The North American Chapter of the
International Geosynthetics Society

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IGS-NA

IGS North America Board of Directors, 2023 – 2024

IGS North America is excited to announce its 2023 – 2024 Board of Directors:

  • President: Ben Leshchinsky, P.E. (Oregon State University)
  • President-Elect: Kristin Sample-Lord, PhD, P.E. (Villanova University)
  • Past President: John Allen, P.E. (MBCC Group)
  • Treasurer: Marco Isola, PhD, P.E. (WSP)
  • Secretary: Eric Blond, P.Eng (Eric Blond Consultant)
  • VP: John Lostumbo, P.E. (Solmax)
  • VP: Lilma Schimmel, MSCE, P.E. (AECOM)
  • VP: Fady Abdelaal, PhD, P.Eng (Queen’s University – Kingston)
  • VP: Joseph Scalia IV, PhD, P.E. (Colorado State University)

The IGS North America Board of Directors and membership would like to thank John McCartney, PhD, P.E., F.ASCE (University of California – San Diego) and Kate Patterson, P.Eng (Klohn Crippen Berger) for their years of service on the board, helping steer the chapter through a pandemic that dramatically changed how the field interacted.

The Board was officially installed during the IGS North America General Assembly (February 7, 2023) in Kansas City, Missouri. More news from the event will be published soon.

Learn more on the About page.

 

IGS North America 2023 Election Candidates

It’s elections time for the IGS North America Board of Directors! IGS North America, which represents the field in Canada and the United States, is electing a new President-Elect and three (of four) vice presidents. The current President-Elect Dr. Ben Leshchinsky will transition into the IGS-NA President’s role during the General Meeting on February 7 in Kansas City at Geosynthetics Conference. (Thank you, John Allen, for your years of service as President-Elect 2019-2020 and President 2021-2022!) IGS North America keeps four Vice Presidents, on staggered four-year terms. This year, we are filling three of the four positions.

Voting links have been sent out to all individual members.  (Student and affiliate members are not eligible.) Votes will be collected through January 31 and winners announced on February 7 at the IGS North America General Meeting in Kansas City.

Additional roles with the IGS North America Board will be announced after the election (e.g., Treasurer, Secretary, and position other special VP roles).

THE CANDIDATES

President-Elect

Kristin Sample-Lord, Ph.D., P.E. (USA)
Unchallenged

Dr. Sample-Lord is currently an IGS North America Vice-President with a mission focus on University Outreach. She is Associate Professor and Assistant Department Chair in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the Center for Resilient Water Systems at Villanova University. She received her MS and PhD from Colorado State University. Her research focuses on environmental containment barriers and green stormwater infrastructure, supported through funding from multiple national and state agencies (National Science Foundation, Department of Environmental Protection, PA Department of Transportation). She is an editorial board member for Geotextiles and Geomembranes and Canadian Geotechnical Journal. In addition to her work with IGS North America, she serves in a range of leadership roles in the geosynthetics, geotechnical, and engineering education communities. These roles include Board Member of the United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research (USUCGER) and Communications Coordinator for the ASCE Geoenvironmental Engineering Technical Committee. Dr. Sample-Lord has been recognized a rising “changemaker” for geotechnical engineering education. Learn more on LinkedIn.

 

Vice President Candidates

Fady Abdelaal, Ph.D. (Canada)

Fady Abdelaal, Queen's University (Kingston)Dr. Abdelaal is an Assistant Professor of Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He is also the Education Committee Co-Chair for GeoAmericas 2024, the 5th Pan-American Conference on Geosynthetics, which will take place in April 2024 in Toronto.  He has worked as an engineer and as a professor on multiple continents going back to 2004. He has a significant background in barrier systems, from private practice and research, including with low-level radioactive waste containment, potable water, landfills, and mining applications (e.g., heap leach pads, tailings storage facilities, and the Bayer process for Aluminum extraction). Learn more on LinkedIn.

Marco Isola, Ph.D., P.E. (USA)

Marco Isola from LinkedInMarco Isola is an Associate Engineer – Geotechnical at WSP. He is based in the Tampa area (Florida). He brings experience in design and construction of civil, geotechnical, and hydraulic structures for the mining, geo-environmental and transportation sectors: engineering analysis, design of geosynthetics systems, development of design criteria, plans and specifications, permitting and procurement support, dam safety inspections, and managing construction projects for operating and closed mine sites and other large-scale geotechnical projects throughout North and South America and Africa. He is a recognized expert in the design and use of geosynthetics for soil stabilization and reinforcement, waste and tailings containment, and drainage applications. He teaches seminars and short courses on geosynthetics applications at national and international agencies, organizations, and engineering colleges. Learn more on LinkedIn.

