Rate My Professor Catherine O’Sullivan

Catherine O’Sullivan is the Professor of Particulate Soil Mechanics in the Geotechnics Section, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London. She assumed the professorship in September 2017, having joined the department as a lecturer in 2004 following a two-year stint as a College Lecturer at University College Dublin, Ireland. Her academic journey includes a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002, an MEngSc, and a BEng (Civil) from University College Cork, Ireland. In her current roles, she heads the Geotechnics Section, serves as Editor-in-Chief of the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, acts as Deputy Chair of the Faculty of Engineering Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Committee, and chairs the Department’s Equality, Diversity and Departmental Culture Committee.

O’Sullivan’s research specializes in particulate soil mechanics, utilizing discrete element modelling (DEM) and micro-computed tomography (μCT) to explore fundamental aspects of sand behaviour, reservoir sandstones, internal erosion, and the interpretation of laboratory tests. She collaborates across departments, including Materials and Mechanical Engineering, and supervises students from diverse backgrounds such as civil engineering, physics, mathematics, and mechanical engineering. Her seminal textbook, Particulate DEM: A geomechanics perspective (Taylor & Francis, 2011), has been translated into Japanese. Highly cited publications include “The influence of particle characteristics on the behaviour of coarse grained soils” (2010, 507 citations), “Analysis of an image-based method to quantify the size and shape of sand particles” (2013, 435 citations), and “Selecting a suitable time step for discrete element simulations that use the central difference time integration scheme” (2004, 388 citations). Her contributions have earned her the 2015 Géotechnique Lecture, the 2016 Shamsher Prakash Research Award, and the 2021 Imperial College London President’s Award for Teaching Innovation. She has delivered keynotes at prestigious events, including CHOPS2024, the UC Berkeley Geosystems Distinguished Lecture Series (2024), and the Géotechnique 75th Anniversary Event (2023), underscoring her influence in advancing geomechanical understanding and engineering tools for granular materials.