Further information about ISSMGE can be found on their website http://www.issmge.org

Guillermo Springall

Vice-President for North America ISSMGE

Istanbul, August 26, 2001

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Report on North American Activities

Summary

This report is a briefing of key activities, achievements and indications for future plans within the three Member Societies of the North American Region. It is based on the information provided by Prof. Kerry Rowe, President of the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS); Prof. Juan J. Schmitter, President of the Mexican Society for Soil Mechanics (MSSM); and Prof. Harvey Wahls, ISSMGE Secretary for the US Geo-Institute (G-I).

I am glad to inform that the North American Region has been very active in the past years, and has concrete plans for the future. Despite their dynamic and encouraging activities, the CGS and the MSSM have seen a decrease in the number of its members. Contrary to this trend, the G-I

–recently founded, and open to the geo-industry- has seen an extraordinary increment in membership numbers. This outcome has had a certain resonance on ISSMGE.

North America is currently sponsoring 11 Technical Committees –CGS (5), MSSM (1), G-I (5)- which represent one third of the total TC’s of ISSMGE. The main national, regional and international events are included in the paragraphs that follow.

Canada

The CGS is an active, broadly based, diversified society whose principal objective is to provide professional development opportunities for its members. Internationally, the CGS is the national committee for ISSMGE. It is also affiliated with international societies and associations for rock mechanics, engineering geology, permafrost, geosynthetics and hydrogeology. The CGS is widely diversified across Canada. It offers over 100 meetings, short courses, workshops, and conferences each year in 23 cities. Annual conferences attract 250 – 350 participants. They are increasingly accompanied by workshops and parallel conferences, particularly in association with the International Association of Hydrogeologists, but also involving geosynthetics, engineering geology, geoenvironmental engineering, and computing.

Financial reserves are strong, both in the national society and in the local groups. Donations from industry support a wide range of awards and prizes, including the Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium for young researchers, and Cross Canada Lecture Tours for established practitioners and researchers. The Society is fortunate in its ability to attract and involve engineers and geoscientists from industry as well as the universities. While there is some concern about the age profile of the membership, many of the local groups and technical divisions are being led by men and women in early- to mid-career.

The technical programs of the CGS support the objectives of the ISSMGE by acting as hosts for a number of ISSMGE Technical Committees. The Society will host a conference on Physical and Centrifuge Modelling for TC23 in Newfoundland in mid 2002. It has invited ISSMGE to co-sponsor with IAEG and ISRM in 2004, an international and interdisciplinary conference on Resource Development. It is also working on a number of other international conferences, most noticeably the North American Rock Mechanics Symposium in 2002, and early preparations for a bid for the ICSMGE in 2009. The Society sent two of its members to the Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference in England in 2000. It is currently organizing a Workshop for Geotechnical Educators (2001) to improve contact with the many young academics who have recently been appointed into our universities.

Communications with members consist principally of (i) the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, (ii) Geotechnical News, (iii) a website at www.cgs.ca, and (iv) an extensive e-mail network that can be used for both regional groups and technical divisions. The Journal is technically managed and produced by the National Research Council of Canada but is strongly supported by CGS members through its editorial board, reviewers, authors, and subscribers.

United States

Under the leadership of President Robert D. Holtz, the Board of Governors of the Geo-Institute of ASCE is pursuing many new initiatives, including new publications, new conference formats and more interactions with other professional organisations in the geo-industry. The International Activities Council is coordinating interactions with ISSMGE and its Member Societies and other international organisations. Major Geo-Institute activities and events since October 2000 include the following:

1. Dr. Evert Hoek presented the 2000 Terzaghi Lecture on "Big Tunnels in Bad Rock" at the ASCE National Convention in Seattle, WA, in October 2000. The Geo-Institute also sponsored additional 5 technical sessions.
2. Geo-Odyssey 2001, Foundation and Ground Improvement, will be held at Virginia Tech on June 10-13, 2001. The program will feature the 2001 Seed Lecture by Dick Goodman, the 2001 Peck Lecture by Ben Gerwick, and a reprise of the 2000 Terzaghi Lecture by Evert Hoek. Kenji Ishihara and Michael Jamiolkowski will present additional invited lectures.
3. Dr. Suzanne Lacasse will present 2001 Terzaghi Lecture at the ASCE National Convention in Houston, October 2001. The Houston programme also will include many other strong geotechnical sessions.
4. Prof. Richard D. Woods has been selected to serve as the ISSMGE Vice President for North America, 2001-2005.
5. Planning is underway for the XII Panamerican Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, which will be held at MIT (Cambridge, MA) in June 2003. This will be the first PCSMGE to be held in the continental USA and will be co-sponsored by the Geo-Institute and the American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA). Prof. Herbert Einstein of MIT is Chair of the Organising Committee.

Mexico

Key Activities of the MSSM include the encouragement of the knowledge and experience of soil mechanics amongst students, engineers and technicians nationally and regionally, through the promotion and organization of short courses, lectures, seminars, symposiums and conferences on diverse themes related with geotechnical matters, as well as the edition and publication of notes, proceedings, and other technical material. A number of events are held in association with universities, organisations, and other technical societies. Two young members at the Young Geotechnical Engineering Conference 2000 in Southampton represented the MSSM.

Main recent achievements of the MSSM include the organisation of the First Panamerican Conference on the Teaching-Learning Process of Geotechnical Engineering, the XX National Meeting on Soil Mechanics, and the XV Nabor Carrillo Lecture, entitled "Fifty Years of Soil Dynamics" by Robert Whitman. These events were held in Oaxaca, November 2000. In addition to the proceedings of these events, the following books were also published in 2000: Collection of Technical Papers on Sismo-Geodynamics, by Leonardo Zeevaert; Handbook on Deep Foundations; and Evolution of Bridge Foundations Built in Mexico. Several members of the MSSM prepared the last two.

Since 2000, the MSSM hosts the ISSMGE TC-36 on Engineering Foundations on Soft Soils.

Future Plans of the MSSM include: Symposium on Geosynthetics, June 2001; Short Course on Deep Foundations, July 2001; Lecture on Deep Foundations, by William Van Impe, July 2001; Seminar on Tailing Dams, September 2001; Short Course on Pavement Design, November 2001; and the First Lecture "Alfonso Rico Rodriguez", related to themes on soil mechanics and road structures, November 2001. For November 2002, the MSSM is organising the XXI National Meeting on Soil Mechanics, and the XVI Nabor Carrillo Lecture.