The 2015 Student Paper Award, sponsored by the North American Geosynthetics Society (NAGS), was presented to Daniel Jones from Queen’s University, Canada, at Geosynthetics 2015 in Portland, Oregon. Jones was presented with a USD $500 award and will also receive an invitation to present his winning paper in a special session at GeoAmericas 2016, the 3rd Pan-American Conference on Geosynthetics (10 – 13 April 2016, Miami, Florida).

The GeoAmericas invite will include a free full registration to the event plus a USD $1000 stipend towards travel expenses.

The paper was titled “Hydration of Geosynthetic Clay Liners in Antarctica.” Jones co-authored the work with Dr. R. Kerry Rowe (Department of Civil Engineering, Queen’s University) and Dr. Rebecca McWatters (Australian Antarctic Division, Department of the Environment, Austrlian Government), the latter of whom was honored with a NAGS Student Paper Award in 2009.

Jones presented the paper in Portland, in line with the rules of the NAGS Student Paper competition.

Selection of the winning paper is based on both the written paper and its oral presentation at a conference chosen by NAGS.

NAGS is not the only International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) chapter conducting a student paper competition. Each IGS chapter in the Americas is holding one, and the winner of each chapter competition will be invited to present at GeoAmericas 2016. They too will be offered a free full registration to GeoAmericas and USD $1000 travel stipend.

GeoAmericas 2016 (www.GeoAmericas2016.org) is being hosted by the North American Geosynthetics Society. This marks the first time the Pan-American Conference on Geosynthetics will be held in the United States.

W. CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa.,October 23, 2013

L. David Suits, executive director of the North American Geosynthetic Society, Albany, N.Y., has received the A. Ivan Johnson Outstanding Achievement Award from ASTM International Committee D18 on Soil and Rock. This award is presented to a member whose efforts have produced a particular outstanding result orsignificant contribution to the work of the committee.

A dedicated ASTM International member for more than 35 years, Suits works on several subcommittees within Committees D18 and D35 on Geosynthetics. He is a founding member and past chairman of D35 and currently leads Subcommittee D35.03 on Permeability and Filtration as well as the D18 group on the Geotechnical Testing Journal, where he serves as a co-editor. Suits is also a member of Committee D04 on Road and Paving Materials and has served terms on the ASTM Standing Committees on Publications and Technical Committee Operations. He has received several standards development and service awards from D18 and D35, and was honored with the ASTM International Award of Merit and title of Fellow, ASTM’s highest organizational recognition for individual contributions to standards activities, in 1986.

Suits specializes in soils and geosynthetics testing. He was employed by the New York State Department of Transportation for 37 years, where he held various positions of increasing responsibility, including assistant soils engineer and soil mechanics laboratory supervisor, where he over saw the performance of all foundation design testing done in conjunction with the department’s $1 billion design and construction program. In 2005, he retired from NYSDOT and became executive and managing director of the North American Geosynthetics Society, a group that provides leadership for the advancement of education and research ingeosynthetics.

Outside ASTM International, Suits is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers Geo-Institute and the International Geosynthetics Society. He has authored or co-authored more than 28 articles and papers on geosynthetics. Suits holds a master’s degree in geotechnical engineering and a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Clarkson University, Potsdam. N.Y.

ASTM International is one of the largest international standards development and delivery systems in the world. ASTM International meets the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles for the development of international standards: coherence, consensus, development dimension, effectiveness, impartiality, openness, relevance and transparency. ASTM standards are accepted and used in research and development, product testing, quality systems and commercial transactions.