1. Slope Hazards in the Built and Natural Environment
Dr. Benjamin Crosby
Visiting Associate Professor
Civil Engineering
12/31/201812/31/2018

2. Introduction Who are you? A California kid
From a family of engineers and geologists
4 years at Univ. of CA at Berkeley, Geology
1 year in Arctic Alaska (mining, Nat. Park)
6 years at MIT for PhD
7 years in Idaho. Associate Professor
1 PhD student and 10 MS students
1 year of sabbatical in Chile 6/2013 – 8/2014
I am here with my wife and 2 kids (13, 11)
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3. What work do you do?
I am fascinated by how the Earth’s surface responds to climatic, tectonic and anthropogenic disturbance.
I enjoy exploring the rate and form of landscape adjustment (rivers, hillslopes) and the biotic consequences of this adjustment over both human and geologic timescales.
To accomplish these tasks, I utilize data from field observations, numerical modeling, digital topographic analysis, physical experimentation and remote sensing.
I work in Idaho, California, Alaska, New Zealand and now Idaho
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4. Course Topics Introduction and Motivation
Hazards, Uncertainty, Risk and Mitigation
Slow Transport Processes: Creep
Fast Transport Processes: Mass Movements
12/31/201812/31/2018

5. This course focuses on:
Reinforcing fundamental skills including:
Continuum mechanics, forces, stress, strain
Material properties (rheology)
Topographic analysis
The mechanisms that transport material (rock, soil) off hillslopes and deliver it to river channels
Slow, creep processes
Fast, mass movement processes
Initiation, Stabilization, Recognition
The tools that we use to:
Recognize the topographic signature of mass movements
Predict / Model where/when they are likely to occur
Monitor the stability of hillslopes
Decide appropriate levels of mitigation
12/31/201812/31/2018