Hoe I. Ling

Hoe I. Ling

Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

Hoe I. Ling is a professor of geotechnical engineering at Columbia University.

His major fields of research include geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures, soil constitutive modeling, geotechnical earthquake engineering, and numerical and centrifuge modeling. He has also investigated rainfall-induced slope instability (geotechnical failures due to typhoons), in addition to earthquake induced deformation, and failure of geosystems. Ground deformation due to deep excavation is one of his most recent research topics.

Ling collaborates actively with international institutions and agencies and has made several reconnaissance trips related to the typhoon and earthquake disasters. He received the Career Award from the National Science Foundation in 2001 and was a recipient of the IGS Award (given every four years) from the International Geosynthetics Society in 2014, and the Aitalyev Medal from the Kazakhstan Geotechnical Society in 2013. Ling has also been conferred honoraries from international institutions: an Honorary Professorship from Shijiazhuang Railway Institute (China) in 2014 and a University Honorary Medal from Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan) in 2015.

Ling is the editor-in-chief for Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology, associate editor for the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, as well as an editorial board member for several other journals. He serves on several technical committees in the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute, and ASCE Geo-Institute. Ling has published extensively in major journals and conferences, with over 100 journal papers and 120 conference publications. He has also organized several major conferences in New York City (Biot 2009) and abroad (such as Rome 2006 and Bologna 2013).

Ling obtained his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Kyoto University, Japan (1988), and his master's (1990) and doctoral degrees (1993) from the University of Tokyo. He became a visiting/research assistant professor, and subsequently assistant professor at the University of Delaware (1994-1998). He joined Columbia University in 1998 and was promoted to full professor in 2007. He was a visiting associate professor at Harvard University in spring 2006 and he holds several visiting positions in universities in China and Kazakhstan.

Research Areas

  • Geotechnical Engineering

Additional Information

  • Professional Experience
    • Professor, Columbia University, 2007-
    • Visiting Associate Professor, Harvard University, January-June 2006
    • Associate Professor, Columbia University, 2000 – 2007
    • Assistant Professor, Columbia University, 1998-1999
    • Visiting Assistant Professor, Research Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, University of Delaware, 1994 – 1998
  • Professional Affiliations
    • Editor-In-Chief: Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology (2013-, with Jonathan Wu)
    • Associate Editor, ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmnetal Engineering (2011-)
    • Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Earthquake and Tsunami (2006-)
    • Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Geoengineering, Taiwan Geotechnical Society (2011-)
    • Geosynthetics Committee, Geo-Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers (1998-)
    • Poromechanics Committee, Engineering Mechanics Institute, ASCE (2002-)
    • Secretary, ASCE Met Section Engineering Mechanics Committee (2011-)
    • Public Relation Committee, International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (2011-)
    • Technical Committee 101, ISSMGE-Laboratory Stress Strength Testing of Geomaterials (2011-)
    • Technical Committee 305, ISSMGE-Geotechnical Infrastructure for Megacities and New Capitals (2014-)
    • Committee of Inelastic Behavior, Engineering Mechanics Institute, ASCE (2002-)
    • Member, American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE (ID No. 289040)
    • Member, International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
    • Member, International Geosynthetics Society (membership #8856)
  • Honors and Awards
    • IGS Award, Highest Award from International Geosynthetics Society, Berlin, Germany, 2014 
    • Career Award, National Science Foundation, 2001-2006
    • L.N. Gumilyov Honorary Medal, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana, Kazakhstan, 2015
    • Best Paper Award (with Toshinori Kawabata), Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology, 2016
    • Best Paper Award (with Dov Leshchinsky), Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology, 2014
    • Honorary Professor, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, Shijiazhuang, China, 2014
    • Aitalyev Medal, Kazakhstan Geotechnical Society, 2013
    • Best Paper Award (one of top 3 papers), Geotextiles and Geomembranes, Official Journal of International Geosynthetics Society, 2011
  • Education
    • PhD, Civil Engineering, University of Tokyo
    • MS, Civil Engineering, University of Tokyo
    • BS, Civil Engineering, Kyoto University