The celebration honoring Dr. Robert M. Koerner on the weekend of September 12 and 13, 2004 started out wonderfully with a backyard, family-style BBQ (complete with roasted pig!) at the Geosynthetic Institute in Folsom, PA. Colleagues gathered to chat, families played ball and threw horseshoes on the lawn, and friends met to eat, drink, and do chalk drawings on the driveway.
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| Geo-folk enjoying the sunshine and libations at GSI. | Fabulous food – and lots of it! Thanks to all the great chefs. |
A quick tour of the facility rounded out the evening, and everyone retired to be ready for an early morning of presentations at Drexel University’s Nesbitt Hall in Philadelphia on the Avenue of Technology.
And a venue of technology it was indeed! Fifteen presentations from every era of Robert Koerner’s extensive life in the advancements of technology were given by co-researchers, colleagues, co-workers, and family. It was a mind boggling show of how far Robert Koerner’s reach has extended into so very many aspects of not only geosynthetics, but environment, medicine, and even human hygiene!
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After a continental breakfast, the morning opened with Gordon Boutwell telling the audience of over 70 attendees that the ever-modest Robert Koerner didn’t want the celebration to be just about him, he wanted to surround the event with information and history. "Don’t honor me, honor Aleksander Sedman Vesic (their friend and mentor)." A brief telling of Bob’s (aka "Mr. Geosynthetics") beginnings included some good laughs by all, and then Gordon then went on to make his presentation titled Slides Happen – Landfill Stability Analysis. |
| Gordon Boutwell: Slides Happen – Landfill Stability Analysis |
Alan Lawley honored Bob by telling of his innovative thinking skills and his ability to tie together different disciplines and practices. Alan’s paper was titled Project Themis: From Powder Metallurgy to Body Parts, Personal Care and Medications. This is when many audience members learned that Bob had a major hand in the way his Triaxial Compaction theory impacted pacemakers, pill production, prosthetics, and even deodorant sticks! After each speaker’s paper, they were presented with a plaque of recognition and Bob took a moment to thank each one personally.
 Alan Lawley receiving his plaque. |
Art Lord presented next with Acoustic Emissions in Soils and Long Term EPA Funding, where he reviewed the work that he and Bob had done from ’72-’85. Their time together at Drexel eventually earned them both an IR-100 award from Industrial Research magazine for their "Spill Alert Device." The magazine considered their device as one of the year’s 100 most promising industrial research developments. |  Art Lord and Grace Hsuan. |
Martin McCabe’s paper Acoustic Emissions in Geologic and Construction Materials emphasized how Koerner’s research into the monitoring of sub-audible noises is used today in mine stability, landslides, and nuclear waste repository research. He closed before the coffee break by recapping Bob’s research with a South Park style animation presentation. Resuming after the break was John Bowders with Nondestructive Evaluation Methods, where he came up with something that pleased Bob very much. A part of his presentation included a handwritten note from Bob to John written in 1981:
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| “I would lean a bit heavier on clay liner problems, e.g., tension cracks, degradation, and perhaps other uncertainties in the design. Reason being that I feel geomembranes are the way of the future … I’ll discuss further if you want to.” |
Joseph Welsh gave a Preamble to and Short History of Construction and Geotechnical Engineering Using Synthetic Fabrics, and Frank Ko mentioned that he was able to attend by cutting his seminar short in Japan and was very happy to be attending the Symposium to honor Bob and present his paper, Textile to Geotextile. Frank said that it was Bob’s assertion that the "soil had to be considered in geotextile testing. And in a quiet and simple way, we learned that lesson." He finished by stating that Bob Koerner’s geotextile work is now in use in aerospace applications, showing just how influential a man he has been. Bob Holtz presented last before lunch with a well-rounded Geosynthetics R&D – The "Early Days (1960 to Circa 1985)." He said that he was interested to see the results of a fabric sample installed in Sweden around 1971 that is currently being tested.
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From left to right: Robert Koerner with Joseph Welsh, Frank Ko, and Robert Holtz. |
Gary Kolbasuk talked about the four phases of geomembranes in his paper, Opportunities and Solutions, Development and Growth of the Geomembrane Industry. Robert Landreth followed with Waste Management Control Strategies for Landfills. Greg Richardson said of Bob, "A man isn’t a success by accident." His presentation (rife with laughs) was titled Geosynthetic Institute; (GRI) – The Beginning. He touted the reasons for the need of the Geosynthetic Research Institute and how it came to be. David Daniel closed the first afternoon session with Robert Koerner’s Contributions to the Advancement of GCLs. He told a story of two men, riding in a car, trying to come up with a name for what we now know as Geosynthetic Cl
ay Liner – Robert Koerner’s term which became instantaneously accepted worldwide.
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| Gary Kolbasuk | Robert Landreth | Greg Richardson | David Daniel |
One touching moment during David Suits’ speech was when he admitted that he never liked standing up in front of people and speaking, but Robert Koerner’s encouragement and example gave him the confidence to do what he does today, which is mostly getting up and speaking in front of large groups of people!
| David Suits got up and spoke comfortably during his paper titled A Look Back at Geosynthetic Testing and Specification Standardization – A Celebration of 20 Years for ASTM International Committee D35 on Geosynthetics. |  |
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Grace Hsuan spoke of her research with Bob at GRI on the Lifetime Prediction of Polyolefin Geosynthetics, and closed her presentation with a graphic look at what antioxidants can do by showing a picture of Bob "now" which faded into a photo of Bob "then"! |
Lastly, George Koerner presented his paper Geosynthetic Institute’s Efforts in Accreditation and Certification… but not before a very moving speech about his father and the family behind the man. He spoke of Bob’s parents and their history, complete with old pictures, and how Robert had "hit a home run" in deciding to marry wife Paula.
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| Robert Koerner thanking son George for his wonderful speech and surprise family slide presentation. |
The man of the evening, who has graduated fifteen PhD students and forty Masters students, then took the podium and said a few words of thanks. "This is the finest day of my technical life – not the finest day – that was when Paula agreed to be my wife." He thanked Drexel for the "perfect fit," the faculty, and especially Al Bangs – "who is a gifted machinist." About his students: "It’s easier to hang in there, but harder to let go."
Bob was really touched by those who took the time out of their schedules to attend the event, and even more pleased by the contributions of the speakers. Of his life he said that "with implants and pills and compacted powders, I was searching for the hitter." He wanted to find the thing that would stop the horizontal movement and become vertical movement. He found it with geosynthetics. "It was clear, people, that this was the path." In life you strive to "Become, then Be, and ultimately Represent." He said he hopes that he can represent geosynthetics community. The audience agreed.
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| Marilyn Ashley | Paula and Bob Koerner |
He gave a big thank you to Marilyn Ashley for all her hard work and dedication over her years by bringing her on the stage and presenting her with a lovely clock signed by all three members of GRI. "She can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear." He asked Paula to come to the stage and presented her with an enormous bouquet of flowers. He told of how, with him, she had been through Bob’s seven jobs in nine years post grad, and 2 near fatal accidents. "In a card, a friend wrote of Paula, ‘She’s as strong as the Bavarian mountains from where she comes’ and I happen to agree with her."
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| Robert and Paula’s daughter, Pauline, wrapped up the storytelling portion of the dinner for "Mr Geosynthetics." |
The celebration ended with a roast of a different sort. Many of Bob’s family members, friends and colleagues took to the mike after a beautiful meal and praised/prodded "Mr. Geosynthetics" with memories, thanks, and well wishes. To quote Gordon Boutwell’s quoting of Abraham Lincoln, "it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."
