Geotechnical engineering wasn’t on David Baska’s mind when he graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in 1984 as a geological engineer, but a series of fortuitous events conspired to change that. A move to Seattle—a seismic hotbed—a master’s degree from University of California, Berkeley under Harry Seed and a doctorate at the University of Washington allowed Baska, now 40-plus years into his geotechnical engineering career, to bridge the gap between research theory and engineering innovation. “Working with Dr. David Baska has been a master class in technical excellence and professional integrity,” says David Swanson, a data center engineer at Microsoft. “His deep geotechnical and earthquake engineering expertise, collaborative approach and thoughtful style have consistently elevated research and project outcomes, design team dynamics and, of course, our civil engineering professions.…