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Geotechnical News •June 2015
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
Message from the President
It seems odd to me, as the President
of the Canadian Geotechnical Society,
that there is no commonly accepted
definition of “geotechnical” in Canada.
As far as I am aware, only one organi-
zation has tried to define the word. In
2013, the Association of Professional
Engineers and Geoscientists of British
Columbia’s Task Force on Geotechni-
cal Engineering defined “
geotechnical
engineering
” as “
the application of
principles of soil mechanics and/or
rock mechanics, and related applied
geological sciences
”. I believe a simi-
lar definition could also apply to the
broader “geotechnical profession”. If
anyone knows of another, commonly
accepted Canadian definition of “geo-
technical”, I would be pleased to hear
from you
).
Why is there no commonly accepted
definition of “geotechnical” in
Canada? I believe one reason is
because geotechnical professionals
come from and have a wide variety of
backgrounds such as civil engineer-
ing, geological engineering, mining
engineering, geology and/or physi-
cal geography. As such, geotechnical
professionals aren’t registered in their
respective provinces or territories as
“geotechnical engineers” or “geotech-
nical geoscientists”.
A second reason might be that the
geotechnical profession is extremely
broad. Typical geotechnical activities
include surface and subsurface site
investigations; insitu and laboratory
testing; development and analysis of
models of near-surface and subsurface
conditions; engineering design; con-
struction, inspection and monitoring;
operation and maintenance; research
and development; and management.
Typical geotechnical project types
include foundations related to onshore,
near-shore and off shore structures;
retaining walls; dams, reservoirs
and dam safety; embankments and
earthworks; slope stability and land-
slide hazard and risk assessments of
natural and engineered slopes; ground
improvement; dewatering; transporta-
tion and energy infrastructure; tunnel-
ing and underground works; pipelines
and buried cables; resource develop-
ment including minerals, oil and gas
and groundwater; seismic response
and liquefaction; materials testing; use
of geosynthetics; geoenvironmental
applications; and forensic investiga-
tions.
Therefore, because of the extremely
broad nature of the profession, it’s
very difficult to define what we do
and who we are. Why should there
be a definition of “geotechnical” in
Canada? I will leave that for the next
President’s Message, but suffice to
say, I think it’s important.
On other matters, I am pleased to
report that CGS activities are moving
right along.
Dr Nick Sitar
, from the
University of California – Berkeley,
recently completed his marathon
Cross Canada Lecture Tour. The fall
2015 Cross Canada Lecturer will be
announced shortly. The deadline for
CGS Awards nominations has just
passed, but the deadline for nominat-
ing CGS members for EIC Awards,
Honours and Fellowships is still
ahead of us, closing on
July 1
. More
information on the EIC nominations
can be found elsewhere in this issue of
Geotechnical News.
Jean Côté and his local organizing
committee for the
68th CGS Annual
Conference and the 7th Canadian
Permafrost Conference (GéoQuébec
2015)
report that they received a record
number of abstracts for this year’s
conference. Papers have been submit-
ted and are presently under review. For
those planning to attend, registration
with early-bird prices is now open. I
know this is going to be an excellent
conference, and I hope to see you all
in beautiful Quebec City in September.
For those who really like to plan
ahead, the 69th conference will be
held in Vancouver in 2016 and the
70th conference will be held in Ottawa
in 2017. More about those conferences
later.
I have now been your President for
just less than six months, and I can tell
you that I am very impressed by the
depth and breadth of this fine society
and the excellent support that is pro-
vided by CGS Headquarters (
Michel
Aubertin, Wayne Gibson and Lisa
McJunkin
) and the myriad of dedi-
cated volunteers that keep it going.
Thanks to all.
Until next time.
Provided by Doug VanDine
President - 2015/2016
Doug VanDine, President of
Canadian Geotechnical Society
