OBITUARY

Keiichi Fujita (1924-2010)

On July 31, 2010, Dr. Keiichi Fujita died suddenly at home at the age of 85 after he was diagnosed as cancer at the end of May. His death has deprived Japanese and international community of geotechnical engineering of an eminent engineer and distinguish leader. He was a rare breed of academician who integrated the practices of foundation engineering with research and education.

He was born in 1924 and graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Tokyo in 1946. He embarked on his career as a civil engineer at construction company, Hazama. Because of his high caliber as a man of hardworking with vitality and intellect, he was given an assignment to work in the section of research and exploration of new technologies associated with soil mechanics and foundation engineering. His achievements were highly recognized in the company culminating in 1983 in the position of Executive Director of Hazama in charge of  research and exploitation of new technologies.

In 1988, he was conferred professorship at the Tokyo University of Science and move to academic arena as an educator and a researcher. Since then he kept on being affiliated with this university until he completely retired in 2004.

From an early year of his career, Dr. Fujita engaged himself positively in the work of the Japanese Geotechnical Society (JGS) as members of several technical committees discussing practical problems such as pile drivability, ground anchors and deep excavation. His engagement with JGS was not only in the technical areas but also more deeply in voluntary businesses associated with management of the Society as a selfsupporting organization. He was instrumental in improving details of clerical works of the Society consisting of about 15 personnel.

Read more from ISSMGE Bulletin: Volume 4, Issue 3 (p.48)
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The Student and Young Member Presidential Group

By Jennifer Nicks, Ph.D. (Co-Chair, ISSMGE SYMPG)

The Student and Young Member Presidential Group (SYMPG) was created by ISSMGE President Jean-Louis Briaud to get input and ideas from students and younger members (S/YM) across the globe. The group originally consisted of a total of 18 members (3 members from each of the 6 regions) who were nominated by each regional Vice President (and approved by the President in November 2009). The members are either students or younger members (< 35 years old). Since the formation of the group, the group has dropped to 16 members while waiting for 2 new nominations. The current members are (in alphabetical order by surname):

Mahnoosh Biglari (Iran)
Joost Breedeveld (Netherlands)
Lucy Coe (New Zealand)
Silvia García (Mexico)
Erdin Ibraim (UK)
Daniel Jirásko (Czech Republic)
Young-Hoon Jung (Korea)
Baribeop Kabari (Nigeria)
Samuel Laura Huanca (Peru)
Xiojun Li (China)
Marcos Montoro (Argentina)
Edwin Moreno (Colombia)
Jennifer Nicks (USA)
Suzanne Powell (Canada)
Imen Said (Tunisia)
Brendan Scott (Australia)

The first task of the group was for each member to come up with some ideas on how to make ISSMGE more attractive to S/YM and get them more involved in the organization. From the long list of ideas, we narrowed them down to 4 that we are currently working on within the group. The 4 ideas are:

1) Continue to develop the ISSMGE Website
2) Improve communication between the ISSMGE and S/YM
3) Increase YM involvement in Technical Committees
4) Develop and increase S/YM Membership in ISSMGE

To undertake these ideas, 4 subgroups were created within the SYMPG. The subgroups are tasked with the what/why/how to implement the broad ideas set forth by the SYMPG. The chairs of each subgroup prepared a paragraph to describe these activities and future plans:

Subgroup 1: Continue to develop the ISSMGE Website (Chair: Dr. Xiojun Li)

Subgroup 1 has identified some problems of ISSMGE website from the perspective of student and young members. These problems can be classified into three categories: ease of use, contents and functionality. Subgroup 1 has also proposed some solutions for these problems:

» Introduce more professional resources into website. Also, it will be beneficial to spread ISSMGE unique culture and attract more young people if we can introduce the masters of ISSMGE from the beginning to now. A more vivid introduction of the branches of our association, such as organization structure, research directions, key leader’s video introduction, great achievement, milestone event and so on will be equally important.
» Add popular functions, such as RSS news subscription, members’ blogs and forums, into ISSMGE website. Visitors of ISSMGE webpage should have an opportunity to get automatically generated news that could be sent by e-mail. Subscribing for the newsletter could be done easily through the web form and through submitting emails.
» Ease of use of website, such as page layout, color design and interactivity, plays an important role in a site’s quality. Improvement on these aspects will have positive effects. On the home page up to date news in format of short articles may be included. For example newsletters from the society, scientific articles, invitations for upcoming events etc. However, it would be challenging for webmasters to update a homepage regularly.

Subgroup 1 contacted GeoForum.com co-founder Dr. Rainer Massarsch for possible collaborations in improving the ISSMGE website. Dr. Rainer Massarsch agreed that young geotechnical engineers are interested to learn, to ask questions and to get competent responses. He provided very valuable comments in addition to the ideas presented above. His comments are: (1) Discussions need to be monitored by trustworthy experts. ISSMGE TCs could monitor discussion covering their respective area. Also, to host a successful discussion forum, one needs to develop a sustainable concept. Common problems include fake questions, a lot of spam and web engines trying to highjack e-mail addresses; (2) a lot of information in the form of youtube or other videos which could be organized according to specific topics (earthquakes, liquefaction, landslides, ground improvement etc.) can be added to an area of website; and (3) Geo-commercial companies and their activities can be linked to other area of the website. These companies may have privilege of publishing information about their company.

