Team

In the mid 1980's, Ulrich Engineers, Inc. was called upon to guide the design and construction of the new Harris County Jail Complex, a most ambitious contribution to the Houston Central Business District since building the 75- story Chase Tower. The complex consisted of new structures and the rehabilitation of an existing cold storage warehouse, all on the banks of old Houston waterways. Specifically the structures included:

The assignment was particularly challenging in that the success of the foundation design depended largely on the understanding of foundation conditions at the close of the 18th Century, and a major slope failure occurred before design to destroy one site.

Ulrich Engineers, Inc. guided the design and construction of foundations, designed the needed repairs to the failed site to allow development, supervised construction, and allowed the doubling in height of the cold storage warehouse to form the new jail without new foundations... all feats unequaled in Houston history.

The Owner-Developer and Contractor honored Mr. Ulrich with the title, "Dr. Dirt," for his leadership in project foundation engineering resulting in enormous project success, a title which continues to be synonymous with the Ulrich Engineers Team.

Ed Ulrich graduated from Georgia Tech in 1969 with a BCE. After serving primarily as a foundation construction engineer, he enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was awarded an MSCE in 1971 with majors in Soil Mechanics, Rock Engineering, and Engineering Geology. He then continued as a construction engineer and project engineer before he and his family crossed the Sabine River in 1972 and joined the former McClelland Engineers.

For 12 years Ed served in a variety of capacities at McClelland Engineers where he directed foundation assignments offshore and on three continents where he became aware that construction means and methods governed foundation design. His noteworthy local projects include "The World's Tallest Soil Supported Building- [Texas Commerce Tower] Chase Tower at 75 stories" , "The World's Tallest Suburban Office Building - Transco Tower at 64 stories" and the Wortham Theater Complex. More recently "ENRON Building 2" and the Calpine Tower are the tallest buildings to emerge from the Houston Skyline at the turn of the 20th Century. The Houston Rockets Toyota Arena and Texas Medical Center Smith Tower have been the deepest local excavations.

Pat Calley is the co-founder of Ulrich Engineers, Inc. and the essential ingredient to stability in an environment focused on creating mechanics models from earth and persuading contractors to be successful. Initially as a laboratory testing technician, secretary, she has grown to manage the office and execute the duties of accounts payable, invoicing, and accounts receivable. Always steady and patient, she provides the calmness when there appears to be none.

Mary Duane Bach joined the team hoping for something to do after successes at being a Houston Astros Staffer, wife, mother, and player in Las Vegas. After 20 years, beginning in a garage to testing soils, secretary, and assistant to the president. Mary Duane now serves as Human Resources Specialist in addition to her many duties. A favorite passion is "All MY Children" at lunch time and when the going get's tough, count on Mary Duane to be cheerful and exert her role of dominance. Vacations come frequently and Mary Duane can be found in Vegas challenging the slots.

After completing the requirements for a BA in Geology, Scott Medbury left the arts and sciences for a career in construction. Scott has provided nearly three decades of construction services in association with underground design. His project work has ranged from slope rehabilitation, earthwork and foundation construction, to contractor neutralization.

Difficult construction projects have grown to be Scott's specialty and he has shown that he can achieve the unthinkable when others develop reasons to fail.

Edson Chavez

Geotechnical Engineer

Edson has broad experience in braced excavation and dewatering design. his project mix has ranged from the one-story expansions to the dewatering design of The Rice Brockman Hall for Physics and the analysis of the deepest braced excavation for a private project in North America. The graduate of Texas Tech is quiet but focused and can be found in poker tournaments in Vegas in his off time.

The Ulrich Engineers Team has continued to lead the foundation industry beyond Texas by guiding committees of experts to develop international industry standards for designing and building foundations. The Specification for the Construction of Drilled Piers (ACI 336.1 - 01), endorsed by the Association of Drilled Shaft Contractors, is an example of one of the achievements. The design and construction experiences with Houston modern tall structures each contributed to improving the state of the art, an achievement unprecedented in local geotechnical engineering.