The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) announced the creation of the “Zornberg Lecture,” established in recognition of IGS past president Dr. Jorge Zornberg’s major contributions to the geosynthetics discipline, of his leadership in conceiving and organizing the first IGS GeoAmericas conference, and of his continued fostering of the IGS presence across the Americas.
The IGS Pan-American Activities Committee (PAAC), in its meeting of Sept. 21, 2018, in Seoul, Korea decided to initiate the Zornberg Lecture series, which includes a lecture by a prominent geosynthetics expert, to be delivered after the opening of IGS Pan-American Conferences on Geosynthetics, starting at GeoAmericas 2020, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. During its meeting of Sept. 22, 2018, this PAAC initiative was presented to the IGS Council, which endorsed the committee decision.
A Selection Task Force has been appointed to solicit and vet nominations for the 2020 Zornberg Lecturer. The Zornberg Lecture will recognize an individual whose work resulted in significant advances in concepts or technologies that had a major impact on the practice of geosynthetics engineering in the Americas.
The criteria for selection of the Zornberg Lecturer includes: (1) having a demonstrated pursuit of excellence; (2) having contributed to the development of the geosynthetics discipline at large; and (3) having advanced, either directly or indirectly, to the appropriate use of geosynthetics in the Americas.