Peter G. Nicholson


Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Retired from CEE at the end of 2014
E-mail: pnichols@hawaii.edu

Area of Specialty and Research Interest

Geotechnical Engineering

Education

  • Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Stanford University, 1990
  • M.S., Civil Engineering, Stanford University, 1986
  • B.S., Civil Engineering, University of Utah, 1985
  • B.A., Geology and Geophysics, Yale University 1980

Professional Registration

  • Licensed Professional Engineer (P.E. Civil) in Hawaii, since 1994

Experience

  • Assistant and Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Geotechnical Engineering) University of Hawaii, 1990-current.
  • Senior Staff Geotechnical Engineer and Assistant Project Engineer, Wahler Associates, Palo Alto, California, 1989-1990.
  • Field Engineer and Staff Engineer, Delta Geotechnical Engineering, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, 1984-1986.

Courses Taught

  • CEE355: Geotechnical Engineering (I)
  • CEE451: Soil Improvemnent
  • CEE455: Geotechnical Engineering (II)
  • CEE654: Geotechnical Seismic Engineering
  • CEE657: Geosynthetics
  • CEE652: Experimental Soil Mechanics

Professional Activities

  • ASCE National Committee on Embankment Dams and Slopes, Secretary, 1992-2001
  • ASCE Strategic Planning Committee, 1994-95
  • TRB Committee A2LO2 – Soil and Rock Properties, 1992-2002
  • TRB Committee A2LO5 – Engineering Geology, 1993-99
  • TRB Committee A2JO1 – Cemetitious Stabilization, 1993-2001
  • ASTM Committee D-18 – on Soil & Rock, 1994-2001
  • Organizing Committee and Technical Review Committee for the 17th Southwest Geotechnical Workshop, Honolulu, HI, April 22-24, 1991
  • ASCE Hawaii Section Treasurer, 1993-94, Secretary, 1994-95, Vice President 1995-96, President 1996-1997
  • Hawaii State Earthquake Advisory Board, 1993-2001
  • Hawaii Local Technical Assistance Program, Advisory Committee, 1999

Awards and Honors

  • UH Manoa College of Engineering Outstanding Faculty Award in Civil Engineering 1991.
  • University of Hawaii Regents’ Excellence in Teaching Award, 1993-94

Research Grants

  1. Peter G. Nicholson (Co-P.I.) “Correlation of Resilient Modulus, Mr, of Fine-Grained Soils with Common Soil Parameters for Use in the Design of Flexible Pavements”, funded by Federal Highways Administration/State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, 2000-2003
  2. Peter G. Nicholson (Co-P.I.) “Correlation of Resistance Value (R-Value) with California Bearing Ratio (CBR) for Use in the Design of Flexible Pavements”, funded by Federal Highways Administration/State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, 2000-2002
  3. Peter G. Nicholson (Co-P.I.) “Creep Characterization of Residual Tropical Soils for Engineering Design and Analysis”, funded by Federal Highways Administration/State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, 1998-2001
  4. Peter G. Nicholson (P. I.) “Evaluation of Static and Dynamic Properties of Calcareous Soils from Penetration Testing”, funded by Federal Highways Administration/State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, 1996-99
  5. Peter G. Nicholson (P. I.) “Improvement of Engineering Properties of Tropical Soils Using Admixtures.”funded by FHWA/Hawaii DOT, 1994-1998
  6. Peter G. Nicholson (P. I.) “Engineering Characteristics of Municipal Waste Ash for Geotechnical Applications.” funded by City & County of Honolulu, 1994-1997
  7. Peter G. Nicholson (P. I.) “Long Term Creep Effects of Residual Tropical Soils.” funded by Federal Highway Administration/State of Hawaii DOT, 1993-1996
  8. Peter G. Nicholson (P. I.) “Engineering Characterization of Carbonate Sand in a Pacific Reef Environment,” funded by National Defense Center of Excellence for Research in 0cean Sciences, 1992-1994
  9. Peter G. Nicholson (P. I.) “An Investigation of the Use of Coal Ash as an Admixture to Enhance Engineering Properties of Residual Tropical Soils,” funded by AES Barber’s Point, Inc., 1991-1993
  10. Peter G. Nicholson (P. I.) “An Investigation of the Enhancement to Engineering Properties of Marginal Hawaiian Soils With Admixtures.” funded by Fewell Geotechnical Engineering, Ltd, 1991-1993
  11. Peter G. Nicholson (P. I.) “An Investigation of the Liquefaction Potential of Calcareous Materials.”funded by FHWA/Hawaii DOT, 1993-1995
  12. Peter G. Nicholson (P. I.) “An Investigation of the Liquefaction Potential of Soils Containing Fines,” funded by Office of Research Administration, UH Manoa, 1990-1992

