Our congratulations go out to the organizers of Geo-Frontiers 2005 – It was an amazing success with some really unique events and valuable participation!
"Most attendees are not geosynthetic people and most of the exhibitors are geosynthetic companies…so they must be tickled pink!" – Bob Mackey, S2Li.
"The energy of this conference is the best energy of any conference I’ve been to." – as told to Sam Allen, TRI Environmental.
"This has been the best mix of participants that I’ve ever seen." – Andrew Whittam, Linear Composites.
"I feel that this conference has been very successful." – Jorge Zornberg, The University of Texas at Austin.
What an extremely busy week geosynthetica has had! Geo-Frontiers, held 23-26 January 2005, was an event that was full of meetings, presentations, exhibits, demonstrations, seminars, and fun.
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| Geo-Frontiers’ Registration Desk in the lovely Hilton hotel in Austin. |
After registration, we visited the very well attended Short Courses on Sunday the 23rd. Nearly every room had standing room only! Short Course titles included:
- Surface Erosion Regulations and Application of Natural Geosynthetic Products
- Static and Seismic Stability of Solid Waste Landfills
- Quality Assurance of Geosynthetics Used in Waste Containment
- Professional Practice 101: The Essentials of Risk Management and Profitability for Project Managers
- Practical Geophysics for Geotechnical Investigations
- Introduction to Waste Containment
- Advances in Deep Foundations
- Reinforced Soil Structures: Design, Methods, Issues and Innovations
- Innovation in Grouting: The Developments 2000-2005
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A few leaders of the Sunday Short Courses. Terrific food was provided by the host hotel all week – Short Course attendees take a quick lunch break before resuming classes. |
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The International Reception was held on Sunday evening and it was terrific to see how many of our overseas friends came to the conference.
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International conference attendees from every corner of the world – thank you for coming all the way to Austin. | |
Geo-Frontiers 2005 was a tremendous success, with approximately 2000 participants and 130 exhibitors! The Conference combined the Geo-Institute 2005 Congress, the Geosynthetic Materials Association Geosynthetics 2005 Conference, and the 18th GRI Annual Conference on Geosynthetics.
The Conference was organised by the Geo-Institute (G-I), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA), and the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) and was held under the auspices of the IGS (together with its North American Chapter) and the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).
Opening Plenary Session
Dr. Bob Gilbert, Conference Co-Chair (U of Texas), officially opened Geo-Frontiers 2005, followed by an introductory speech by Arlan Rippe, P.E. (President of G-I). Arlan stressed the importance and need for integration of all organisations participating in the Conference.
Professor William van Impe, ISSMGE President, then spoke to the need for symbioses between all geotechnical engineering organisations and the development of the Federation of GeoEngineers, which has been in progress for the past two years. Dr. Daniele Cazzuffi, IGS President, addressed the two goals of the IGS: broad geographical representation and synergy as a result of no boundaries between geotechnical groups.
GeoFrontiers: The Perspective from Space
All Conference participants were given the opportunity to listen and watch the engaging and fascinating experiences in Space of NASA Astronaut and geologist, James F. Reilly III. Dr. Reilly has logged more than 517 hours in space, including three spacewalks totaling 16 hours and 30 minutes!
Dr. Reilly emphasised the importance of research in space and its role in advancing our knowledge of the earth and its processes, in addition to its importance as an educational tool to get children interested in science. His slide presentation showed the various research projects and studies carried out by himself and his NASA colleagues, ranging from human tumor growth, to the use of satellite images to assess tsunami damage, and sediment transport, to name but a few.
Geo-Challenge Student Competition
University student teams were challenged to build an 18-inch high MSE wall with paper strip reinforcement and sand, which was to withstand a 50 lb load and experience less than 0.5 inches of horizontal movement. Judging was based on the time used to build the wall, whether or not the wall sustained the load, how much paper was used, and a written paper on the design.
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Geo-Challenge Student Competition
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All participating universities demonstrated excellent creativity, technical know-how, and team spirit.
And, …, the winning team was the University of Missouri-Columbia: Alexandra Wayllace, Daniel Huacco, Raphal Baltonado, and Elizabeth Freeman (Advisor: Dr. Erik Loehr), who went on to compete in GeoJeopardy (more details on the “nail-biting” events of GeoJeopardy are below).
Terzaghi Lecture
The 2005 Terzaghi Lecture, one of the highest honors in geotechnical engineering, was given by Professor Delwyn Fredlund, Saskatoon, Canada. The topic of Prof. Fredlund’s lecture was “Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in Engineering,” which looked at the six challenges faced by geotechnical engineers from the 1950s to 2000 and beyond in characterising the mechanics of unsaturated soil.
