Douglas Cortes, Ph.D., M.ASCE is the Harold Foreman Endowed Associate Professor for Excellence in Civil Engineering at New Mexico State University. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Cortes is the secretary of the ASCE Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering Committee and a senior investigator at the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics. He also serves as and the POC for New Mexico State University at the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium. His research interests include bio-inspired geotechnics, ground improvement, wireless underground sensor networks, asset management, and planetary landed exploration, construction and mining. His research group is funded by NMDOT, FHWA, NSF, and NASA.