Karen has over 20 years’ experience providing engineering foundation solutions and ground improvements for various types of infrastructure. She has conducted soil testing, site investigations and has also served as an adjunct professor for over fifteen years teaching students the properties and behavior of soils. Ms. Armfield has varied experience providing foundation recommendations for shallow and deep foundation design, pile design, drilled shaft design and load testing. Karen is well versed in site improvement techniques and soil stability; including embankment design, slope stability analysis, ground improvement, dredging, pavement design, settlement analysis and retaining wall design. In addition, Karen has experience using several geotechnical software applications including: slope stability analysis, sheet pile analysis, soil structure interaction analysis, axial capacity of piles, lateral load analysis of piles and finite element analysis of soils. 

With KUE, Karen provides geotechnical oversight and excavation support designs for deep shaft and large excavations. Mrs. Armfield performs the planning and oversight of geotechnical explorations and laboratory testing of geotechnical samples. She routinely prepares Geotechnical Data, Interpretive and Baseline Reports as well as geotechnical investigative reports.

Mike is a Project Engineer at KUE who offers a diverse skillset in underground design, geo-structural and construction inspection. He has been involved w/ the design of tunnel initial support systems, excavation support & geo-structured support systems. Additionally, Mike has extensive experience in the planning and execution of subsurface investigations and laboratory testing programs.

Mike received an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science in 2009 from the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, and a masters degree in Mining & Earth Systems Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, in 2015. Mike is a licensed P.E. in CO and UT.

Shrey received his undergraduate degree in Mining Engineering from the National Institute of Technology in Karnataka, India in 2012, and completed a master’s degree in Mining Engineering at West Virginia University in 2014. Shrey also earned a masters degree in Underground Construction and Tunneling from the Colorado School of Mines in 2018. 

In March of 2021, Shrey passed the PE exam and is now the third member of KUE to be a licensed and registered engineer.

David is a Staff Engineer at KUE, responsible for performing design calculations for trenchless technologies and support of excavation. He is also responsible for modeling of support of excavations, and the visualization and drafting of tunnel alignments and geotechnical data for reporting and presentations. David graduated from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in 2016 with an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering.

Dr. Wenpeng "Frank" Liu, PhD brings vast experience in mining, tunneling and geotechnical engineering to the firm. Upon receiving hi PhD, Frank worked as a research assistant at the Colorado School of Mines managing research projects and leading research teams before working as a field engineer on the renowned Purple Line Extension project in Los Angeles, CA. He is familiar with laboratory testing of soils, exploration for site conditions, and field inspections.

With a heavy focus in Mining Engineering, Frank received his undergraduate degree in 2010 and a masters degree in 2012 from the China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT) in Xuzhou, China and his PhD from Penn State University in 2017.

Banks graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in May 2020 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and an emphasis in Structural Engineering. His experience in designing structures in steel, concrete, timber, and masonry are a boost to KUE's quickly growing team of young engineers. With KUE, Banks will play a key role in a majority of the firms trenchless design projects while also assisting our field team with Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring. 

Ryan is a Staff Engineer at KUE, responsible for performing design calculations and development of drawing packages related to trenchless technologies and support of excavation systems. He is proficient in the use of Rocscience Dips, Slide2, RS2 & RS3, RocSupport and UnWedge. Ryan has been involved with the design and modeling of tunnel initial support, final lining and excavation support systems. He has experience with planning and executing geotechnical site investigations.

Ryan earned his undergraduate degree in Geological Engineering and Geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018, followed by a Masters degree in Underground Construction and Tunneling from the Colorado School of Mines in 2021.

Nathaniel is a staff engineer at KUE with responsibilities ranging from supporting design calculations for trenchless technologies including axial load and hydraulic fracture analysis to designing, planning and managing underground excavations by blasting. Nathaniel has construction experience in drill and blast, digger-shields, pipe rams, and cast-in-place concrete liners. A recent graduate from the Colorado School of Mines in May 2021 with a B.S. in Mining Engineering, Nathaniel is eager to apply his studies and gain valuable experience working on the trenchless projects KUE supports nationwide.

With KUE, Dale is responsible for overseeing all field survey projects including shaft, tunneling and ground improvement monitoring through the completion of the firm’s trenchless construction projects.

Sean is the lead for all Survey & Instrumentation projects at KUE. His duties involve the planning,  installation and monitoring of survey points on active KUE job sites. Sean brings experience using various types of survey instruments and techniques, including boundary, Lidar, ALTA, topo mapping and construction staking surveys. His knowledge using Total Stations, GPS & Base Stations, as well as digital and auto levels enhances and expands KUE's I&M departments skillset. 

Sean received his undergraduate degree from the University of South Florida in 2001 and is in the process of earning his Certified Survey Technician certification (CST).

Kyle is the Office & Marketing Manager at KUE. With a background in Sales Training and Marketing, he brings a unique and diverse skillset to the KUE team. Kyle received his undergraduate degree in Multimedia & Graphic Design from Champlain College in Burlington, VT in 2008.