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Geotechnical News • March 2012
GEO-INSTITUTE NEWS
site/Webinar/ListWebinarDetail.
aspx?ProdId=120854358
For more webinars:
org/events/Default.aspx?fc=1&from=
11/09/2011&topic=2147483862
ASCE/G-I Seminars
Earth Retaining Structures Selec-
tion, Design, Construction and
Inspection: Now in an LRFD Design
Platform
April 19-20, 2012
Hyatt Regency Tech Center Denver
Denver, CO
Introduction to Dam and Levee
Safety, Evaluation and Rehabilita-
tion
May 3-4, 2012
Seattle Crowne Plaza
Seattle, WA
Soil and Rock Slope Stability
May 17-18, 2012
Aloft Charlotte Uptown @ the
Epicenter
Charlotte, NC
Earthquake-Induced Ground
Motions (
Newly Updated
)
May 31-June 1, 2012
Radisson Hotel Rochester Riverside
Rochester, NY
For seminar information:
https://
secure.asce.org/ASCEWebSite/Webi-
nar/ListSeminar.aspx?CatCode=CED-
GEOT
Members in Memoriam
Barry F. Beck
1944-2011
Barry Beck, Ph.D., M.ASCE, passed
away Nov. 28, 2011, at the age of 67,
following a series of strokes that left
him debilitated with “Locked-in Syn-
drome” for the past two years.
Beck held a bachelor’s degree in
geology from Rensselear Polytechnic
Institute and a master’s and Ph.D.
degree in geology from Rice
University in Houston, TX.
His interest in caves led him to Puerto
Rico to work for the Department of
Natural Resources where he con-
ducted investigations in tropical karst,
researched caves on the island and
hosted expeditions for cavers explor-
ing Puerto Rico.
He moved to Georgia where he
worked first for the Georgia Depart-
ment of Natural Resources in Atlanta,
then as professor of geology at
Georgia Southwestern College in
Americus, GA where he led caving
expeditions with students.
Beck then moved to Florida to
became the sole director of the Florida
Sinkhole Research Institute at the
University of Central Florida. There
he conducted karst research, studying
caves and sinkholes, as well as estab-
lishing the series of international mul-
tidisciplinary sinkhole conferences.
The closing of the Sinkhole Institute
brought Beck and his family to Oak
Ridge, TN, where he joined P.E.
Lamoreaux & Associates, Inc. and
directed the firm’s Oak Ridge branch
for the next 18 years. In 2004, the NSS
(National Speleological Society) pre-
sented him with their highest award,
Honorary Membership, for his lifetime
of contributions and study of speleol-
ogy and karst.
Wilson Tang
1944-2012
On January 5, 2012, Wilson H. Tang,
Ph.D., Dist.M.ASCE, passed away in
Chicago after a long and courageous
battle with his illness. He held a bach-
elor’s and master’s degree from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
ogy, and completed his doctorate from
Stanford University. All were in civil
engineering.
He taught at the University of Illi-
nois at Urbana-Champaign for 27
years before joining the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology
as Chair Professor and head of the
Department of Civil Engineering in
1996.
Tang made significant contributions
in the areas of safety and reliability
analysis in civil engineering and
led the profession in promoting and
pioneering the use of reliability based
methods for risk mitigation and
design in various areas, particularly
in geotechnical engineering. His
expertise covered application of prob-
ability methods to the wide area of
civil infrastructure engineering and
management. He had over 250 techni-
cal publications and his co-authored
book (with A. H-S Ang) on Probability
Concepts in Engineering Planning
& Design, revised in 2007, has been
widely adopted by top universities
worldwide.
He led and served on several inter-
national boards and committees. His
many awards included the State of the
Art award, Fellow and Distinguished
Member from the ASCE, T.K. Hsieh
Award from the Institution of Civil
Engineers UK, US Offshore Energy
Center’s Hall of Fame, Guggenheim
fellow, Harza Best Paper Award,
Natural Science Award from the Min-
istry of Education of China, Fellow
and Vice President of the Hong Kong
Academy of Engineering Sciences,
and Honorary Professorship at several
major universities.
The prestigious keynote lecture,
Wilson Tang Lecture
of the
serial conferences of International
Symposium on Geotechnical Safety
& Risk, was inaugurated in 2009 to
recognize and honor his significant
contributions.
Students
Why you should attend
Geo-Congress 2012
• Meet industry greats.
• Learn how to find a job.
• Get tons of information in a com-
pact format.
• Connect with others in the field
who share your interests.
• Learn what other students are doing
at their schools.