John Lostumbo, P.E. (USA)

John LostumboJohn Lostumbo is seeking a second term as a Vice President for IGS North America. He is Vice President of Marketing and Technical Services AMS for Solmax. For IGS North America, he currently serves as Vice President – Technical and as the Co-Chair of the Exhibits & Sponsorships Committee of GeoAmericas 2024. Lostumbo brings 25 years of experience as a private practice engineer (e.g., project design and management on major transportation works) and as an expert from the manufacturing side of geosynthetics. He serves in multiple industry organizations and volunteers regularly in his community. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Joseph Scalia IV, Ph.D., P.E. (USA)

Joseph Scalia IV, LinkedInDr. Scalia is Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University and Co-Chair of GeoAmericas 2024. Scalia specializes in geoenvironmental and geotechnical engineering. Scalia’s research and teaching center on the convergences of soil mechanics with contaminant hydrology, geology, environmental engineering, hydrology, mechanical engineering, and hydraulics. Prior to joining CSU, Scalia was a senior associate at Exponent (formerly Failure Analysis Associates) in the Environmental and Earth Sciences Practice in Bellevue, Washington, and Natick, Massachusetts. Learn more on LinkedIn.

IGS-NA Student Research Showcase in Kansas City


IGS North America and the Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA) are pleased to announce the Student Research Showcase to be held during Geosynthtetics Conference 2023. This poster competition is intended to highlight the work of students in geosynthetics while offering an opportunity to present on the show floor during the Tuesday lunch break. This is a great chance to show what you’ve got, and have some fun too!

Learn More & Submit

Key Dates

  • September 12: Call for abstracts for studen poaster competition
  • November 15: Last day to submit abstracts for consideration
  • December 9: Invitations to present a poster at the conference will be issued.
  • January 13: Final day to submit an electronic copy (PDF) of your designed poster.
  • February 7: Poster Presentation Session takes place


Prizes

  • 1st Place – USD $500 + first choice of full registration to GeoAmericas 2024 or Geotechnical Frontiers 2025
  • 2nd Place – USD $300 + full registration to GeoAmericas 2024 or Geotechnical Frontiers 2025 (remaining conference after 1st place winner selection.)
  • 3rd Place – USD $200

Winners will also be highlighted in the GeoWatch section of Geosynthetics magazine. Cash awards and conference registration offers are sponsored by IGS North America and the Geosynthetic Materials Association. Awards will be issued only to the lead author/presenter of the winning posters. Conference registrations do not have cash value and may not be exchanged for any cash considerations. Future registrations are not transferable. Students do not still need to be studying in 2024/2025 in order to accept future registrations.

Get full guidelines and presentation information here

Students selected to present will be notified by 9 December 2022.

All students invited to present posters at Geosynthetics Conference 2023 will be given free access to the conference February 5 – 7!

Also, all student authors and co-authors based in the US and Canada will be given IGS North America student memberships for the duration of their engineering studies and be invited to participate in other geosynthetics-related grant and paper competitions offered by the International Geosynthetics Society and IGS North America. Students based outside of US/Canada may be eligible for other student membership opportunities with the IGS and its numerous chapters around the world.

Please contact Barbara Connett at barbara.connett@textiles.org with any questions.

Call for Candidates – IGS North America Board 2023-2025

Dear IGS North America members,

The Board of IGS-NA seeks nominations for individuals for the President-Elect, Treasurer, and two (2) open seats for Vice-President. The current election cycle is particularly important, as the chapter is a partner to GeoSaskatoon 2023 and is developing the 5th Pan-American Conference on Geosynthetics (GeoAmericas 2024, Toronto) and the 13th International Conference on Geosynthetics (13 ICG – Montreal, 2026).

CALL FOR CANDIDATES – OPEN POSITIONS

The President-Elect serves one 2-year-term of office in that capacity, following which they serve one 2-year-term as President.

The Treasurer serves a 2-year term and is responsible for overseeing the finances of IGS-NA. (Note: IGS North America does have professional management that reports to the Treasurer.)

