Since 1970, J.P. Giroud, Ph.D., has worked at the forefront of the geosynthetics field (including coining the terms “geotextile” and “geomembrane”, which paved the way for the ‘geo-terminology’) and earned many accolades for his pioneering work. His many awards and key industry positions include serving as president of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), being honored with the establishment of an IGS "Giroud Lecture", being granted ‘hero’ status by the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), being selected to deliver prestigious lectures (e.g. ASCE Terzaghi Lecture, Vienna Terzaghi Lecture, and Mercer Lecture), and being elected Member of the US National Academy of Engineering.
This year, on April 2, Dr. Giroud was named a member of the Order of the Legion d’Honneur by a decree signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Established in 1802, the Order is the highest decoration in France. Dr. Giroud has US/French dual citizenship.
This recognition is well deserved. Dr. Giroud has been integral to the field’s understanding and bettering of geosynthetic design. His development of design methodology has had significant impact on filtration, drainage, liquid containment, waste storage, leachate collection, leakage evaluation and detection, unpaved roads, etc. Also, he played a key role in the development of liner construction quality assurance, in the early 1980s, and in the development of the technique of exposed geomembrane landfill covers, in the past fifteen years.
His “firsts” in the field’s applications are many, all of which have now permeated throughout geosynthetic practice. For example:
- First nonwoven geotextile filter, which was also the first geotextile in a dam (1970)
- First geotextile cushion for geomembrane (1971)
- First double liner with two geomembranes (1974)
- First entirely geosynthetic double liner system with two geomembranes and a geonet leakage detection system (1981)
The document supporting J.P. Giroud’s nomination to the Legion d’Honneur indicates that “through the methodologies he has developed, J.P. Giroud is probably one of the engineers who have had the most beneficial impact on the environmental protection of the ground.” The document also notes that Dr. Giroud has devoted a considerable amount of time to non-profit activities for the dissemination of technical information such as writing almost 400 papers, lecturing, and teaching courses.
In addition to his technical activities, Dr. Giroud has had an impact on our profession, being the driving force of the formation of the IGS, the co-founder of Geosyntec, a major consulting engineering firm, and the co-founder of two technical journals.
It is in part through his great activity that geosynthetics have now become established in every segment of civil and environmental engineering.
We congratulate him on this wonderful recognition.
For more information on Dr. Giroud’s work, visit the website of his company, JP GIROUD, Inc.:
http://www.jpgiroud.com
See also his professional bio (PDF):
https://www.geosynthetica.net/news/pdfs/GiroudBioNote2009.pdf
For more information on The Legion of Honour, please see its official website:
http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/index_en.html
Chris Kelsey is Geosynthetica’s Editorial Director. He can be reached at chris@geosynthetica.net.
