Geotechnical News • March 2015
13
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
Dharma Wijewickreme
in 2016 and it is with pleasure that I
accept this nomination. If elected, I
look forward to serving the CGS as
President for a two-year term com-
mencing January 2017.
I have actively participated in a wide
range of CGS activities in various
roles. The latest is the start of a second
two-year term as your Vice President
Finance. My other contributions to the
CGS have included being the Techni-
cal Co-Chair of the 59th Canadian
Geotechnical Conference in Vancou-
ver (2006); Regional Director for B.C.
(2004-2005); a founding member of
the Technical Committee on Mining
Geotechnique (2012-2014); a member
(2004 to 2010) and then Chair of the
National Education Committee (2007-
2010); Member of the Geotechnical
Research Board (2011-2012) and the
Membership Task Force Commit-
tee (2010). My contributions to the
CGS at local and international levels
through the Vancouver Geotechnical
Society (VGS) and International Soci-
ety for Soil Mechanics and Geotechni-
cal Engineering (ISSMGE), include
being the Co-chair of the 14th VGS
Symposium (2000); Program Director
for the VGS (2000-2001); Confer-
ence Co-Chair of the 3rd International
Conference on the Performance Based
Design in Geotechnical Earthquake
Engineering under the auspices of
the Technical Committee ISSMGE-
TC-203 on Geotechnical Earthquake
Engineering and Associated Problems
(2017); and Member of the TC-203
(since 2011) and Technical Commit-
tee ISSMGE-TC-29 on Laboratory
Stress Strain Strength Testing of
Geomaterials (2003-2010). I’m also a
member the American Society of Civil
Engineers, the Canadian Society for
Civil Engineering and the Earthquake
Engineering Research Institute.
My professional activities over the last
25 years comprise 11 years in industry
and 14 years in academia. At present,
I am a Professor of Civil Engineering
at the University of British Columbia
(UBC). Before joining UBC in 2001,
I worked in geotechnical consult-
ing practice with Golder Associates,
where I became an Associate (Partner)
of the firm in 1997. At UBC, I conduct
research which focuses on pipeline
and earthquake geotechnical engineer-
ing. With industry funding, I have
contributed to establishing a new Pipe-
line Integrity Institute (PII) at UBC,
created to champion pipeline practice
and innovation through research and
training. My research on soil liquefac-
tion contributed to the seismic design
guidelines in the Canadian Foundation
Engineering Manual CFEM (2007)
and the Task Force Report on Geo-
technical Earthquake Engineering
Design in Greater Vancouver, with
application in major earthquake engi-
neering projects. I have served on the
Editorial Boards of the Canadian Geo-
technical Journal since 2008 and the
ASTM Geotechnical Testing Journal
since 2005. In 2013 I was the recipi-
ent of the Canadian Society for Civil
Engineering Horst Leipholz Medal for
outstanding contributions to Engineer-
ing Mechanics and Practice in Canada.
I was also elected a Fellow of both
the Canadian Academy of Engineer-
ing and the Canadian Society for Civil
Engineering in 2013.
Through its leadership and the tremen-
dous efforts of past and current volun-
teers, the CGS can proudly state with
pride that our learned Society’s mem-
bership is both growing and that its
finances are strong. The annual CGS
conference, local section involve-
ment, Cross Canada Lecture tours, the
addressing of technical issues through
our Divisions, the publication of the
CFEM, along with the linkage with
the Canadian Geotechnical Journal,
all form the basis of the CGS’ deliv-
erables to the profession as a learned
society.
Our membership has been the key to
the Society’s success, but we need
to better involve young profession-
als. The importance for collaboration
between academics and practitioners,
and the need for increased involve-
ment in policy and regulatory delib-
erations in relation to the geotechnical
profession has also been identified.
Continuing these important issues
involve activities that extend well
beyond the time spans of the recent
and current CGS administrations. The
challenge is to find the most effective
ways of implementing the tasks identi-
fied on an ongoing basis. I believe
that there is a need to increase the
involvement of our membership in the
implementation of identified tasks. In
other words, we need to find ways get
the Society’s action items into the rou-
tine “things-to-do list” of our general
membership. This will likely involve
new ways of recognizing and reward-
ing our members for their efforts at the
grass-roots level.
As we move forward, there is an
increased need to be mindful of the
rapidly changing value systems in the
world. It is my opinion that further
effort should be placed to convey
our learned Society’s contributions
to society-at-large, especially to the
school-age population. We will need
to develop outreach activities extend-
ing beyond the traditional professional
realms that are often used, while capi-
talizing on the readily available forms
of modern communication tools. Of
course, our approaches in this regard
must be developed to be compatible
with our volunteer-based frameworks
and resources.
I believe that the experience gained
through my voluntary contributions
to the CGS, VGS, and ISSMGE,
combined with my professional activi-
