The geotechnical engineering community lost one of its giants with the passing of J. Michael “Mike” Duncan.
The Geo-Institute’s announcement touches on an impressive list of accomplishments, including the Seed Lecture, three Middlebrooks Awards, and the OPAL Award for education. But awards only tell part of the story. Duncan’s work on slope stability, soil shear strength, embankment dams, seepage, and finite element methods helped shape how several generations of geotechnical engineers approach real projects.
He joined Virginia Tech in 1964 after beginning his academic career at UC Berkeley, and Virginia Tech credited him with major contributions across a remarkably broad range of geotechnical practice when he became Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 2007. He also helped build Virginia Tech’s geotechnical program into what it became. He also has left quite a legacy with the establishment of the Duncan Endowment for Graduate Student Travel which allows graduate students at VTech to attend the annual Geo-Institute conference.
Many engineers will know his name from papers, books, software, lectures, or design methods they use without thinking much about where those methods came from. His influence is woven into the profession that way.
He will be missed, but his technical and educational legacy will be around for a long time.
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