James Cheney

James Cheney.

Position Title
Emeritus (In Memoriam)

  • Civil and Environmental Engineering
Bio

From the Davis Enterprise

"Dr. James Addison Cheney, a professor emeritus of civil engineering at UC Davis, was the first faculty member in the department of civil engineering who brought a diverse technical background which allowed him to teach a wide range of academic disciplines including civil, aerospace and mechanical engineering, died on Nov. 22, 2019, at home in Davis. He was 92 years old.

Dr. Cheney was the founding director of the Center for Geotechnical Modeling at UC Davis and known for his dry wit, generously mentoring the research of more than 100 graduate students and working with 50 different faculty members. His wide range of interests included geotechnical modeling for earthquakes at NASA’s Ames Research Center and Lawrence Livermore National Labs, sheathing materials for satellites and aircraft at Lockheed, peaceful uses of atomic energy through project Plow Shares; and diagnosing the causes and mitigation of racehorse bone fractures with the UC Davis Veterinary School..." read more