He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He has over 39 years of specialized experience in geotechnical and earthquake engineering. Dr. Makdisi has been actively involved in studies of the seismic behavior of earth and rock fill dams and embankments. He developed and published (with the late Professor H. Bolton Seed) widely used simplified procedures for estimating the dynamic response and permanent deformations in earth and rock fill dams. Recently, Dr. Makdisi has been involved in development of seismic design criteria, evaluation of seismic stability, and design of alternative remedial measures for more than 25 embankment dams. He has authored and co-authored many papers dealing with the seismic stability of dams and with various aspects of earthquake ground motions and seismic design criteria for critical facilities. He is a recipient of the 1977 Norman Medal award of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for the paper (co-authored with Seed, Lee and Idriss) on the analyses of the slides in the San Fernando Dams during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. As a member of a team of Technical Advisors to the Los Angeles District, Corps of Engineers, on the design and construction of Seven Oaks Dam in California, Dr. Makdisi was a co-recipient of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chief of Engineers “Design and Environmental Honor Award for 2002.” Dr. Makdisi is currently serving as a member of the Board of Consultants for Oroville Dam Spillway Restoration Project, and the Director’s Safety Review Board for Perris Dam, Castaic and Crafton Hills Dams, B. F. Sisk Dam, and five Delta Dams, for the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), Division of Safety of Dams. He also served as a member of the Consulting Review Board for Conconully Dam, for the US Bureau of Reclamation. In 2017, Dr. Makdisi was the awarded the Danny K. McCook Medal by Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO), for his lasting contributions to dam safety.