The Purdue Geotechnical Society is pleased to announce the 9th edition of the Purdue Geotechnical Workshop and 9th Leonards Lecture that will take place on Friday April 8, 2011 on the Purdue campus. The 2011 PGS workshop is entitled "Digging Deep." The theme of the workshop is inspired by the topic of this year’s Leonards Lecture, in honor of Professor G.A. Leonards, a Purdue geotech faculty member from 1946 to 1991 and a great of the geotechnical engineering profession. The 9th G.A. Leonards Lecture – entitled "New Transalpine Tunnels" – will be delivered by Professor Herbert Einstein of MIT, a world-known expert in the areas of underground construction, rock mechanics, rock engineering, natural disasters, and waste repository problems, and a beloved MIT professor and advisor. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place in Krannert Auditorium at 4:30 p.m. The PGS is thrilled that Dr. Einstein has agreed to present this year's Leonards lecture as he embodies many of the professional qualities that made G.A. Leonards a legend as a professor and an engineer.

The Digging Deep workshop will precede the Leonards Lecture, starting at 8 a.m. in Stewart Center. The program includes 2 keynote lectures: one by Luis Alfaro of the Panama Canal Authority (and one of this year’s CEAAA recipients) on the Panama Canal expansion project; the second by Richard E. Gray of DiGioia, Gray and Associates, on subsidence risk and mitigation. Other 10 shorter presentations complete the program, including a talk by Ron Steele of Steele Foundation, another of the 2011 CEAAA recipients. The presentations cover a variety of topics, from tunnels, to excavation support, to diaphragm wall construction, to seismic design, to jet grouting... and more.

Support for the PGS workshop and Leonards lecture is provided by the following sponsors: Earth Exploration, Fugro Consultants, Hayward Baker, Nicholson Construction (Gold); GEI Consultants, Haley & Aldrich, Lachel & Associates, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Golder Associates (Bronze).

 

Additional information on the Leonards lecture and the PGS workshop, as well as registration information for the latter, can be found at http://eng.purdue.edu/PGS. For more information contact Marika Santagata (mks@purdue.edu).