Research versus Practice in Transportation Geotechnics: Can We Bridge the Chasm?

Both practitioners and academic researchers have become exasperated by what they perceive to be a disappointingly small impact of research spending on practice. Obstacles to successful implementation of academic geotechnical engineering research are discussed. From the practitioner's point of view, these obstacles include the conflict between the practical demands of their work environment and what academic researchers are equipped to produce, as well as the consequences to the research initiation and implementation process of the practice in many states of contracting out engineering design services rather than maintaining inhouse engineering design staff. From the academic researcher's point of view, obstacles arise largely from the demands research universities place on their geotechnical (and civil) engineering faculty, and the absence of the research and implementation infrastructure that exists for the market driven, manufacturing-oriented disciplines of engineering and science. Several models of existing bridging mechanisms are described, including the innovative efforts of individuals, progressive state and federal programs within and outside universities, and the development of small, specialized geotechnical consulting firms.