Roger attended Lehigh University for his B.S.C.E., which he received in 1981, and in 1982, he earned his M.E.C.E. from the University of Florida. As a Professional Engineer since 1986 with significant contributions to geotechnical engineering, Roger was appointed as a Fellow by ASCE in 2006. He is licensed in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

While Roger thoroughly enjoys performing in-situ tests, he loves sharing his knowledge with other engineers and geologists and uses his truck as a mentoring laboratory for his teaching. He finds mentoring very satisfying professionally for him by helping others become better engineers and contributors to society.

Roger’s accomplishments include:

• In 1991 for the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge for the Route 17 crossing of the York River, he performed soil pressuremeter and dilatometer tests to depths of 242 feet (the deepest dilatometer test performed at that time).
• In 1995 after purchasing the University of Florida research truck, the first direct push truck in North America and used by Dr. Schmertmann for his pioneering research, Roger started In-Situ Soil Testing, L.C.
• From 2000 to 2002, he performed a variety of different in-situ tests for the design of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge for the Interstate I-495 south crossing of the Potomac River including dilatometer testing 100 feet into the very hard Potomac Group Clay.
• In 2004, Roger performed pressuremeter tests for the rebuilding design of the World Trade Center in New York City.
• In 2005, he restarted the geotechnical engineering group meetings that later became the Virginia Chapter of the ASCE Geo-Institute under his leadership. He continues to serve as the chairperson for the Virginia Chapter and they hold a one and a half day regional technical conferences every 18 months. Roger also helped the Carolinas form a Geo-Institute Chapter and start their 1.5 day technical conferences.
• In 2006, Roger organized and edited the Second International Conference on the Flat Plate Dilatometer Test in Washington D.C. He had the entire conference video taped and it can be viewed (links also are on the dilatometer page).
• In 2008, Roger performed dilatometer tests for the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Project to a depth of 399 feet, the now deepest dilatometer test sounding, breaking his earlier record in 1991.
• In 2008, Roger and his life-long friend, Dr. Paul Bullock wrote “Which In-Situ Test Should I Use—A Designer’s Guide”
• In 2009, he performed soil and rock pressuremeter tests for the design of 90 miles of high-power transmission lines in northeast Pennsylvania.
• In 2011, Roger performed pressuremeter tests to 200 feet deep for the Bonner Bridge crossing of Oregon Inlet between Nagshead and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
• In 2015, Roger developed a 15-ton direct push seafloor machine and performed numerous CPT and seismic DMT soundings for the Harry Nice Bridge for the Route 301 crossing of the Potomac River (just like performing tests on land eliminating parasitic effects from tides and waves).
• In 2020, Roger developed an electric motor system to rotate an SPT sampler at a controlled and constant rate of 0.2 degrees per second, similar to the vane shear test.
• In 2021, Roger consulted with numerous clients and from 129 projects he published a technical paper that showed that dilatometer tests saved the owners more than $25,000,000 than if the designs had been based on less accurate SPT.
• Presently Roger is working with Dr. Jeramy Ashlock, Iowa State University, and his Ph. D. Student, Hasung Kim to develop a cyclic borehole shear test.
• Presently, Roger is working to develop an undisturbed soil sampler that uses baked-on Teflon coatings on Shelby tubes.

Roger has published more than 30 technical papers and made technical presentations worldwide (following Jerry DiMaggio’s advice—if asked to present, always say yes!).