16
Geotechnical News • June 2012
GEO-INSTITUTE NEWS
renewal form, by logging in to your
member account at
or
by calling 800-548-2723. Annual dues
are $15.
Geo-Institute members who are not
ASCE members: ISSMGE mem-
bership is already included in your
membership.
Students
GSI fellowships for students
The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI)
announced a worldwide call for
requests-for-proposals (RFPs) focus-
ing on innovative geosynthetics
research and development projects.
There will be multiple awards made,
each for $10,000 for the first year,
and they are renewable for a second
and third year up to a total amount of
$20,000 per student. To be eligible,
students must have completed their
candidacy examinations leading to a
doctorial degree in engineering or sci-
ence. Proposals must be submitted in
the following 4-page format. There are
no exceptions.
Page 1 – Letter of recommendation
from student’s department head or
advisor
Page 2 – Title and detailed abstract of
project
Page 3 – Student’s resume
Page 4 – Documentation of completed
candidacy examination
The RFPs for the 2012-2013 aca-
demic year must be submitted to both
Robert Koerner and Jamie Koerner by
e-mail by June 15, 2012. Awards will
be announced on, or before, July 15,
2012. Review of the proposals is by
the nine-person GSI Board of Direc-
tors. For information:
-
thetic-institute.org/gsifellows.htm
Robert M. Koerner, Ph.D., P.E.,
D.GE, NAE, Dist.M.ASCE
, Emeritus
Director – Geosynthetic Institute at
and
Jamie R. Koerner, special projects
coordinator at
.
Student co-op and internship
opportunities
Looking for a co-op or internship
opportunity? Then explore the posi-
tions listed on the ASCE website to
help further your career path. Come
back often since new positions are
added all the time.
Co-op opportunities
keywords=coop&resultsPerPage=12
&showMoreOptions=true&selectedTa
b=bti-facets-education/1,false
Internship opportunities
keywords=internships&resultsPerPag
e=12&showMoreOptions=true&select
edTab=bti-facets-education/1,fals
G-I Chapter News
Call for Abstracts:
Geoconfluence 2012
November 2, 2012
Deadline: July 1, 2012
The St. Louis Chapter of the Geo-
Institute is joining with the Univer-
sity of Missouri-Columbia and the
Missouri University of Science and
Technology for the second annual
geotechnical engineering and geo-
environmental conference.
This conference will include technical
topics and case histories focused on
the geotechnical engineering and geo-
enviro
y. The confer-
ence planning committee is looking
for approximately 6-8 speakers to
provide a 30-60 minute presentation
focused on geotechnical engineer-
ing or geo-environmental topics. All
persons are encouraged to submit an
abstract to Nicholas Roth at
nicholas.
by July 1, 2012.
Abstracts should be limited to 250
words. Once the planning committee
has reviewed the abstracts, notifica-
tion will be provided to the selected
Bank and its affiliates were original ad-
dressees thereof; provided, however,
that U. S. Bank and its affiliates shall be
deemed not to be su
nd by
any of the obligations of any original
addressee or owner of the Property in
any agreement related to the Report....”
In essence, this wording would require
environmental professionals to commit
risk management suicide. It gives the
Bank all the benefits of being able to
rely on the report (plus a potential es-
cape from the constraints of the eco-
nomic loss doctrine) with absolutely
none of the liabilities or responsibilities
that compri ed the business context
through which the report was devel-
oped. In a best-practices scenario – the
type of scenario to which, I presume,
the Bank subscribes – the client selects
a particularly qualified consultant, dis-
cusses its needs with the consultant, and
then works with the consultant to mutu-
ally establish a scope of service for the
engagement. The consultant and client
then discuss the consideration the con-
sultant needs to fulfill the scope of ser-
vice and manage the risk associated
with potentially lifelong responsibility
for the deliverable. Such consideration
includes the fee and certain risk man-
agement provisions of the contract,
such as limitation of liability.
By requiring a consultant to prepare
and sign its form letter, the Bank is stat-
ing, in essence, “We want to be able to
rely on the report indefinitely (and even
if we do not issue the financing, by the
way) without having to accept any of
your contractual safeguards, wi h ut
having to compensate you for any of
your customary, anticipated risks, and
without having to compensate you for
your new, significantly expanded risks,
especially the new risk that arises be-
cause you designed your service for
so e other party, and with no knowl-
edge of the Bank’s needs and prefer-
ences, and no knowledge of the service
scope the Bank believes is best-suited to
address those needs and preferences.”
To a very real extent,
ofer,
this is like requiring a
e li-
able for your health after you decide to
follow the course of treatment the phy-
sician prescribed for your friend whose
illn ss (in your opinion) was kind of
like your own.
Geotechn
do not print key lines
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