Marjan started her Ph.D. in 2023, under the supervision of prof. Erdrick Pérez-González and the co-supervision of prof. Jean Côté, to study definition of the typical values and their correlations for practical purposes of the NorSand-aUL model parameters under various loading and unloading conditions. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran and a Master of Science degree in Geotechnical Engineering from Tarbiat Modares University. She conducted an experimental study of the process zone in rock-like materials with pre-existing cracks for her master's project. Furthermore, she has hands-on experience in the interpretation and conduct of geotechnical tests as part of her job responsibilities.

Keyvan pursued his academic life at Tehran Polytechnic and the University of Guilan, both located in Iran. While he has been involved in the civil and construction industry since 2015, he also participated in several experimental and empirical projects during his undergraduate studies. His master's thesis focuses on beach profile evolution in the vicinity of seawalls. Keyvan began his PhD project in August 2023, under the supervision of Professor Jean Côté and the co-supervision of Professor Erdrick Perez-Gonzalez and it will mainly consider the risk of instabilities of construction machinery, working on soft clay embankments.

Willideman began his doctoral studies in the spring of 2023 under the supervision of Professor Erdrick Perez-Gonzalez and the co-supervision of Professor Jean Côté. His doctoral project focuses on the numerical modeling of dams using ambient noise measurement techniques, natural frequency vibration approaches, and parametric studies to understand their dynamic response. He completed his master's degree on local seismic response, specializing in geotechnics, at the Polytechnic University of Turin (Politecnico di Torino) in Italy. He earned his bachelor's degree, focusing on the numerical analysis of water infiltration processes in partially saturated soils, at the University of Antioquia (Universidad de Antioquia) in Colombia.

Marco started his PhD in 2021, under the supervision of prof. Jean Côté and the co-supervision of prof. Jean-Marie Konrad, to study internal erosion by suffusion of Quebec tills. Previously, he worked in the management of geotechnical projects of dams in northern Brazil. Marco obtained his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) in 2016, with an exchange program at the University of Florence (Italy). He holds a master's degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) on the rheological behavior of soft clays.

In the year 2012, Jahanpour completed his undergraduate studies in civil engineering and pursued his master's education in geotechnical engineering at Yasouj University, Iran. He investigated the subsurface water-table locations and effects of drainage in porous media as his master project. Also, he worked on machine learning methods for solving the problem of groundwater in cooperation with Shiraz University, Iran. Jahanpour began his Ph.D. studies in 2021 and he is being supervised by Professor Jean Côté. As his doctoral research, he is studying the safety monitoring of embankment dams. He is using geostatistics and numerical techniques to address internal erosion in practical problems.

Jonathan began his master’s degree in autumn 2023 under the direction of Professor Erdrick Pérez-González following his bachelor’s degree in mining engineering completed at Polytechnique Montréal. His master’s project consists of the optimization of the procedure for measuring ambient noise and natural frequency of embankment dams.

Nadezda started her Ph.D. project in 2024 under the supervision of Professor Jean Côté and co-supervision of Marc Smith, associated professor. The project focuses on the problem of erosion of embankment dams caused by overtopping. Her academic background includes studies at the Polytechnique Montréal (geological engineering), Kazan State University (geology), and the Ural State Mining University (engineering geology, soil science and geocryology), where she realized a project on the geotechnical conditions of Kazan City, particularly focusing on the formation and behaviour of metastable soils, karst development, and erosion. Her subsequent research focused on weathered rocks and various geological hazards in the Middle Volga region of Russia.

Ahmed obtained his bachelor's degree in Geology of Major Works, specializing in Public Works, in 2019. During this program, he took courses in soil and rock mechanics, engineering geology, and risk management. He then continued his studies at the National Engineering School of Gafsa in Tunisia, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Industrial and Mining Chemical Engineering. In 2023, after graduating, Ahmed began a master's degree in civil engineering at Laval University, under the supervision of Professor Jean Coté. His research project focuses on the study of internal erosion in natural slopes. In this context, he uses experimental setups to determine the criteria associated with internal erosion mechanisms, including: • Critical suffusion velocity, • Critical contact erosion velocity, • Critical regressive erosion gradient. At the same time, he is reproducing internal erosion in the laboratory using a scale model in order to refine our understanding of slope behavior under the effect of flow.

Ahmed began his doctoral studies in the fall of 2024 at Université Laval, under the supervision of Professor Erdrick Perez-Gonzalez and co-supervision of Daniel Verret, engineer and doctor of civil engineering. His research focuses on the dynamic behavior of varved clays. He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's degree focusing on the behavior of granular materials subjected to heavy loads in freeze/thaw cycles, also from Université Laval. In addition, Ahmed is currently completing an MBA in strategic business management at the same university. Professionally, he has been working for six years as a geotechnical engineer at Hydro-Québec's embankment dam expertise and design department.

After obtaining a bachelor's degree in geosciences from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, Diaraw Thierno BA continued her academic career in France, where she completed a first master's degree in hydrogeology at Aix-Marseille University, followed by a second master's degree in hydraulic and geotechnical engineering at Lille University. She then undertook a research master's degree at University Laval, under the supervision of Jean Côté, at CRIBAR. Her research project focuses on vegetation management on embankment dams in Quebec. In this context, she uses imaging techniques, including photogrammetry, to characterize tree root systems and determine the soil-root plate, in order to better estimate the volumes of soil required for backfilling after tree removal.