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2008 Officers and Board
Kenneth A. Steele, Consultant, will continue as President. Daniel J. Hertel, Barnard Construction Company, Inc., was elected Vice President, and Douglas D. Boyer, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, will serve as Secretary-Treasurer. Newly-elected Board Members include Keith A. Ferguson, Kleinfelder, Inc., and Bruce C. Muller, Jr., Bureau of Reclamation. Donald L. Basham, Stantec Consulting Services, and Daniel J. Mahoney were elected to their second terms.
2008 Annual Meeting and Conference
USSD presented several awards and scholarships during its 2008 Annual Meeting and Conference, held recently in Portland, Oregon. Ralph Peck was given the Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously. Peck, who died in March at the age of 95, was recognized for his achievements and expertise in geotechnical engineering. Dr. Peck earned a Civil Engineering Degree in 1934 and Doctor of Civil Engineering Degree in 1937, both from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He joined the University of Illinois in 1942, and was a Professor of Foundation Engineering from 1948 to 1974. Since 1974, Dr. Peck was a Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, and a consultant in geotechnical engineering. In 1948, together with Karl Terzaghi, Dr. Peck co-authored the most influential text book in geotechnical engineering, Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice. In 1953, with Walt Hanson and Tom Thornburn, Dr. Peck co-authored the widely used text book Foundation Engineering. Following his retirement from the University of Illinois, Dr. Peck moved to Albuquerque, where he continued his active consulting practice which included jobs in 44 states and 28 countries on five continents.
The Lake Brazos Labyrinth Weir was the recipient of the Award of Excellence in the Constructed Project. A labyrinth weir replaced a gated spillway and overflow embankment on the Brazos River near downtown Waco, Texas, eliminating operation and maintenance problems which plagued the spillway gates. The new 3,000-foot long labyrinth weir was constructed in phases within the footprint of the existing dam to accommodate regulatory requirements and reduce cost. The design incorporates an upstream shift across the labyrinth near midstream. The USSD Award recognized the owner, the City of Waco; the Contactor, Archer Western Contractors, Ltd.; and the Consultant, Freese and Nichols, Inc.
The Outstanding Paper Award was presented to Gregg A. Scott and Barbara L. Mills-Bria, Bureau of Reclamation, for their paper, Nonlinear, 3-D, Dynamic, Coupled Dam-Foundation Analyses for Estimating Risks at Hungry Horse Dam. The paper, one of nearly 100 presented during the Conference, was selected based on technical content and the oral presentation.
Three scholarships were announced during the meeting. Robert Jaeger, a graduate student at the University of California, Davis, received a $10,000 scholarship to support his research, Variable Rate Cone Penetration Test for Assessing the Presence and Engineering Properties of Intermediate Soils in Dams and Levees.
Rachael Bisnett, Purdue University, and Brian Crookston, Utah State University, received $1,000 scholarships.
The 2009 USSD Annual Meeting and Conference will be held in Nashville, Tennessee, April 20-24.
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