Subgroup 1 also consulted ISSMGE Secretary General Prof. Neil Taylor on how the ISSMGE website works. Prof. Neil Taylor said they are thinking of ways in which the website can be improved and he said the work of Subgroup 1 is very helpful.

Future plans include keeping a close contact with Prof. Neil Taylor and Dr. Rainer Massarsch, interacting with the Innovation and Development Committee and working out a proposal for the improvement of ISSMGE website.

Read more from the ISSMGE Bulletin – Volume 4 Issue 3 (pp.5-7)
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Conference venue: Furama Riverfront Hotel, Singapore

05 – 06 December 2013

Furama Riverfront Hotel, Singapore

Organizer: Geotechnical Society of Singapore

Contact person: Phoon Kok Kwang (Chair)

Address:
Block E1A, #07-03, 1 Engineering Drive 2,
Singapore 117576, Singapore

Phone: 65-65166783
Fax: 65-67791635
E-mail: kkphoon@nus.edu.sg
Website: http://rpsonline.com.sg/isafe2013/

Second International Geotechnics for Sustainable Development

28-29 November 2013

Hanoi, Vietnam

Organized by FECON Foundation Engineering and Underground Construction JSC., in collaboration with the Vietnam Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering – VSSMGE, and the Asian Institute of Technology – AIT, under the auspices of the Japan International Cooperation Agency – JICA.

Website: http://www.vir.com.vn/news/en/corporate/geotechnics-conference-to-bring-in-opportunities.html

At the Second international Geotechnics for Sustainable Development, Geotec Hanoi 2013

Dr. Noppodol, Keynote Lecture at the Geotec Hanoi 2013

Photo taken after General meeting of members of SEAGS at the 18SEAGC & 1AGSSEAC event

The 18th Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conference (18SEAGC) and the Inaugural Association of Geotechnical Societies in Southeast Asia Conference (1AGSSEAC) was held in Singapore from 29 – 31 May 2013. The theme of the conference is “Challenges in Sustainable Geotechnical Infrastructures”. It is organized by the Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS) under the auspices of SEAGS and AGSSEA. The organizing chairman is Prof. C F Leung.

There was a Young Geotechnical Engineers’ session (YSEAGC). It was held one day prior to the main conference on 28th May 2013 at the National University of Singapore. They then joined the main conference on 29 – 31 May, 2013 at a leading hotel within the vicinity of National University of Singapore.

Report on 18SEAGC & 1AGSSEAC — 29-31 May 2013, Singapore

by Dr. Ooi Teik Aun, President SEAGS – June 1, 2013

(Source: SEAGS & AGSSEA Newsletter – August 2013)

SEAGS & AGSSEA Council Meetings in progress at the 18SEAGC & 1AGSSEAC

The 18SEAGC & 1AGSSEAC was successfully held on 29 – 31 May 2013 in Singapore with more than 350 participants. The conference was organized by the Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS) under the auspices of the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS) and the Association of Geotechnical Societies in Southeast Asia (AGSSEA) and co-organized by the Society for Rock Mechanics & Engineering Geology (Singapore) (SRMEG) and supported by the SIMSG and ISSMGE. The Organizing Chairman Prof C F Leung with S H Goh as Secretary and R F Shen as Treasurer and other committee members did an excellent job to bring about a very successful conference.

There were 7 Keynote Lectures namely:

Keynote 1 (ZC Moh Lecture) “Use of Numerical Analysis with Eurocode 7” delivered by Prof. Brian Simpson.
Keynote 2 (Chin Fung Kee Lecture) “Drafting a National Annex to Eurocode 7 – The Malaysia Experience” delivered by Mr. Tan Yang Kheng.
Keynote 3 (S L Lee Lecture) “Is Site Investigation an Investment or Expense? – A Reliability Perspective” delivered by Prof. K K Phoon.
Keynote 4 “Study of Negative Skin Friction on Pile Subject to Surcharge and Ground Subsidence” delivered by Dr. S M Woo.
Keynote 5 “Strength and Durability of Calcium Carbide Residue Stabilized Clay in Pavement Applications” delivered by Prof. S Horpibulsuk.
Keynote 6 “Spatial Variations in Groundwater Response. During Deep Tunnelling” delivered by Dr. L J Endicott.
Keynote 7 “The Application of Ground Improvement Techniques in Indonesia” delivered by T L Gouw.

Dr. Ooi Teik Aun, President SEAGS delivering his welcome message

The 3-day conference also attracted 145 technical papers which were all presented by the presenters in parallel sessions. Hard bound and soft copies of the proceedings of over 1000 pages were produced and given to the participants.

The conference was made possible by the generous financial support of the sponsors and exhibitors. Their efforts to make this conference a success are greatly appreciated and acknowledged.

To the participants, I thank you for your support and I have no doubt that you have greatly benefited from the exchange of ideas during the conference.

In conjunction with the conference, the respective council meetings of SEAGS & AGSSEA and the General meeting of SEAGS members were also held.

» Read more about this report here: SEAGS & AGSSEA Newsletter – August 2013