Vice-Presidents serve 4-year terms. IGS-NA’s Board includes four vice-presidents, whose terms are staggered. Two positions are up for election every two years.

Please contact info@igs-na.org with nominations for any of these positions before September 30, 2022. Self-nominations are encouraged.

Elections will be held in January 2023 and the new Board of Directors will officially be installed in early February during the IGS-NA general meeting at Geosynthetics Conference 2023.

John McCartney
IGS North America Past-President

5 Questions with IGS Council Candidate Jacques Côté

Jacques Côté is the founder and serves as Chairman of the Board at Solmax, the largest geosynthetics manufacturing group in the world. Mr. Côté helped establish the IGS Foundation in 2019 and currently  is running for a new, full four-year term on the Council now.

IGS North America encourages all members to actively participate in the IGS Elections, which are open for voting into mid-June. If you cannot locate your ballot invitation, please contact IGS office, igssec@geosyntheticssociety.org. 


As you seek a second term on the IGS Council, what are you proudest of with the IGS from the past four years?

Jacques CoteThe achievement that I am most proud of over the past four years was gaining from the IGS Council an approval for the establishment of the IGS Foundation in 2019. To date, the mission of the IGS Foundation is to support educational initiatives capable of understanding and promoting the appropriate use of geosynthetic technology throughout the world, thus enabling a reduction of our carbon footprint for the benefit of humanity. This mission fully supports the IGS mission statement that is “To provide an understanding and promote the appropriate use of geosynthetic technology throughout the world.”


After decades spent building your company, what inspired you to focus on IGS Council service and helping launch the IGS Foundation?

Giving back for me was my way of saying thank you for what I received. From a professional and human point of view, the geosynthetics industry has brought me a lot. Now was the time to give back to this great industry, so the main goal is to protect our world today for the benefit of future generations.


Are there specific endeavors you hope the IGS Council puts a stronger focus on in next Council cycle?

I believe that a major effort must be put on greater involvement of all IGS members in the realization of the vision of their Society. For my part, I would like to work to bring together Corporate Members to obtain their collaboration in the achievement of the IGS sustainable development vision with regard to the use of geosynthetic products in applications for the reduction of greenhouse gases. This endeavor will preserve the quality of life for our future generations. It would also be important to emphasize the promotion of all the services and tools that the IGS has developed over the last few years and which are not used enough by the people and organizations who need them most, because many of them do not know that these resources exist.

Finally, I believe that it is important to have a strong link between the IGS and the IGS Foundation to ensure a harmonious alignment of these two entities toward the future. I am certainly the person who could fulfill this role!

What exciting opportunities do you see coming for the geosynthetics field in the next few years?

What I see in the next few years is a significant increase in the use of geosynthetics for two main reasons. The first is for cost reasons: applications using geosynthetics can replace large volumes of natural materials, thus making the purpose of a project more economical. Secondly, for environmental reasons: the use of geosynthetics allows the preservation of our natural resources and makes it possible to reduce the carbon footprint in the realization of our infrastructure projects. Moreover, in the years to come I also see great efforts that will be employed in our industry to innovate. In this respect, we have at my own company a group of dedicated people so the raison d’être is to find disruptive technologies in relation to the use of geosynthetics both from a products and applications point of view.


All superheroes have an origin story. How were you introduced to geosynthetics?

My dream when I was an engineering student in Canada was to do international cooperation and more specifically to build roads in Africa. At the end of my studies in 1978, I was offered the opportunity to work in a small manufacturing company (TEXEL) which manufactured non-woven products, therefore a new product called geotextile. They needed a young engineer to do the technical and commercial representation of this new product. My first geotextile initiator was Jean-Paul Drouin, a mentor who introduced me to the technology of needlepunched nonwoven products and marketing techniques for these products. On the other hand, I was far from my dream of adventure of going to build roads in distant countries. In July of the same year, I had the chance to attend a conference in Manchester, UK on geotextiles and their applications. This is where I met my second initiator. During this conference there was a presentation made on the subject by the ‘young and dynamic’ Dr. Jean-Pierre Giroud from the University of Grenobles. I was impressed by the clarity and eloquence of his talk on the functions of geotextiles and the obvious advantages of using these new materials in civil engineering infrastructure applications. My conclusion was immediate: I’m in the right industry!

