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GeoStructures, Inc.
Key Contacts
Owners, Principals & Senior Executives
Bashar S. Qubain, Ph.D., P.E.'s Bio
As president, chief engineer and founder of GeoStructures, Bashar S. Qubain, Ph.D., P.E. is responsible for all activities of the firm including: (1) supervising, reviewing and training of personnel; (2) maintaining high quality services and establishing goals; (3) providing technical expertise and overseeing engineering work; and (4) coordinating with clients and preparing proposals. Dr. Qubain’s areas of strength are: soil mechanics and foundations; geotechnical applications of the finite element method (FEM); and geosynthetics. With a strong background in both structural and geotechnical engineering, he brings unique insight into the solution of complex foundation problems.
Dr. Qubain has over 25 years of professional experience in subsurface investigations for buildings, bridges, tunnels, earth dams and sensitive machines. Through his professional career, he developed considerable expertise in foundation analysis and design, soil-structure interaction, slope stability analysis, sinkhole evaluation and remediation, soil stabilization, and pavement and geosynthetic reinforcement design. He has served as the chief geotechnical engineer on many transportation projects for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, PennDOT, NJDOT, DelDOT and SEPTA as well as numerous commercial and industrial ones such as Wyeth Worldwide Headquarters in Collegeville, PA, Riverview Development along the Hudson River in North Bergen, NJ and Tinicum Hilton Hotel, just outside Philadelphia International Airport. On a recent open-end contract for the PA Turnpike, Dr. Qubain implemented a pilot program to evaluate all aspects of subgrade lime stabilization such as hydration, mixing, mellowing, stabilization depth/uniformity, compaction, and roller specifications.
In addition to professional practice, Dr. Qubain is active in research and teaching. He proposed a rational method for studying the fundamental aspects of the stress-deformation behavior of footing foundation systems on sand and developed a new constitutive model, which captures the single most important aspect of soil behavior: the increase in stiffness due to confinement. This unique property makes soil stronger under certain applied loads. The nonlinear stress-strain relationships of the proposed model were incorporated into a comprehensive finite element analysis for footing foundations. Dr. Qubain also participated and served as the principal investigator for several small business innovative research (SBIR) projects for the U.S. Department of Energy and PennDOT. He presented professional seminars on innovative underpinning and sinkholes. Dr. Qubain was an adjunct professor of geotechnical engineering at Drexel University and currently teaches at Temple University. He regularly serves on Ph.D. research committees. His advanced graduate course on constitutive modeling in geomechanics is attended by most research-oriented students. He authored or co-authored over a dozen technical publications and is actively involved in peer-reviewing journal and specialty conference papers as well as complex foundation problems.
Dr. Qubain is a registered professional engineer and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute, the American Society of Highway Engineers, and the American Society for Testing and Materials. He also serves as a member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Chemical and Mechanical Stabilization of Soils (AFS90). He received his Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering (a 5 year program) from the University of Jordan and holds two masters degrees—one in structural mechanics from Widener University and one in geosynthetics and geotechnical engineering from Drexel University. In 1999, he completed his Ph.D. on soil-structure interaction at Drexel University with technical guidance from faculty at the University of Delaware.
Eric J. Seksinsky, P.G., P.E.'s Bio
As an associate, principal engineer, and co-founder of GeoStructures, Eric J. Seksinsky, P.G., P.E. is primarily
engaged in the geotechnical design and inspection of commercial, industrial and residential projects. Employing
a solid background in geological engineering, he also plays a major role in emergency sinkhole response and the
characterization/resolution of engineering geology issues on highway and bridge projects.
Mr. Seksinsky has 25 years of professional experience in geotechnical investigations, foundation design, sinkhole
remediation, subsurface drainage, and geologic risk assessment. Aside from conventional drilling related tools of
site exploration he is experienced in the use of geologic mapping (structural geology), deep trenching, and stereoscopic aerial photo analysis techniques to investigate sites for geotechnical and environmental purposes. On
several hydrogeologic studies he has connected watershed characteristics to perched aquifers, ground permeability, and subsurface drainage to resolve unusually complex groundwater flow problems. Mr. Seksinsky is directly responsible for emergency sinkhole investigations and repairs using grouting techniques and cost-effective, excavation/bridging methods. He is a registered professional geologist and professional engineer in many states and a member of the ASCE. He received a B.S. degree in geological engineering from the University of Arizona and completed graduate studies in geotechnical engineering at Villanova University.
Jianchao Li, P.E.'s Bio
As an associate, principal engineer and co-founder of GeoStructures, Jianchao Li, P.E. is responsible for geotechnical design and daily project management. He also provides assistance in corporate decisions, planning, and hiring. Mr. Li has nearly 25 years of professional experience in geotechnical investigations; deep foundation design and construction; slopes, excavation support, and earth retaining structures; soil stabilization/improvement; sinkholes investigation and repair; and pavements analysis and design. He specializes in numerical modeling of geomaterials and the application of the finite element method (FEM) to various soil-structure interaction problems.
Through Mr. Li’s involvement in many interstate highway pavement reconstruction and rehabilitation projects, he
gained extensive experience in laboratory resilient modulus testing and its interpretation and application in the
mechanistic pavement analysis and design. Mr. Li is also active in research and special studies and has authored or co-authored over 10 technical papers and publications.
Throughout his career, Mr. Li worked on many highway and bridge projects including: PA Turnpike NB-391 Bridge
in Lehigh County; PA Turnpike 13-mile total reconstruction in Somerset County; PA Turnpike Schuylkill River
Bridge and Diamond Run Viaduct; Penn- DOT Union Street Bridge; SR 0202, Section 400; Bridgetown Pike Bridge and River Road Bridge in Bucks County; DelDOT I-95 pavement rehabilitation; and NJDOT Somerdale bridge. Other non-highway projects that Mr. Li worked on include Furlong WWTP, PSE&G braced excavation, SEPTA’s Frankford Transportation Center, Eagleview dam and Sunsweet Grower’s 60 in. diameter utility tunnel below existing railroad tracks.
Mr. Li received a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering from Tongji University in Shanghai, China. In 1993, he obtained a Master’s degree in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Delaware. He is a registered professional engineer and a member of ASCE and ASTM.