Dr. Luis Alberto Torres Cruz named Teck Professor in Tailings Management and Innovation at UBC’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering
Dr. Luis Alberto Torres Cruz is joining the Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering on 25 July 2024 as the Teck Professor in Tailings Management and Innovation.
Dr. Cruz holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia and a PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a senior lecturer at Wits where his teaching contributions include postgraduate courses on tailings management and critical state soil mechanics.
The main driver of his research is the prevention of catastrophic failures of tailings dams. This has led him to work on topics such as slope stability analysis, soil laboratory testing, geotechnical in situ testing, and analysis of satellite imagery.
Dr. Cruz’s achievements include an honourable mention for the RM Quigley Award from the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, twice winner of the Jennings award of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, and co-author of a 2022 state-of-the-art paper on the geotechnics of tailings dams.
He maintains productive collaborations with both academics and practitioners. He has presented his research findings at multiple consulting companies, mining houses, and universities, both in South Africa and abroad.
Dr. Cruz is a chartered engineer with the engineering council of the UK and is a member of the British and South African Institutes of Civil Engineering.