September/October 2023 - 88

Tomac and her family
as well as publishing in the DFI Journal. She is proud of
receiving a DFI Women in Deep Foundations (WiDF)
professional development grant in 2020.
Personal Insights
In the midst of all her commitments to the profession writ
large, she relishes teaching and mentoring undergraduate
and graduate students, a pursuit she finds most fulfilling. She
particularly enjoys teaching subjects in which she can share
her practical experience. As she puts it, " providing a
meaningful link between theory and practice. "
Tomac describes herself as being, " incredibly social and
Activities and Contributions
It would be a daunting task to list all Tomac's professional
accomplishments and contributions to the geotechnical
engineering profession. She has been, and continues to be, an
invited lecturer in multiple countries on multiple continents.
She has served on technical committees representing a
veritable alphabet soup of the acronyms of standard-setting
boards and organizations. She has been a technical editor and
member of editorial review boards for highly respected
journals. A list of her standalone publications and those in
conference proceedings based on original research are far too
numerous to cover in this space. A profile of her organization
memberships runs the full gamut of those serving the
industry. She is not only a " member " of these entities but
participates at a high level of involvement including serving
as conference organizer and technical session chair for
numerous national and international events. As you might
expect she has been the recipient of numerous prestigious
awards and honors beginning as a student and continuing
throughout her career.
Many Years of DFI Participation
Tomac has been involved with DFI from the beginning of her
academic studies. She notes, " I recognized DFI as a venue to
nourish my interest in geotechnical engineering, which was a
massive part of my career before pursuing a Ph.D., and still is.
I found it valuable to meet engineers and bring them to my
classroom, and stay informed about technology
development. " She is a regular attendee at DFI conferences,
and participates in committee activities whenever possible,
88 * DEEP FOUNDATIONS * SEPT/OCT 2023
outgoing with many friends and interests. " She is passionate
about research and finds her life in academics to be a major
benefit of living in the U.S. As she says, " I guess that I can say
that I live on two continents maintaining strong ties with
friends and family in Croatia. " While she is not overly
concerned about keeping a " life balance " she does find time to
travel, read, pursue the arts, run, swim, hike, ski and, not
insignificantly, along with her husband, raise their 7-yearold
son, Karlos. By now I imagine that you get the picture.
Tomac is one very, very busy person, and a valued contributor
to advances in her fields of study. In the coming years we can
expect more of the same as Ingrid Tomac will not be slowing
down any time soon.
http://tectonicengineering.com/
September/October 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September/October 2023
