Renmin Pretell

Assistant Professor

Biography

Renmin Pretell is an assistant professor of geotechnical engineering in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Davis, and his B.S. in civil engineering from the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI), in Peru.

Before joining the University of Nevada, Reno in 2023, Pretell spent over a decade in both industry and academia. He was a postdoctoral scholar with the Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences (GIRS) at the University of California, Los Angeles. He worked with Golder Associates at its offices in Lima, Peru and Denver, Colo., where he focused on tailings dam projects.

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.

Education

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), Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Peru, 2012

Honors and awards

  • ExCEEd Teaching Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2025
  • 2024 DesignSafe Dataset Award , Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI), 2024
  • 2023 Earthquake Spectra Outstanding Reviewer, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), 2023
  • Building Future Faculty (BFF), North Carolina State University (NCSU), 2022
  • Haley & Aldrich Diversity and Equity student essay contest winner and workshop participant, 2021
  • Patrick C. Lucia Geotechnical Engineering Scholarship (UC Davis), 2019
  • Excellence Rating on thesis defense (UNI), 2014
  • Top Student of the 2012-I Semester (UNI), Rank: 1/120, 2012
  • Best Research Project 2012 (UNI), 2012
  • Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo, Scholarship for Outstanding Undergraduate Students (UNI), 2010

Learn more at the Pretell Research Group website.