Dr. Mark Tufenkjian serves as Senior Personnel for the NCETE Cal State LA site and is responsible for the development and implementation of the engineering design challenge. He is a professor of Civil Engineering at CSULA and oversees the geotechnical engineering program. Dr. Tufenkjian teaches geotechnology courses at the undergraduate and graduate level in the department. He possesses more than 15 years of geotechnical engineering research and practice experience. Dr. Tufenkjian is a registered civil engineer in the state of California. His research interests include the seismic behavior of earth retaining systems, seafloor engineering, and engineering education.