Last week’s International Foundation Congress and Equipment Exposition in Orlando, Florida was a huge success! The keynote speakers included:
- Major General Don Riley, Deputy Commanding General and Deputy Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- Dan Brown, Ph.D., P.E., President, Dan Brown and Associates, PLLC
- John Wolosick, P.E., Director of Engineering, Hayward Baker, Inc.
The annual Geo-Institute Peck Lecture was given by Ed Kavazanjian, Ph.D., P.E., Associate Professor, Arizona State University.
The annual Geo-Institute Terzaghi Lecture was given by Clyde N. Baker, Jr., P.E., Dist. M,ASCE, Senior Principal Engineer, AECOM. Clyde is known around the world as an excellent geotechnical engineer, an expert on deep foundations for tall buildings, and a man of outstanding character. He was honored at the “Honoring Our Hero” Award Dinner during the conference.
The technical sessions were excellent, covering a wide range of topics including deep foundations, ground improvement, testing, and modeling. The indoor exhibit hall was packed with vendors, contractors, and consulting firms. It was good to see some of the latest in software, equipment, and to see many friends in the geo-industry.
The outdoor exhibits of foundation equipment were outstanding! There were drilling rigs, pile driving rigs, cranes, augers, testing equipment….it was a parking lot full of steel! Here are some pictures:
The ADSC, Geo-Institute, and PDCA were the co-organizers of the event. A big hats off to all of the staff of all three organizations that made the event a huge success! Thanks and “atta boy” go to Mohamad Hussein, P.E. (Conference Chair) and to Dan Brown, Ph.D., P.E. (Technical Program Chair) for all of their work, as well as the rest of the organizing committee that put in a lot of hours to help things go smoothly.
There were over 300 papers included in the conference. The proceedings were published as three Geotechnical Special Publications:
- GSP 185: Contemporary Topics in Deep Foundations
- GSP 186: Contemporary Topics in In-Situ Testing, Analysis, and Reliability of Foundations
- GSP 187: Contemporary Topics in Ground Modification, Problem Soils, and Geo-Support
The editors, Magued Iskander, Ph.D., P.E. (Polytechnic Institute of New York University), Debra Laefer, Ph.D. (University College Dublin, Ireland), and Mohamad Hussein, P.E. (GRL) all had their work cut out for them. There is a long list of reviewers, technical track managers, and session moderators in the GSPs and the conference program that all had a hand in the success of the publication and the sessions.
As you can see, a conference like this takes a lot of volunteers to pull off. If you have not helped review a paper for a conference or publication, consider volunteering. The technical committees of the organizations (G-I, ADSC, PDCA, DFI) are the quickest way to get involved and contribute to your profession. Practitioners are needed and welcomed. Join one of the geo-industry organizations and get involved!
