Dr. Elio D`Appolonia, P.E.

Dr. Elio D’Appolonia, P.E.
our founder, our mentor, and our friend
ELIO “D’APP” D’APPOLONIA
Elio D’Appolonia was born the son of Italian immigrants in
Crow’s Nest Pass near Coleman, Alberta, Canada on April 14,
1918. He received a bachelor’s (1942) and master’s degree
(1946) in civil engineering from the University of Alberta and a
doctorate in structural engineering (1948) from the University
of Illinois. He then went on to become a faculty member at
Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University, teaching and
undertaking research in applied mechanics and geotechnical
engineering. In 1956, D’App started a consulting engineering
practice which later became, D’Appolonia Consulting Engineers
(EDCE), an internationally renowned leader in geotechnical
engineering, which during the early years pioneered
engineering applications for industrial and power facilities.
He worked on projects such as the engineering and construction
of foundations for airfields, power plants and highways placed
in the permafrost in northern Canada and Alaska (1942-46)
for which he won the O’Keefer Medal from the Engineering
Institute of Canada, Vibroflotation, Lewiston-Queenstown
Bridge, Midwest Steel, Burns Harbor, ENEL, Piacenza, Boy
Scout Dam, the 1976 Olympic Sports Complex in Montreal,
Canada, and Merrill Creek Dam.
He received the Metcalf Award of the Engineers Society
of Western Pennsylvania for his outstanding engineering
achievements and his excellence of service to the profession.
He was selected to present the Twenty-Fourth Terzaghi
Lecture for the American Society of Civil Engineers. He
received honorary doctorates from Carnegie Mellon University
Elio “D’App” D’Appolonia, founder of D’Appolonia, died peacefully on
Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at the age of 97.
D’App is widely recognized as someone who made seminal
in 1983, and from the University of Genoa, Italy in 1988.
contributions to the fields of geotechnical and foundation
He was a founding member of ASFE (now Geoprofessional
engineering. He authored numerous technical papers,
Business Association).
served on various committees of professional societies, and
received countless accolades for his significant contributions
to the profession. Over the years, he has received numerous
awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers, including
the Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award in 1969. He was elected
into the National Academy of Engineering in 1977.
In 1981, the European Headquarters were established in Genoa,
Italy. In 1983 the Italian office became D’Appolonia S.p.A., an
independent company. D’Appolonia S.p.A., which in 2011 joined
RINA Group, maintained a solid working partnership with its sister
company in Pittsburgh, USA. D’Appolonia has been a consultant
on numerous problems involving failures of earthworks and
similar facilities that have undergone distress; and has conducted
research in applied mechanics vibrations, fatigue of materials,
soil mechanics, structural engineering, and mathematical
methods as they relate to stress analysis problems.
“Truly a great man. A leader, a mentor, and a true professional”
“I understood his approach to consulting when he reviewed my
proposal for pipeline seismic design in the Christmas days of 1986”
“Dr. D’App was an inspiration to all of us”
“Here’s hoping that we can carry his example forward in our
professional and personal lives”
“He was a great visionary and leader”
“He had a unique ability to find practical solutions to complex problems”
“He taught me a very important lesson: it was to trust my own
judgment and analysis and not to be pressured into giving the Client
the answer they wanted”
“An example that we all are trying every day to respect and honor
doing our job in D’Appolonia”