Renmin Pretell
- Phone: (775) 682-5226
- Email: rpretell@unr.edu
- Building: WPEB
- Room: 327
- Website: LinkedIn
- Website: GitHub
- Website: Google Scholar
Dr. Renmin Pretell is an assistant professor of geotechnical engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Pretell holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Davis, and a B.S. in civil engineering from the National University of Engineering (UNI), Peru. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Pretell worked as a consulting engineer for five years with Golder Associates (currently WSP) at the Lima and Denver offices, and as a postdoctoral scholar with the Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, before joining the University. Dr. Pretell’s research aims to advance the performance assessment of geotechnical systems and infrastructure by integrating data, numerical simulations and analytics. His research interests include seismic site response and ground motions, soil spatial variability and subsurface uncertainty, mine tailings and soil liquefaction effects.
- Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, 2022
- M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, 2019
- B.S., Civil Engineering (Summa Cum Laude), National University of Engineering (UNI), Peru, 2012
- EERI Young Members Committee (EERI YMC) , 2023 – 2025 Co-Chair
- United States Society on Dams & International Commission on Large Dams
- Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
- Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER)
- Site response
- Ground motions
- Subsurface spatial variability
- Mine tailings
- Soil liquefaction and cyclic softening
Selected publications
- Pretell, R., Abrahamson, N. A., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2023). “A borehole array data-based approach for conducting 1D site response analyses II: Accounting for modeling errors.” Earthquake Spectra 39(3): 1502-1533. Open Access.
- Pretell, R., Abrahamson, N. A., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2023). “A borehole array data-based approach for conducting 1D site response analyses I: Damping and VS” Earthquake Spectra 39(3): 1473-1501. Open Access.
- Pretell, R., Ziotopoulou, K., and Abrahamson, N. A. (2022). “Conducting 1D site response analyses to capture 2D VS spatial variability effects.” Earthquake Spectra 38(3): 2235–2259.
- Basu, D., Pretell, R., Montgomery, J., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2022). “Investigation of key issues in simulating centrifuge model tests of a sheet-pile wall retaining a liquefiable soil deposit.” Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 156(2022): 107243.
- Pretell, R., Ziotopoulou, K., and Davis, C. A. (2021). “Liquefaction and cyclic softening at Balboa Blvd. during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 147(2): 05020014.