Heroes and Award Luncheon
The ASCE H. Bolton Seed Medal for outstanding geotechnical contributions in teaching, practice and research was presented to James K. Mitchell, and the Wallace Hayward Baker Award for outstanding contributions to grouting and ground improvement technologies was presented to Joseph P. Welsh.
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J.P. Giroud and Rudy Bonaparte
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The honoured ASCE Heroes, who have made significant contributions and have demonstrated innovation and leadership in geo-technology and industry, were Dr. J.P. Giroud (introduced by Dr. Rudy Bonaparte, GeoSyntec Consultants), Dr. Robert Koerner (introduced by Dr. David Daniel, U of Illinois), and Dr. Lymon C. Reese (introduced by Dr. Clyde Lee, U of Texas). Unfortunately, due to the large snowstorm that hit the northeastern states, Bob Koerner did not make it to the awards ceremony; his son, George Koerner accepted on his behalf.
It was fascinating to hear that Lymon Reese was Dr. Seed’s first Ph.D. student. Also, we were delighted to hear of J.P.’s first “reinforced soil” challenge. The burning question is … why did you have your mother’s car on the beach?
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| Pete Stevenson, J.P. Giroud and Daniele Cazzuffi |
J.P. Giroud was also presented with a 2004 IGS Award by Daniele Cazzuffi, IGS President, for his contributions to "Criteria for Geotextile and Granular Filters” (see the November 2004 IGS News for more information). In addition, Donald Bruce (of Geosystems, L.P.), Chair of the Grouting and Soil Improvement Committee was given the Technical Committee of the Year Award in recognition of his contributions to his leadership and participation in this Committee.
McNicol Lecture: “The Big Dig”
Dan McNicol is a nationally recognised expert on the Big Dig in Boston, Massachusetts and the U.S. Interstate System. His riveting lecture reviewed the 200 years of history on the building of highways in the US and focused on the incredible technical feats being conducted at the Big Dig in Boston: the construction of which is equivalent to the building of 23 Hoover Dams! Mr. McNicol left us with the message that “We don’t have highways because we are a great country … We are a great country because we have highways.”
It would be remiss of me not to mention pre-lecture entertainment of “Esther’s Follies,” Austin’s renowned comedy troupe, who delighted the crowd with impersonations of “well-known” politicians and celebrities, of course, George Bush and Bill Clinton were amongst those honoured.
Peck Lecture
The 2005 Peck Lecture was given by Prof. Thomas D. O’Rourke of Cornell University. The Award was established in honor of Ralph B. Peck. This annual lecture is awarded to and given by a geotechnical engineer for outstanding contributions to the profession through the analysis and publication of case histories. The title of Prof. O’Rourke’s lecture was “Lessons Learned from Ground Movements and Soil Stabilisation on the Boston Central Artery.”
Barbeque Bash and GeoJeopardy
All Conference participants had the opportunity to “a taste of Texas barbeque” and all the “fixin’s” – it was a delicious feast!
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The geotechnical game show, GeoJeopardy, resulted in many laughs and many unanswered questions …
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The ASCE Heroes (J.P. Giroud, Bob Koerner, and Lymon Reese) were paired with future geotechnical professionals (i.e., Student GeoChallenge winners). Game show host, Rich Ray, was able to keep the contestants on their toes with questions of unparalled difficulty. The grand winners were J.P. Giroud and Elizabeth Freeman – congratulations to you both! Apparently, amongst the useless prizes was a monogrammed set of holiday Mohr-Coulomb envelopes … to open and tear across failure line…
18th GRI Symposium
The 18th Geosynthetics Research Institute (GRI) Symposium on Geosynthetics in Transportation/Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental/Hydraulic Engineering was held on 26 January 2005 (70 papers abstracted, available on geosynthetica). The Symposium was an exploratory trial that looked beyond the horizon as to what research and development needs are necessary to propel geosynthetics to the next level. The next GRI conference, which will be a combined effort between GRI and NAGS, will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on 14 to 16 December 2005.
Other Conference Activities
Seven short courses
Geotech/Geosynthetics Exhibition
Field demonstrations and applications of new technologies
Observations of Tsunami Damage in Sri Lanka, by P.J. Lynett (Texas A&M)
Conference Proceedings
A CD-Rom of the Geo-Frontiers 2005 proceedings can be ordered from the ASCE. Papers are organised into 14 individual volumes comprising 13 Geotechnical Special Publications, and one GRI publication. For more information, visit the ASCE web site: www.asce.org/bookstore/search.cfm, or click on this link to view abstracts from the 186 geosynthetics-related papers.
