Mission: To organize and coordinate geosynthetic-related education, application, and research activities within ASCE/G-I, and with other geosynthetics-related communities. Goals: The committee will focus on developing and organizing sessions and disseminating information on innovative developments within annual specialty conferences, by G-I and other organizations, that explore geosynthetics topics as related to the conference’ or event’s theme. To this end, the committee will coordinate with other G-I committees and other geosynthetics-related organizations to identify and incorporate timely issues and technologies. Organized sessions will be augmented by special events and various forums of publications to highlight and promote geosynthetics technologies and applications.

Effective August 1, 2004 Colbond, Inc. announces the launch of a new family of environmentally conscious Enkadrain subsurface drainage composites.

GeoSyntec Consultants relocates corporate operations center and Florida branch headquarters - Jon Dickinson, CFO of GeoSyntec Consultants, announced August 1, 2004, that GeoSyntec Consultants, Inc. [www.geosyntec.com] has moved to new offices at the Arvida Park of Commerce, located at 5901 Broken Sound Parkway in Boca Raton, Florida. The new space accommodates 80 employees, and serves as the company’s corporate operations center for support functions including accounting, IT, and human resources. It will also serve as the headquarters for GeoSyntec’s Florida Branch which has operations in five Florida & Gulf Coast cities (Boca Raton, Baton Rouge, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Titusville/Space Coast ). “This location based on the right combination of attractive space and location,” said Tom Peel, Ph.D., Principal and Florida’s operations manager for GeoSyntec. “We wanted to accommodate our continued growth as well as provide our employees with a comfortable work environment so they can better serve our customers.” Recently ranked as seventh on ZweigWhite’s Hot Firms 2004 List, this move is one of ten new offices and relocations this year designed to accommodate GeoSyntec’s growth. In addition to the Boca Raton move, in the past twelve months GeoSyntec offices in Jacksonville, Titusville, Austin, Walnut Creek, Warner Robins, Boston have relocated and new offices have been established in Ann Arbor, Charlotte, and Greenville, SC. GeoSyntec provides private and public sector clients with earth sciences and environmental consulting services. Founded in 1983 as specialists in geosynthetic design, engineering, and consulting, the company has grown to 500 employees with 30 offices in four countries. Practice areas currently include groundwater assessment and remediation; surface water and natural resources management; pollution prevention; risk assessment and management; brownfield site development; and waste disposal facility permitting, design, construction and closure.

John Carpenter was congratulated by Dan Rowe for his long-standing service to EPI. Mr. Carpenter was recognized in July 2004 for his twenty years with the company. Congratulations!

After a successful liver transplant on Aug 18, Rob Swan of SGI (a gsa underwriter) was asking for his wife Denise to see if she had changed the phone message! Rob has some recovering to do but it sounds like he is well on his way.

Rob Swan of SGI (a gsa underwriter) has been matched with a donor and is undergoing a liver transplant at 10:00am on Aug 18th. Surgery is being performed at The Mayo Clinic, St. Luke's Hospital, Jacksonville, FL. Rob will not be allowed to receive flowers or fruit, however, balloons, cards, and well wishes are all welcome. For St. Luke's details, please go to the continued link below. Learn more here.;

After performing electrical liner integrity and leak location surveys for over 17 years I-CORP 's emphasis is now on teaching the technology to others (with TRI / T-CLIC ), locating troublesome leaks (as opposed to final CQA surveys), and performing more unusual surveys.

Environmental Protection, Inc. (EPI) personnel are now participating in the Safe2Work safety program. Safe2Work.com delivers, reports, documents, and tracks basic safety training and drug screen status information of construction workers. Safe2Work provides verification to owners and general contractors of an individual worker’s drug test status and safety training status – all in one centralized, online, secure database location. Brad DeArment, Installation Supervisor for EPI, has successfully completed all safety training components of Safe2Work and is now a Certified Contractor Representative. EPI field welding technicians have also completed the training requirements for Safe2Work as construction laborers. Safe2Work provides basic safety awareness training in addition to EPI’s comprehensive on-the-job safety program. EPI has not had a reportable accident since 2000 and has had only one lost time accident since 1994. For more information, contact Environmental Protection, Inc. at 9939 US-131 South, Mancelona, MI 49659. Phone 800-OK-LINER or 231-587-9108, or on the web at http://www.geomembrane.com

The North American Geosynthetics Society Board recently met to develop a new, clear direction for the Society. After a two-day Strategic Planning Retreat in May was held, a solid plan for the future were created. NAGS' newly developed mission statement is as follows: "The mission of NAGS is to provide leadership in advancing the education and research of geosynthetics via the following ways: 1. Organization of and participation in technical conferences, seminars, and workshops. 2. Development and dissemination of tools for geosynthetics education. 3. Recognition of technical contributions and innovations regarding geosynthetics. 4. Stimulation of research on geosynthetics and their applications through the NAGS Awards of Excellence Program." NAGS' new vision statement is as follows: "NAGS is an organization of individual members representing all aspects of the geosynthetics community. NAGS will continue to be a recognized North American leader in advancing the education, research, and development of geosynthetics."

The Geosynthetics Committee of the Geo-Institute is in dire need for reviewers for the papers submitted to Geofrontiers ’05. If you are able to help, please email Mo Gabr gabr@eos.ncsu.edu. Reviews must be back by the 3rd week of August. All reviews will be handled electronically. Thanks in advance.