There is a lot to do and I like challenges. My third and fourth initiators were Dr. André Rollin from the Polytechnic School of Montreal who had Bob Denis as a master’s student. These two persons allowed me to evolve in the learning of geosynthetic technology. They have been apostles and builders of our industry.

Finally, today I can confirm to you that I made the right decision to make a career in this beautiful industry that is geosynthetics. I have never built roads in Africa but I have supplied geosynthetics to build them and installed thousands of square meters of them during my years on construction sites all over the world. In the end, however, I succeeded in realizing my adventurer’s dream.


THE 2022 “5 QUESTIONS” SERIES FOR THE IGS ELECTIONS

5 Questions with IGS Council Candidate John McCartney

John McCartney, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE is Professor and Department Chair at the University of California – San Diego, Department of Structural Engineering. He is a former President of the North American Chapter of the International Geosynthetics Society and is now running for IGS Council. In addition to his work with IGS North America, Dr. McCartney is very active with other engineering organizations.

IGS North America encourages all members to actively participate in the IGS Elections, which are open for voting into mid-June. If you cannot locate your ballot invitation, please contact IGS office, igssec@geosyntheticssociety.org. 


Did your time in leadership with IGS North America inspire your interest in seeking an IGS Council position?

Yes, I was inspired by working with colleagues from across North America to promote geosynthetics engineering principles and research, and to serve as the learned society for geosynthetics in the region. I had the pleasure to meet many people and work toward a common goal with colleagues from industry, manufacturing, and academia, and that is what I am looking forward to if I am elected to serve on the IGS Council.


What are some things you’d like to see the IGS Council focus on in the next four years?  

I think that there are opportunities to encourage more interaction between the different chapters and with other organizations around the world. The regional conferences are excellent, but I think that the Council could encourage more smaller workshops—focused topics to bring people together from different chapters and different organizations like ISSMGE, ASCE, and ASTM International: emerging research, practical applications, standards, etc. These workshops could lead to special issues of the society journals, Geosynthetics International and Geotextiles and Geomembranes.  Although the pandemic taught us how face-to-face meetings are ideal, it also gave us new tools to interact globally through webinars and virtual panels.

I would also like to contribute to continuing the expansion of the IGS Digital Library. Index more past proceedings in an open access format. Archive more videos and webinars from the different chapters, encouraging the establishment of and linking to their YouTube Channels.  


You chair the unsaturated soils committee with the ASCE Geo-Institute, and you just ran an energy geotechnics conference. How do these endeavors outside IGS inform your interactions with geosynthetics? 

I have been fortunate to work on a variety of research topics in my career, but I always look for ways to incorporate geosynthetics as they are very versatile tools to augment the behavior of soils. For example, energy geotechnics is my current passion, and I have been working on incorporating geothermal heat exchangers into reinforced soil slopes to help dry poorly draining backfills, and to integrate heat exchangers into prefabricated vertical drains to improve soft clays using thermal consolidation. There are of course new challenges when proposing new applications like this, but solving problems is exciting. I think that both the unsaturated soil mechanics and energy geotechnics fields are still expanding and there are still many ways that geosynthetics could be used.

You hosted an Educate the Educators (EtE) event (La Jolla, California 2019). What’s the state of geosynthetic engineering education in civil engineering programs today?

I think that most undergraduates are introduced to the concept of geosynthetics and their different applications. However, there are many required courses in an undergraduate curriculum and there are also many topics to cover in an introductory geotechnical engineering course. We have a short overview of geosynthetics in our introductory soil mechanics course, then show some applications in a ground improvement course. It really isn’t until the graduate level that we are able to go into depth on analyses and designs involving geosynthetics. The Educate the Educators events are great ways to give educators materials that they can directly integrate into their courses. As the MS degree becomes more and more important for starting in geotechnical engineering practice, we may want to make graduate course content a focus of future Educate the Educator courses. At both the undergraduate and graduate levels, I think having prepared presentations on case histories of the different applications of geosynthetics, going from a problem in the field, to the analysis and design, to construction in the field with possible instrumentation, would really be helpful for students.

If elected to the IGS Council, I would be excited to work with practitioners to build case histories like this that could be shared with students to give them a tangible feel for how geosynthetics can be used to solve problems.

All superheroes have an origin story. How were you introduced to geosynthetics?

