Edward Ulrich

Ed Ulrich’s career began in 1967, when he worked as a part-time field engineer in
Atlanta, GA, helping with foundation projects to pay future wedding bills. In 1969,
he graduated from Georgia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and
concentrations in George Sowers Foundations, structures, and surveying. After one
year as a construction engineer, he entered the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign to study rock engineering, foundation engineering, engineering
geology, and tunneling. Upon graduating with a master’s degree, he returned to
Atlanta for another year, then crossed the Sabine in 1972 to join McClelland
Engineers. By 1980, he had become chief engineer for tall buildings and braced
excavations, and he started Ulrich Engineers in 1984.

Ulrich’s career has taken him over four continents, offshore and onshore. He has
directed the foundation engineering of Houston’s modern, tall buildings, helped
contractors to succeed when the going got tough, and developed foundation
designs that have resulted in major cost savings. He served as the committee chair
for ACI’s Foundation Committee for almost 15 years, leading industry experts in
modernizing foundation standards, and he has made nearly 100 written and oral
presentations. ASCE has awarded Ulrich with the Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award
and the Harry S. Schnabel Award. ADSC gave Ulrich its President’s Award and
named his paper, “Drilled Piers Succeed with the Deepest Excavation in the Texas
Medical Center,” as its feature article for May 2011. Ulrich also has given
invitational lectures to the state meetings of the Illinois and Louisiana ASCE
Sections.