Introduction of James K. Mitchell, Recipient of the 2004 H. Bolton Seed Medal

The H. Bolton Seed Medal recognizes outstanding contributions to teaching, research, and/or practice in geotechnical engineering. The award was established in 1993 by the Geotechnical Engineering Division (now the Geo-Institute) of the Society in memory of Professor H. Bolton Seed, Hon.M.ASCE.

The 2004 H. Bolton Seed Medal was awarded to Dr. James K. Mitchell, P.E., of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Mitchell is a University Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, at Virginia Tech.

Dr. Mitchell was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, on April 19, 1930. He went on to receive his Bachelor’s of Civil Engineering degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1951, his Master’s of Science degree at MIT in 1953, and his Ph.D. degree at MIT in 1956.

He worked as a soils engineer for the Waterways Experiment Station in 1955 and then spent 1956–1958 as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1958 he joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley, rising through the ranks to eventually become the Cahill Professor of Civil Engineering and finally Cahill Professor Emeritus in 1993. He then left Berkeley and joined the faculty at Virginia Tech in 1994. He retired from Virginia Tech in 1999 as University Distinguished Professor, Emeritus.

Dr. Mitchell’s research activities have focused on experimental and analytical studies of soil properties and behavior, admixture stabilization of soils, soil improvement and ground reinforcement, in-situ measurement of soil properties, and mitigation of ground failure risk during earthquakes. He has supervised the Ph.D. dissertation research of 74 students, and has authored more than 350 publications, including the book Fundamentals of Soil Behavior, which has been published in its third edition.

During the 1960s and early 1970s Dr. Mitchell served as the principal investigator for the Soil Mechanics Experiment that was a part of the U.S. Apollo Moon landing and exploration program. He is a consultant on geotechnical problems and earthwork projects of many types including the design of liquefaction mitigation options for several existing dams, ground improvement for a major bridge replacement project, a stability review board for large mine waste rockpiles, a seismic safety peer review panel for an urban rapid transit system, and special studies for remediation of a badly contaminated site.

Dr. Mitchell recently served as a member of the ASCE-administered External Review Panel for the Performance Evaluation of Hurricane and Flood Protection Projects in Southeast Louisiana. He is an Honorary Member of ASCE and has served on many boards and committees of several professional and technical organizations and was vice president of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering from 1989–1994.

Dr. Mitchell has received numerous awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers, including:

He is a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. He is also the 2006 winner of the ASCE Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Award in Education.

Dr. Mitchell’s H. Bolton Seed paper focuses on valuable lessons learned from three of his projects going back over several decades.