Mark’s primary role at Albus & Associates is overseeing the geology team and reviewing their work. Additionally, Mark performs site reconnaissance, subsurface exploration, geologic mapping, and fault rupture investigations for the preparation of geologic and soils engineering reports, particularly for site flat land and hillside development and/or improvement. He also conducts forensic investigations of building foundation distress from ground movement, including natural soil processes and landslides. Mark also can be found performing site observations during construction, including soil removals and bottom excavations, shallow and deepened foundation excavations, and both temporary and permanent cut slopes.

Mark earned his BS in Geology at California State University of Los Angeles; however, he began studying geology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where he lived for two years. Prior to becoming Chief Geologist for Albus and Associates, Mark was the owner of Houser Geologic, LLC, which specialized in hillside residential projects performing similar tasks as described above.

In addition to the wonderful staff at Albus and Associates, Mark enjoys working with and developing respectful relationships with our clients. Working on a wide variety of projects, including those that are challenging and complex, is one of his favorite parts of his job.

Mark is married to his wonderful wife Christina; their daughter, Helene, is 13 years old and will begin high school in the fall of 2024. His family enjoys skiing, camping and spending time with their extended family. Mark’s father’s work as an environmental engineer has also allowed him to travel to many countries throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

In his spare time, Mark is an avid golfer and fisherman.

Martin is a Principal Engineer at Albus & Associates and is responsible for the execution of geotechnical engineering services. He brings over twenty years of national and international professional experience including residential, commercial, industrial, public works, waterworks, transportation, and federal projects. His areas of expertise include slope stabilization for hillside development, landslide remediation, deep foundations, retaining walls, liquefaction evaluation and conventional soils engineering. Martin has provided technical assistance on many conventional to highly complex earthwork, shoring, dewatering, seismic, liquefaction, slope stability, landslide, rock stabilization, and ground improvement studies.

Martin has worked on many engineering geology tasks such as geologic mapping, hydrogeology studies, fault studies and rock stability analyses. Since much of his experience has been in Southern California and urbanized areas, he has worked on many geo-environmental projects dealing with fuel hydrocarbons, solvents, lead, metals, and other compounds in soil and groundwater. Further, his work experience in British Columbia gave him unique perspective in dealing with challenging soft soils under static and earthquake conditions.

Martin earned Master of Science degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from Northeastern University, Boston, and in Environmental Planning and Management from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He has a BS in Civil Engineering from Sharif (Arya-Mehr) University of Technology in Tehran and has published academic articles in the International Journal of Civil Engineering, and in the Asian Journal of Civil Engineering.

What Martin enjoys about working at AAI is our great collaborative environment. When not at work, you can find him engaged in chess, travelling, and camping.