Guoming Lin is Named 2025 ENR Southeast Legacy Award Winner
Guoming Lin is ENR Southeast's 2025 Legacy Award honoree.
Photo courtesy Terracon
Across a more than 30-year career and more than 3,000 projects, Guoming Lin has established himself as the go-to geotechnical engineer on projects in and around his Savannah, Georgia home base, so much so that he’s referred to as “Dr. Dirt.”
For decades of impact on AEC sector work in the region and his efforts to build the next generation of engineers the vice president and senior consultant at Terracon has been named to receive the ENR Southeast 2025 Legacy Award.
“Through unwavering dedication, he has risen to prominence as a pioneering figure in geotechnical engineering consulting,” says M. Gayle Packer, Terracon president and CEO, who confirms the widely used nickname by peers and clients across the Southeast.
Moving to Savannah in the early 1990s as an on-call geotechnical consultant for major ports projects developed by owner Georgia Ports Authority, he also now regularly works on projects for energy, manufacturing, sports facilities, hospitality venues, public works, airports, federal installations and more.
Much of his marquee work has been completed for the ports authority in Savannah, the fourth-largest and fastest-growing U.S. port, where terminals are located in low-lying marshy areas with underlying soft marine deposits. In the last 30-plus years, Lin has supported all major projects there, managing and supervising geotechnical explorations on hundreds of projects. He has consulted on every berth for new construction as well as upgrades or improvements, and led a team of geotechnical engineers that has performed many pile load test programs, managed slope stability for dredging and devised various ground improvement technologies.
Other big projects include the Kinder Morgan Elba Island LNG Terminal, where he has worked on multiple projects since its 2001 recommissioning, including as geotechnical engineer for the last three phases of its expansion. Lin also been instrumental in geotechnical and materials testing for the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, the auto giant’s $10-billion campus near Savannah.
The geotechnical expert has been principal engineer on five award-winning projects, including the Elba Island LNG expansion that received the 2006 Grand Award from the American Consulting Engineering Cos. of Georgia for his geotechnical study.
As productive as he is, Lin consistently dedicates time to support colleagues at every level, and has published more than 20 papers in professional journals and proceedings. He also is an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Deep Foundation Institute. Outside of his engineering roles, Lin also supports community needs in fundraising for Habitat for Humanity, United Way and Ronald McDonald House charities.
Learn more about Guoming Lin and his impacts, in the April 14 edition of ENR Texas & Southeast.