Selected Publications

  1. B.T. Morioka and P.G. Nicholson, Seattle, WA, May 2000. Evaluation of the Liquefaction Potential of Calcareous Sand, proceedings of the 10th International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference.
  2. B.T. Morioka and P.G. Nicholson, Honolulu, June, 2000. iquefaction Evaluation for Calcareous Sand by Cone Penetrometer, proceedings, PACON 2000.
  3. P.G. Nicholson and B.T. Morioka, Auckland, New Zealand, February 2000. Liquefaction Potential of Calcareous Sand From Calibration Chamber Tests, 12th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering.
  4. P.G. Nicholson and B.T. Morioka, Washington, D.C., January, 1998. Evaluation of Liquefaction Potential of Calcareous Sand Using Cone Penetrometer Testing, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, pp 990503
  5. P. G. Nicholson, J. K. Kalani, and M. Ding, Washington, D.C., January, 1998. Stabilization of Tropical Soils for Roadway Construction, Transportation Research Board 77th Annual Meeting, National Research Council, pp 980987
  6. P. G. Nicholson and P.R. Tsugawa Diesel Contaminated Soil Remediation With Lime and Fly Ash Admixtures, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers.
  7. M. T. Lee and P. G. Nicholson, 1997. An Engineering Test Program of MSW Ash Mixed With Quarry Tailings for Use as a Construction Material,in Testing of Soil Mixed with Waste or Recycled Materials, ASTM STP 1275, Mark A Wasemiller, Keith B. Hoddinott, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials.
  8. Nicholson, P. G., and Ding, M., 1997. Improvement of Tropical Soils With Waste Ash and Chemical Admixtures, Testing of Soil Mixed with Waste or Recycled Materials, ASTM STP 1275, Mark A Wasemiller, Keith B. Hoddinott, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials.
  9. M.T. Lee, M. Ding, and P.G. Nicholson, Osaka, Japan, November, 1996. A Study of the Use of Municipal Solid Waste Ash Mixtures as a Landfill Final Cover and a Soil Stabilizing Agent, Proceedings of 2nd International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics.
  10. P.G. Nicholson and M. Ding, Nanjing, China, May, 1996. Improvement of Engineering Properties of Tropical Soils Using Admixtures, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Soft Soil Engineering.
  11. P.G. Nicholson and P.R. Tsugawa, San Diego, CA, June, 1996. Stabilization of Diesel Contaminated Soil With Lime & Fly Ash Admixtures, Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Geotechnology.
  12. P. G. Nicholson, C. F. Fujii, and P. W. Russell, October, 1996. Soil Creep and Creep Testing of Highly Weathered Tropical Soils, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 61, American Society of Civil Engineers.
  13. P. G. Nicholson and S. A. Kimura, Washington, D.C., January, 1995. Strength Variations and Compaction Problems with Residual Tropical Soil, Transportation Research Board74th Annual Meeting, National Research Council, pp 950456
  14. P. G. Nicholson and M. S. Ross, St. Louis, Missouri, April, 1995. Dynamic Loading and Liquefaction Characteristics of Coralline Sands, Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics.
  15. P. G. Nicholson and S. A. Kimura, Washington, D.C., January, 1994. Compaction Problems With a Difficult Tropical Saprolitic Soil, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, pp 940440
  16. P. G. Nicholson, V. Kashyap, and C. F. Fujii, 1994. Lime and Flyash Admixture Improvement of Tropical Hawaiian Soils, Transportation Research Record, No.1440, National Research Council.
  17. P. G. Nicholson, R. B. Seed, and H. A. Anwar, 1993. Elimination of Membrane Compliance in Undrained Triaxial Testing, Part II: Mitigation by Injection-Compensation, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 30, No. 5, pp
  18. P. G. Nicholson, R. B. Seed, and H. A. Anwar, 1993. Elimination of Membrane Compliance in Undrained Triaxial Testing, Part I: Measurement and Evaluation, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 30, No. 5, pp
  19. P. G. Nicholson, H. A. Anwar, and R. B. Seed, 1992. An Injection-Correction System to Mitigate Membrane Compliance, Geotechnical Testing Journal, ASTM.
  20. M. Riemer, R. B. Seed, P. G. Nicholson, and H. L. Jong, 1990. Steady State Testing of Loose Soils: Limiting Minimum Density, Journal of GeotechnicalEngineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol 116, No. 2, pp. 332-337.
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