Todd L. Barber, P.E., F.ASCE, the principal dam safety engineer for the Southern Company Hydro Services group, headquartered in Atlanta, has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Barber is renowned for his 23 years of practice in dam safety and geotechnical engineering. His broad expertise covers all aspects of hydroelectric dam safety, including stability analysis, structural assessment, hydraulic studies, spillway gate replacement, slope reconstruction, and sinkhole remediation.
He has managed significant projects such as emergency drills to protect lives and cost-effective hydroelectric rehabilitation. He has outstanding relationships with federal and Georgia regulatory agencies and with municipalities and other organizations with whom he works on dam safety.
Barber coauthored a paper on numerical and physical modeling of a slab spillway with Alden Research Laboratory Inc., of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Holden, MA. As a private consultant who has written more than 150 project reports, Barber excelled at dam safety while working with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and serving as a principal geotechnical engineer on site development of many types.
With Geo-Hydro Engineers Inc., in Kennesaw, GA, he was the principal geotechnical consultant for the LakePoint Sporting Community project in Emerson, GA. One of the largest grading projects in the state at the time, LakePoint encompasses 2,200 acres of very complex geologic formations, previously disturbed by large-scale strip mining. From QORE Inc. of Duluth, GA, Barber gained extensive experience in dam safety, earthworks, foundation design for high-rise buildings, mass transit, and water and wastewater treatment plants.
Barber is celebrated for his leadership as part of the ASCE Georgia Section Chapter of the Geo-Institute, which includes being a member of a committee that arranges the annual distinguished George Sowers Lectures with the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was selected as the 2019 Georgia Engineers Week Engineer of the Year in Industry for his outstanding contributions to dam safety and geotechnical engineering in the State of Georgia.
