David R. Basco

Biography

Dr. David R. Basco is a certified engineer from Virginia who has worked on pump design, dam design, as well as spillway and energy dissipater designs for Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co, the US Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers, respectively.

Basco has also conducted applied and engineering research for the Engineering Research and Development Center Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, formerly the Waterways Experiment Station. Other centers where he has conducted applied research include the Center for Dredging Studies, Texas Engineering Experiment Station; the National Science Foundation, US Geological Survey, where he served as a Faculty fellow; the Delft Technical University in the Netherlands; the Technical University of Denmark as a visiting professor; and the University of Salento in Italy.

Additionally, Professor Basco has taught graduate-level courses in Civil Engineering and Coastal Engineering for over 45 years at Texas A&M University and the Old Dominion University, where he served as Director of the Coastal Engineering Centre. He also pioneered the online course, “Certificate in Coastal Engineering,” that has trained students from several coastal states in the US as well as from various other countries.

Basco is currently developing a method to calculate benefits of storm surge barriers for feasibility studies on coastal flood damage mitigation. He is the author of five books and book chapters, and has authored/co-authored 95 journal and proceedings papers as well as 120 technical reports. He developed the manuscript of a textbook called “Design of Coastal Structures,” due for publication in 2017, while on a Faculty Development leave at the University of Salento, Lecce, Italy.

He was selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Coast, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute, and received the 2016 International Coastal Engineering Award “For contributions that advanced coastal engineering through research, education, engineering practice and professional leadership, especially through his successful online coastal engineering certificate and graduate program reaching engineers in fifteen countries.”

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Lehigh University

Diploma of Higher Education, International Institute for Hydraulic Engineering, Delft University, Netherlands

Master of Science in Civil Engineering, University of Wisconsin

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, University of Wisconsin