Geosynthetics February/March 2020 - 46

IGS-NA NEWS
IGS NORTH
AMERICA
The mission of IGS North
America is to provide
leadership in advancing
the education and
research of geosynthetics,
in strong cooperation with
IGS, via:
» Organization of and
participation in technical
conferences, seminars
and workshops
» Development and
dissemination of tools for
geosynthetics education
» Recognition of technical
contributions and innovations
regarding geosynthetics
» Stimulation of geosynthetics
research and their applications
through the IGS-NA Awards of
Excellence Program

John McCartney, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE,
is professor and department chair
of the Department of Structural

By John McCartney

Educate the Educators 2019 a success

he North American Chapter of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS-NA) held
another successful Educate the Educators (EtE) event at the University of California
in San Diego (La Jolla), Dec. 9-10, 2019. EtE is designed to provide specialized, hands-on
training and lecture materials to equip university instructors to offer effective geosynthetics
content as part of an undergraduate engineering course at their schools. A total of 24 young
academics participated in the EtE event to help teach geosynthetics at their universities.
Participants classified their geosynthetics knowledge as either intermediate or novice.
The goal of the EtE program is to, at a minimum, offer a 50-minute introductory lecture
on geosynthetics to university instructors at least once over the next calendar year. Of the
24 academics who took the EtE training, nine do not include any geosynthetic content in
their courses, eight offer some geosynthetic content in a core course, and 11 offer some
geosynthetic content in an elective course. Our goal is, first, to get at least one effective
geosynthetics lecture in a core course in all their programs. Second, we want to "fire them
up" to incorporate as many high-quality technical lectures on geosynthetics in their elective
courses as we can. EtE could not have been possible without the generous support from
our event sponsors: CETCO, HUESKER Inc., TenCate Geosynthetics Americas and the
International Geosynthetics Society.

GeoAmericas, 4th PanAmerican Conference
on Geosynthetics set April 26-29
After being held in Mexico in 2008, Peru in 2012 and the United States in 2016,
GeoAmericas comes to Brazil in its 4th edition, which will be held April 26-29, 2020, in
Rio de Janeiro. In addition to providing a rich technical program focused on the most relevant topics for the technical community of geosynthetics today, the conference will offer
several social events and a wide area for technical exhibits for the geosynthetics industry.
English is the official language at the conference, but activities in Spanish and Portuguese
will also compose the event's program. We anticipate more than 1,000 participants from
more than 30 countries, which ensures both broad representativeness and a plurality of
cultures and markets. www.geoamericas2020.com

Engineering at the University
of California San Diego and the
president of IGS-NA.

A chapter of the International
Geosynthetics Society

Geosynthetics Conference 2020: CASE STUDIES workshop
Arrive early in North Charleston, S.C., for the Geosynthetics Conference 2020 and catch
three additional case studies hosted by IGS North America. This workshop is open to
members and nonmembers alike. For nonmembers, your registration in the workshop
will include your annual membership while members receive a discounted rate. We have
three fantastic speakers lined up and you'll receive three professional development hours
(PDHs). Earn that hard-to-get Ethics PDH with Boyd Ramsey's Ethics in Geosynthetic
and Civil Engineering; Dr. Michael Plumier will be speaking on the changes in AASHTO
M294 and the impacts of recycled materials on geopipes; lastly, Chris Eichelberger will
cover Geosynthetic Installation Issues for Designers. The talks will be followed by a social

http://www.geoamericas2020.com

Geosynthetics February/March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Geosynthetics February/March 2020