I started getting involved with research during my undergraduate at the University of Colorado Boulder, and first started working on structural reliability. This led me to take a course on fractals in hydrology and I was inspired by patterns in clay cracking. The professor of this course introduced me to Professor Jorge Zornberg in the last year of my undergraduate, who introduced me to geosynthetic clay liners. Professor Zornberg shared a large database of GCL shear strength data from his time at Geosyntec that were performed by Rob Swan and his colleagues. I was very excited to integrate my background in probability and statistics with clay deformations to understand the many variables affecting GCL shear strength, and this got me started on my research career. I decided to continue working for my PhD with Professor Zornberg on the interaction between unsaturated soils and geosynthetics and have been having fun with geosynthetics since.



THE 2022 “5 QUESTIONS” SERIES FOR THE IGS ELECTIONS

IGS-NA Awarded 13th International Conference on Geosynthetics

The 13 ICG launch logo

Every four years, the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) convenes the International Conference on Geosynthetics (ICG). The ICG is a major technical and commercial exchange in the geotechnical engineering field, drawing leading practitioners, producers, and researchers from around the world. IGS North America is proud to announce that it has been chosen to organize and host the 13th International Conference on Geosynthetics (13 ICG) in Montreal.

The conference and exhibition will be held at the Palais des congrès de Montréal from 13 – 17 September 2026.

“This will be the first time the ICG will be delivered in Canada,” says IGS North America President John Allen, PE. “We are honored to have been selected by the IGS Council to organize the event in such a major center of research, manufacturing, and design.”

The bid was selected on April 7 by the voting members of the IGS Council, following virtual presentations by three competing IGS Chapters. The IGS has 44 international chapters and 4000 members. Their geotechnical insight and material innovations are utilized in every major sector of civil engineering and contribute to significant improvements in infrastructure service lives, environmental protection, and society in general.

“We chose the theme ‘Legacy, Evolution, and Revolution’ to reflect how scientific and engineering progress is achieved through clear understanding of where the field has been and what is required of it in the future,” says Dr. Ben Leshchinsky (Oregon State University), who will serve as co-chair of 13 ICG alongside Villanova University’s Dr. Kristin Sample-Lord, PE.

Leshchinsky will begin his term as IGS North America’s President in 2023.

“When we talk about future needs and how geosynthetics are involved, we’re talking about much more than new designs and solutions for roads or water resource management,” says Dr. Sample-Lord, the Vice President – University Outreach for IGS North America. “It’s also about how we train the next generation of engineers. It’s about diversity, equity, and inclusion. It’s about how geotechnical practice improves society.”

The initial topics selected by the chapter to center the 13 ICG program are transportation infrastructure; climate change, natural disaster mitigation and response; and energy and mining. The bid was supported by endorsements from the ASCE Geo-Institute, leaders of ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics, the GeoEngineering Centre at Queen’s-RMC, the Geosynthetic Institute, and other major organizations.

The chapter will begin assembling the event organizing committees and announcing further conference and exhibition details soon.

About IGS North America

The Mission of IGS North America is to provide leadership in advancing geosynthetics education and research to attain their appropriate and widespread use as engineering materials as the Chapter of the International Geosynthetic Society (IGS) for the United States of America and Canada. The chapter hosts webinars and in-person events and its members serve as leaders in all geotechnical engineering sectors, such as waste management, sustainability, environmental protection, coastal resilience, and mining. Learn more at www.igs-na.org.

About the International Geosynthetics Society

The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) is a learned society dedicated to the scientific and engineering development of geotextiles, geomembranes, related products, and associated technologies. IGS is a global community of 4,000 members including corporate, individual, and student members, with a shared passion for how geosynthetics can make a fundamental contribution to meeting societal challenges through sustainable technological and engineering solutions. Learn more at www.geosyntheticssociety.org.

About the Palais des congrès de Montréal

The Palais hosts over 350 events each year. As a major hub of activity in Montréal, it generates significant economic, social and cultural benefits for the tourism, business and research industries. The Palais is a trailblazer in the industry and works hand in hand with local strategic partners as well as young, highly innovative start-ups gathered under the name Events Lab. As a leader in sustainability and social practices, it was one of the first convention centers in the world to operate a carbon-neutral building. The Palais is widely known as a proud supporter of emerging talent, the arts and community-based initiatives and is an innovative and resolutely forward-looking partner. Visit https://congresmtl.com.

