Event: Geosynthetics in Roadways Short Course
Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2013, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Location: Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida

Course Summary:
The 1 day (6PDHs) short course “Geosynthetics in Roadways” provides training on the appropriate, cost-effective utilization of geosynthetics in roadway applications. The course examines the use of geotextiles, geogrids, and edge drains in pavement structures. Applications of filtration, drainage, roadway separation, roadway reinforcement, roadway subgrade improvement, and pavement overlays are addressed.

Who should attend:
The workshop is intended for engineers or technical staff who design roadways and would like to gain a greater understanding of the use of geosynthetics in roadway applications.

About the instructors:

• Barry R. Christopher, Ph.D., P.E. is an independent geotechnical engineering consultant specializing in reinforced soil and other ground improvement technologies, geosynthetic application and design, and geotechnical/geosynthetic testing and instrumentation.
• L. David Suits, MSCE, has over 35 years of experience in geosynthetics and geosynthetics testing.Mr. Suits is currently the Executive Director of the North American Geosynthetics Society.

Event: International Symposium on Design and Practice of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Structures
Dates: 14–16 October, 2013
Location: Bologna, Italy

Registration is open for the International Symposium on Design and Practice of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Structures.

Seats are limited so register today!

The GSI Board of Directors has made their selections for this year’s GSI Fellowship awards from a number of proposals from universities around the world. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students studying geosynthetics. Requests for proposals (RFP’s) for the upcoming seventh year of the program will be announced this winter. In order to be eligible, students must focus on a geosynthetic topic, have passed their candidacy examination, and be recommended by their advisor. The recipients for the 2013–2014 GSI Fellowship Awards are as follows:

• Class 6(a) — 1st Year Funding at $10,000 per Student

  No.: 1-13

  Name: Jongwan Eun

  University: University of Wisconsin

  Advisor: Craig Benson

  Topic: Transport Parameters in Coextruded Geomembrane Containing Ethylene Vinyl-Alcohol

   

  No.: 2-13

  Name: Yu Qian

  University: University of Illinois

  Advisor: Erol Tutumluer

  Topic: Geogrid-Ballast Interaction and Geogrid Application in Railroad Reinforcement using Image-aided Discrete Element Method

• Class 5(b) — 2nd Year Funding at $5,000 per Student

  No.: 2-12

  Name: Xunchang Fei

  University: University of Michigan

  Advisor: Dimitrios Zekkos

  Topic: Impact of Municipal Solid Waste Biodegradation on Separator Geotextile

• Class 4(c) — 3rd Year Funding at $5000 per Student

  No.: 3-11

  Name: Felix Jacobs

  University: RWTH Aachen University

  Advisor: Martin Ziegler

  Topic: Large Scale Biaxial Compression Testing of Geogrid Reinforced Soil

Please contact Jamie Koerner at jrkoerner@verizon.net for additional information on the students and their respective projects or go to www.geosynthetic-institute.org/gsifellows.htm for a complete history of the fellowship program.

The year 2012 has been an active year for NAGS. We have co-hosted, with GMA, a series of regional short courses. We anticipate at least four of these sessions to be held during 2013.  

We have participated both with financial support, and attendance at, the Lobby Days organized through GMA and its lobbyists. There have been very positive results from that activity with a congressional mandated report by the Government Accounting Office was released in November on the benefits of using geosynthetics, as well as language in the transportation bill encouraging the use of innovative materials such as geosynthetics in the design and construction of transportation facilities. A copy of the report is available HERE

We worked with IFAI and GMA in conjunction with the Geosynthetics 2013 Conference to be held in Long Beach, CA. April 1-4, 2013. The conference is co-located with the FHWA Southwest Geotechnical Engineers, and the GRI 25 Conferences. We have agreed on the arrangements to participate in the Canadian Geotechnical Society Annual Conference to be held in Montreal in late September 2013.

In conjunction with the Geosynthetics 2013 NAGS will hold its biennial meeting where the new Board of Directors, including the new President, President-elect, and Board members will be introduced.

One of the Board of Directors’ initiatives for 2013 is recruitment of new members

While we have over 200 members now, growth in membership will allow us to pursue other activities that promote the use geosynthetics. In that regard we would like to ask your help. We encourage each member to recruit at least one new member. As an incentive to do this we are offering, compliments of IFAI/GMA, a one year subscription to “Geosynthetics” for any US or Canadian  member renewing for 2013 who recruits at least one new member.

A new website that incorporates many new features, including the ability to share news of members and the industry, a calendar of upcoming events, links to various other sites including the IGS site and a LinkedIn Group, pictures, and more, will be available during the first quarter of 2013. Watch for the announcement.  

Should there be any questions regarding anything about NAGS, please don’t hesitate to contact me. We are looking forward to another successful year in 2013, and it will be with your support that this will be possible.

L. David Suits, Executive Director