TEXTILES.ORG
By John McCartney
The 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
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 hour prior to the opening of the exhibit show reception. Register today at https://geosyntheticsconference.com/register.
Become an IGS-NA member today
IGS-NA is an organization that strives to support the development of geosynthetics technologies through education, communication and networking. IGS-NA not only provides a broad variety of direct benefits to its members, but it is also an advocate for geosynthetic technology throughout North America. In addition, IGS-NA develops and hosts a variety of short courses and workshops throughout each year.
There are two forms of membership. An individual membership is only $100 and a student membership is free. By becoming a member of IGS-NA, you not only support your chapter financially but you automatically become a member of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), which provides you access to IGS conference proceedings and the journals Geosynthetics International and Geotextiles & Geomembranes.