Call for Nominations – IGS North America Board of Directors

We are excited to call for nominations for candidates stand for election to serve on the next IGS-NA Board (2021-23). The Mission of IGS-NA is to provide leadership in advancing geosynthetics education and research to attain their appropriate and widespread use as engineering materials as the Chapter of the International Geosynthetic Society (IGS) for the United States of America and Canada.

If you are interested in helping to develop the programming, services and leadership offered by IGS-NA, I encourage you to consider standing for office.

Seats open for the upcoming election are:

  • 1 Seat – President Elect, Each new President-Elect shall serve one 2-year-term of office in that capacity following which he/she shall serve one 2-year-term as President, followed by one 2-year-term as Past-President. As President-Elect, the successful candidate will be responsible for assisting the President and performing assignments directed by the President and/or Board.
  • 1 Seat – Treasurer, The Treasurer will serve a 2-year-term. The Treasurer is responsible for managing the finances of IGS-NA.
  • 2 Seats – Vice-President, Vice-Presidents will serve a 4 year term. Vice-Presidents are responsible for representing Members of IGS-NA and performing assignments directed by the President and/or Board.

The successful candidate will join President-Elect John Allen, Vice Presidents Ben Leshchinsky and John Lostumbo, and Past-President John McCartney to lead IGS-NA.

Important Dates & Deadlines

August 30 to November 15, 2020 – Call for Nominations
December 15, 2020 to January 10, 2021 – Election by electronic ballot
February 21 to 24, 2021 – Newly elected Board Members will take office at the next General Assembly of the IGS-NA to be held during Geosynthetics Conference 2021.

To nominate someone else or yourself please email the requested information to Info@IGS-NA.org.

Please include your: name, title, company/institution/organization name, address, email address & phone number as well as 150 word description about your involvement in the geosynthetics industry and your reason(s) for running for the seat. Please also include one photo of yourself. Nominees must a Member in good standing of IGS-NA at the time of submission of the nomination.

If you have any questions or need more information please contact the Chair of the IGS-NA Nomination Committee and Past-President Richard Brachman (brachman@queensu.ca).

Educate the Educators 2019 – Call for Applications

IGS-NA’s Educate the Educators on Geosynthetics: Call for Applications
UC San Diego – December 9-10, 2019
As the Learned Society for geosynthetics in North America, IGS North America (IGS-NA) is pleased to call for applications to Educate the Educators 2019. This is a focussed, 2-day, specialized training event where leading experts and educators will equip college and university Professors to teach geosynthetics at their schools. Participants need only to pay their travel costs to La Jolla California. Funding from industry, the International Geosynthetics Society and the Members of IGS North America will be used to run the event and host our participants. For additional details, please visit: Educate the Educators 2019

FREE December 4 Webinar on Geosynthetic-Stabilized Roads

On December 4, Dr. Jie Han (University of Kansas) will present the next IGS North America webinar. His topic: “Recent Developments in Geosynthetic-Stabilized Roads: Introduction and Mechanisms.” The free event is part of the new IGS North America – GMA webinar series. Time for the presentation will be 1:00 – 2:00 pm EST.

REGISTER NOW

December 4 Webinar - Geosynthetic-Stabilized Roads Webinar

GEOSYNTHETIC-STABILIZED ROADS

Geotextiles, geogrids, and geocells have been used widely in roadway stabilization works throughout the world. In this webinar, Dr. Jie Han will deliver an introduction to geosynthetics in roadway engineering. His presentation will focus on the mechanisms involved in geosynthetic stabilization of unpaved and paved roads. Dr. Han is one of the leading practitioners in this area of geosynthetic design and research, and his work has contributed significantly to field understanding on how we can improve soil mechanical properties with geosynthetics and how these design decisions may involve two different functions/mechanisms—reinforcement and stabilization—which depend on geosynthetic/soil properties and loading conditions. The webinar will illustrate the differences and relationships between reinforcement and stabilization by geosynthetics in roads and discuss the selection of proper geosynthetics for specific applications based on controlling mechanisms.

Dr. Jie Han is the Glenn L. Parker Professor of Geotechnical Engineering in the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department at the University of Kansas. He has nearly 30 years of teaching, research, and practical experience in geotechnical and pavement engineering focused on geosynthetics and ground improvement. Dr. Han has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers as well as the text Principles and Practice of Ground Improvement.

Date: December 4
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm EST
Cost: Free

REGISTER NOW