Published: Aug. 27, 2015
Tunnel excavation

When Fulvio Tonon was a graduate student in civil engineering at CU-Boulder in the late ’90s, he remembers that Continuing Education technology consisted of a huge warehouse of cassette tapes that were mailed to students.

While his distance-learning program in tunneling engineering uses very different technology, he appreciates the groundwork that was laid with those tapes.

“It tells me that CU already had that interest in nontraditional ways of teaching,” he said. “They were really well organized, even back then.”

Tonon graduated in 2000 with a PhD in civil engineering, specializing in rock mechanics and underground excavations. Since then, he has pursued a career in tunneling engineering, both from the business and from the academic side.

“There are many persons that I am indebted to, and most of all to Dr. Bernard Amadei, our rock mechanics expert in the faculty,” he said. “His knowledge, stewardship and kindness informed me forever.”

Tonon’s Houston-based company, Tonon USA, specializes in rock testing, photogrammetric models of slopes and tunnels, rock mechanics and engineering, and tunnel engineering. Tonon also created his online certificate program in tunneling engineering that was originally offered through the University of Texas at Austin, before he decided to bring it to CU-Boulder. The not-for-credit program is the only one in the Americas endorsed by the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association (ITA), and is the only endorsed program available 100% online to accommodate working professionals.

The program is geared toward engineers or engineering geologists with an MS and BS in civil engineering, engineering geology or mining engineering who want to obtain a working knowledge of tunnel design and construction by applying the fundamentals acquired in their BS and MS degrees (and possible professional experience).

Tonon said the program is necessary because very few U.S. universities teach tunneling, despite a high demand for skilled professionals. Contractors and consultants often have to choose between not taking on tunneling projects or allowing an employee to relocate to take a course. He added that engineers or engineering geologists sometimes enter the tunneling business by simply learning the nomenclature on the fly without a firm understanding of the fundamentals.

Not only does CU-Boulder’s program offer convenience for students, Tonon said offering it fully online has also allowed him to structure the program in the most efficient, effective way.

“Even the ITA-endorsed programs that are traditional, they have to accommodate speakers as they become available, which means that not always can they follow a rational sequence of topics,” he said.

He said one of his favorite parts of being a tunneling engineer is that it combines so many different disciplines. He enjoys getting to work with soil and rock, transportation and hydraulic engineers, as well as with contract specialists.

“In my mind, it’s probably one of the fields where you have relationships with a more diverse group of professionals,” he said. “There is no room for getting bored in tunneling.” 

Tunneling Certificate