Vincent Drnevich, P.E., Ph.D.
Vince Drnevich was born and raised in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is the oldest of 10 children. His father was a commercial and residential builder. Vince received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame and he completed the Ph.D. degree at the University of Michigan. While studying at Michigan, he met and married Roxanne M. Hosier.
Professor Drnevich was on the faculty at the University of Kentucky for 24 years where he progressed through the academic ranks, did a four-year term as Department Chairman, and served as acting Dean of Engineering for a year. Upon leaving UK, he was named Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at UK.
In 1991, he was recruited to Purdue University as the Head of the School of Civil Engineering, a position that he held until June 2000. He retired from Purdue in June 2010 and is now Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at Purdue.
His research focuses on the engineering properties of soils, especially as measured by stress wave propagation and electromagnetic wave propagation. His work is the basis of an ASTM Standard D 4015 on the Resonant Column Method. From 1974 to 2015, he was president of Soil Dynamics Instruments, Inc., a firm which manufactured resonant column and torsional simple shear testing equipment. He and his students developed the Purdue TDR Method for water content and density determination of soil, for which there is an ASTM Standard (D 6780-12) and Purdue holds five patents. Another of his teams developed a vibratory hammer device for compaction of granular soils which allows for getting maximum densities and water contents for effective compaction, for which there is an ASTM Standard (D 7382-07). Over fifty students have received graduate degrees with him as their advisor or co-advisor.
Vince Drnevich has been recognized for both his teaching (especially the senior design course at Purdue) and research by a number of national awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers (Huber Award and Norman Medal), the American Society for Testing and Materials (1979 and 2014 Hogentogler Awards, Woodland G. Shockley Award, the Award of Merit, and numerous Standards Development Awards), the American Society for Engineering Education (George Wadlin Award), and Chi Epsilon (Harold T. Larson Award and the James M. Robbins Award). He is active in many professional and technical organizations including the American Society of Civil Engineers (Distinguished Member), the American Society for Engineering Education (Life Member), the ASTM International, (Fellow), the National Society of Professional Engineers (Fellow, 2010 P.E. Mentor of the Year, Board of Ethical Review 2014-17), and the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers (Fellow) where he is a past President and in 2013, received the inaugural Thomas A. Morris Award. In 2009, he was awarded the Diplomate of Geotechnical Engineering (D.GE) by the Academy of Geo-Professionals. He is a licensed professional engineer in Indiana. In 2008, he was appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels to the Indiana Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and was elected chair for 2013. He is the faculty advisor to the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers (PSPE) Chapter and its Rube Goldberg Team, and the founding advisor of Geo-Institute Graduate Student Organization. In 2003, he was a co-founder of the Purdue Geotechnical Society and continues to serve as its president. He has been involved in the Indiana MathCOUNTS program for over 20 years. He is a regular provider of short courses and presentations on professional and technical issues, especially on the topics of ethics, professionalism, and continuing education. Over 15,000 professionals have taken his short courses.
Vince and his wife, Roxanne, celebrate 50 years of marriage; have four grown children and seven grandchildren. They both are active in their church and are avid golfers, ballroom dancers, and college sports fans.
