Olaniyi Afolayan received his bachelor's degree in 2012 from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria, and his master's degree in 2016 from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria — both in civil and environmental engineering (CEE). He worked as a civil engineer and assistant lecturer in Nigeria before joining Auburn University, where he is expected to graduate with his PhD in CEE in 2025. His doctoral work centers on internal erosion and soil piping in unsaturated slopes, a critical challenge in geotechnical engineering with broad implications for infrastructure resilience and environmental protection. As a visiting scholar at the University of California Davis, he led centrifuge experiments and guided three undergraduates through research design, data interpretation, and scientific communication. He aims to establish a research group that will uncover the coupled physical processes that control the response of geotechnical systems (dams, levees, pipelines, etc.) to natural hazards. He also is interested in exploring the hydromechanical performance of recycled aggregates in unsaturated conditions that could provide unique benefits for use in landfill covers, erosion control systems, and urban infrastructure during both rainfall and freeze-thaw cycles. Afolayan has served as president and vice president of the Auburn Geotechnical Society and vice chair of the Natural Hazard Engineering Research Infrastructure Graduate Student Council.

Research Interests

Geotechnical Engineering