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Geotechnical News • March 2014
www.geotechnicalnews.com
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
and of which the GSE has been an
ongoing financial supporter. The
season culminates with the Annual
General Meeting which includes a
business dinner meeting, the election
of a new Executive and a presentation
by a distinguished speaker.
Held at various venues in Edmonton,
including the University of Alberta
and the Northern Alberta Institute of
Technology, the meetings provide
members an opportunity to network
and to enjoy a meal together, followed
by presentations by local practitioners
or visitors. The presentations span
a wide range of geotechnical and
geo-environmental topics, as well as
related issues such as professional
practice, risk, legal issues and new
technologies and construction tech-
niques.
Since 1995, the GSE has also spon-
sored an annual spring symposium or
seminar on various geotechnical and
geo-environmental related themes.
These events typically attract 80 to
130 registrants.
In 1982, the GSE introduced its high-
est award, the Geotechnical Service
Award. Stan Thomson, one of the
founding fathers of the Society was
the first recipient of this award and the
award was subsequently renamed in
1999 as the
Stan Thomson Geotech-
nical Society of Edmonton Award
.
This award recognizes a particular
individual’s contribution to the devel-
opment and growth of the GSE and
to geotechnical or geoenvironmental
engineering in the Edmonton area.
The award consists of a commerative
plaque and a lifetime membership to
the Society.
In 1985, the GSE introduced the GSE
Graduate Student Award, In 1999 the
award was renamed
N.R. Morgen-
stern Student Award.
The award
is given to the graduate student who
submits the best paper as selected
by the professors in the Geotechni-
cal Division of the Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering
at the University of Alberta. Along
with a $1500 monetary award and
a certificate, the award winners are
invited to present their paper to the
general membership at a wine and
cheese reception, held in the early fall.
The wine and cheese meeting is the
September meeting where the N.R.
Morgenstern Graduate Student Award
winner from the previous spring gives
a presentation to the group. A poster
session by other graduate students is
also held at the reception, to allow the
representatives from industry to meet
and discuss current research projects
with the students.
In 2003, the Civil Engineering Depart-
ment at the University of Alberta
held the first of what was to become
an annual competition for it’s gradu-
ate students, challenging them to put
the theory they were learning into
practice. They were required to design
and predict the failure strengths of
model reinforced retaining walls that
they had to construct on the day of the
competition, with no opportunity to
undertake trial tests. In 2004, the for-
mat of the competition was expanded,
with guest judges from various local
geotechnical consultants. The guest
judges evaluate the various designs
for innovation and give small prizes to
the students supplied by various local
firms, along with a cash prize for first
place provided by the Geotechnical
Society of Edmonton and one or more
corporate sponsors.
By 2005, the competition was
expanded to allow the participation
of students from NAIT. In addition,
this year saw the first appearance of a
trophy for the first place student team.
The trophy was designed by
Mr. Paul
Boos
and was financially supported by
his firm, Reinforced Earth Company.
The trophy mimics the appearance
of a reinforced wall with a roadway
running across the top. The cruciform
wall panels typically associated with a
Reinforced Earth wall are modeled by
brass plates which are inscribed with
the names of the winning students.
The trophy is kept on display at the
Civil Engineering Department at
the University of Alberta between
competitions. In recognition of his
long term service to the University of
Alberta and to the local geotechnical
community, both the competition and
the trophy were named after
Dr. Don
Scott
in 2005.
The GSE has hosted five annual
CGS’s annual conferences, including
the ones in 1962, 1974, 1985, 1998
and most recently in 2008. The GSE
has also hosted a number of specialty
conferences, including the 1994 First
International Conference of Environ-
mental Engineering with the ISSMFE,
the 2001 Assessment and Remedia-
tion of Contaminated Sites in Arctic
and Climates (ARCSACC) and in
2003, the 3rd Canadian Conference on
Geotechnical Engineering and Natural
Hazards.
Submitted by Dr. Mustapha Zergou
Chair of CGS Heritage Committee