Distinguished Colleagues, Dear Friends,

This is my twenty eighth progress report after 850 days as your President. Note that previous reports are on the ISSMGE web site (http://www.issmge.org/) under “From the President” if you need them. In this report, I would like to talk to you about our upcoming webinar, about some new developments on GeoWorld, and about the International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories.

Webinar:

Our next webinar will be free of charge and will take place on 24February2012 at 15h00 UTC. The speakers will be Zenon Medina-Cetina (USA) and Marco Uzielli (Italy). The topic is Risk Assessment in Geotechnical Engineering. It is sponsored by the ISSMGE Technical Committee on Engineering Practice of Risk Assessment & Management chaired by K.K. Phoon (Singapore). The main objective of the webinar is to provide a sound overview of the principles, methods, and implications of Quantitative Risk Assessment in Geotechnical Engineering Practice. That sounds very interesting to me and I will be listening. Here is the registration link (https://issmge.webex.com/issmge/k2/j.php?ED=4145397&UID=0&HMAC=a66f81130bf328312a86bc4a4e4d4d51a2f5b2e0&RT=MiM3) If you have any questions please email Hanna Prichard (hprichard@civil.tamu.edu)

Geomap from GeoWorld

I wanted to draw your attention to GeoMap, the latest innovation related to GeoWorld developed by Geoengineer.org and ISSMGE under the shrewd leadership of Dimitris Zekkos, Chair of IDC. GeoMap (http://www.mygeoworld.info/pg/map) is an interactive world map that positions all members (individuals, companies, and organizations) of GeoWorld. GeoMap allows you to identify and contact geoprofessionals near you or anywhere else in the world that might be of interest to you. If you are a member of GeoWorld, you can click on each location on the map and view the relevant info about the GeoWorld member. GeoMap is another reason to join GeoWorld and the more than 1400 members and 80 organizations which already belong to it. GeoMap also includes the geographic locations of all case histories published in the ISSMGE International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories. Click on them, and you will be able to see more information about the case history and visit the website to freely download the paper. There is even more information right here: http://mygeoworld.info/GeoWord_Tip_7.html

ISSMGE International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories, IJGCH (http://casehistories.geoengineer.org)

IJGCH has just published another issue (Vol. 2, Issue 2) that is available here: http://casehistories.geoengineer.org/volume/volume2/issue2/issue2.html. The ISSMGE journal focuses entirely on the practice of our profession and the documentation of case histories. All papers published in this journal are freely available and typically downloaded thousands of times. The entire process from submission to final publication may last only four months. Published papers include color photos and the figures are accompanied by an excel datasheet of the data presented; an excellent way to maximize the impact of a case history! I strongly encourage the members of our technical committees and all of you to submit a case history paper to this journal. I have done so myself, and you will find that your papers will be widely circulated. For submission guidelines, visit: http://casehistories.geoengineer.org/submission.html. Note also that AWAC, the ISSMGE Awards committee lead by Francois Schlosser (France) and Esve Jacobs (South Africa) is developing an award to recognize on a regular basis the best paper published in IJGCH. This award will be among 10 awards given at the ISSMGE Conference Paris2013.

Best wishes,

Jean-Louis Briaud

President of ISSMGE

International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering

Professor and Holder of the Buchanan Chair

Zachry Dpt of Civil Engineering

Texas A&M University

College Station, TX 77843-3136, USA

Tel: 979-8453795

Cell: 979-7771692

Fax: 979-8456554

Email: briaud@tamu.edu

URL: http://ceprofs.tamu.edu/briaud/