Dr.Jogeshwar Preet Singh Of Retgarh was born in 1944, is son of Rajkumar Hazara Singh Of Retgarh After his schooling at Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, he graduated in Civil Engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala in 1964. His pursuit for higher education took him to the USA in 1965, where he received his MS in Soil Mechanics in 1966 and a Ph.D. in Earthquake Engineering in 1981, both from the University of California at Berkeley. Following his MS in 1966, he joined the world famous geotechnical engineering firm Dames & Moore, where he worked on many international projects. His exceptional work on the first two nuclear power plants in Iran, earned him a paid sabbatical for a Ph.D. by Dames & Moore. Upon completion of his doctoral dissertation in engineering seismology, he became a Director of Special Services and New Technology with Harding Lawson Associates in 1980. In 1987, Dr. Singh founded his own firm named Geospectra Incorporated, and in a seven-year period, the firm excelled to new heights with world prestigious projects such as the Golden Gate Bridge, which was acquired by Geospectra, a Division of Kleinfelder in 1994. Dr. Singh remained with this merger until 1996, as a Principal, Senior Consultant and Manager, of Seismic & Innovative New Technology. In 1996, he founded another firm named J.P. Singh & Associates in Richmond, California. As an international leader in earthquake engineering and seismology, Dr. Singh has been invited as an expert speaker in over 60 Conferences, Seminars and Workshops in USA and abroad. He has participated in many post-earthquake investigations of devastating earthquakes throughout the world, including the Mexico and Chile earthquakes of 1985, Costa Rica earthquake of 1992, the Kobe earthquake of 1995, and more recently the Bhuj (India) earthquake of 2001. Dr. Singh, has participated in numerous activities pertaining to geologic hazards and seismic code issues sponsored by; the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency, California Seismic Safety Commission, National Center of Earthquake Engineering Research, San Francisco Bay and Conservation and Development Commission, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Secretariat of the International Decade for National Disaster Reduction. Not only this, he has worked on many world prestigious projects such as the Bank of America World Headquarters and the Transamerica Pyramid Building – both iconic landmarks of San Francisco; the Golden Gate Bridge; Trans Alaska Pipeline – the world’s largest and the most difficult project; ports of Oakland and Los Angeles – the world’s two largest container ports. His projects, Golden Gate Bridge and Trans-Alaska Pipeline, have been cited as the two of the Top Nine Seismic Projects of the Twentieth Century in the United States by the Applied Technology Council. In recognition of his exceptional achievement, leadership, unselfish and dedicated service to the community, Dr. Singh has received many awards and honors over the years such as Outstanding Immigrant Award in 1980; included in the Who’s Who in California in 1983; and Who’s Who in Frontiers of Science and Technology in 1985; and, in 1992, Richmond Chamber of Commerce/West County Times conferred on him the “Entrepreneur of the Year Award”. In year 2002 his alma mater Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology honored Dr. J. P. Singh with ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’ for the year 2002 for his significant achievements and contributions in the areas of ‘Seismology and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering towards ‘Mitigating Earthquake Losses and Improving Seismic Safety of the World Community’. He is (1) Founding Member, Past President, Past Vice President and Past Secretary of Sikh Center of San Francisco Bay Area (2) Past Vice President of Sikh Council of North America, (3) Chairman of Cal Sikh Alumni, (4) Consultant to US Department of Justice, Community Relation Service, (5) charter member of State of California, Department of Homeland Security State Terrorism Threat Assessment Advisory Group and (6) Graduate of Citizens Academy, City of Richmond Police.
