchurch earthquake.
Baska also joined a team sent to New Zealand to study the 2011 magnitude 6.2 earthquake that devastated the capital Christchurch.
Photo courtesy of David Baska
It is this constant learning that now makes him focus on two main things in the geotechnical world: ground movements and ground liquefaction. He is studying how ground motions influence performance-based engineering, which is one of the areas he is most involved in now, with a focus on high-rise buildings in seismic regions, data centers, emergency operations centers and hospitals. It also studies soil failure and soil liquefaction and how soil failures affect the usability of a building. He says machine learning and AI help inform knowledge about past events and predict future possibilities.
With so many projects under his belt around the world, the one he still says is most significant is the recent completion of Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct and waterfront renovation. About 25 years ago, Baska was appointed to a state task force to evaluate options for replacing or repairing the viaduct through downtown Seattle, one of two geotechnical engineers involved. The resulting project replaced the viaduct with a tunnel while opening Seattle’s waterfront to the public.
“Now when I go down to this waterfront area, because it was formally completed last year, to think back 25 years ago, I was involved,” he says. “As an engineer, when I see my work around town, seeing things that I’ve been involved in in the past, there’s a sense of pride. The opening of the Seattle waterfront, that’s pretty rewarding.”
