8
Geotechnical News • December 2018
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
ranged from the content/format for
the CGS electronic newsletter, the
updated technical magazine to be
produced beyond December 2019, the
website, and social media portals. The
first report from the task force on the
planning and next steps towards a new
printed/online magazine from CGS
was presented to the Board in Septem-
ber 2018 with approvals obtained for
a number of moving forward tasks. A
personalized myCGS dashboard was
introduced to the CGS website along
with newly updated user-friendly
navigation panes.
CGS Geotechnical Info Net (CGS-
GIN) is now renamed CGS E-news.
Nicholas Beier
will take over from
Don Lewycky
as the CGS News
Editor, starting with the March 2019
issue. Special thanks are due to Don
for his many years of extensive time
and effort serving as the CGS News
Editor. A renewed Membership
Committee was formed to promote
the value of being a CGS member,
especially amongst young geo-profes-
sionals and students.
I am also pleased to note that a
number of important strides have
been made regarding CGS Sections,
Committees, and Young Professionals.
These include recognizing the Chairs
of the Committees and Geotechnical
Research Board as voting members of
the BOD. The Heritage Committee has
been very active, with their initiatives
to recognize pioneers of geotech-
nique at the annual CGS Conferences
– including presentations on major
geotechnical projects in 2017, and
leading women in 2018 (thanks are
due to
Doug VanDine
and
Heinrich
Heinz
with a team of volunteers). A
new award was created to recognize
the CGS Early Achievement Award
for outstanding accomplishments
provided by members in the early
years of their career.
Greg Siemens
and
Jasmin Raymond
successfully
completed their Colloquium Lecture
Series. The 2018 Colloquium award
winner selected by a committee led by
the GRB Chair was
Matt Lato
, who
made his presentation in Edmonton.
The 2019 Colloquium was announced
in Edmonton and
Kathy Kalenchuk
will present at the 2019 conference in
St. John’s, NL.
The annual CGS conferences,
GeoOt-
tawa 2017
(led by
Mamadou Fall
and
Paul Simms
) and
GeoEdmonton
2018
(co-chaired by
Don Lewycky
and
Seán MacEoin)
, were highly
successful, with amazing involvement
and commitment by the respective
local organizing committees and also
excellent support provided by Gibson
Group Management Inc. The pres-
tigious opening keynote address at
the CGS conference, the R.M. Hardy
Address, for the years 2017 and 2018
were given by
Dr. Richard Bathurst
(Royal Military College of Canada)
and
Dr. C. Derek Martin
(Univer-
sity of Alberta), respectively. The
annual CGS conferences were also
well complemented by the Geohaz-
ards 7 Conference held last June in
Canmore, Alberta (Conference Co-
Chairs:
Michael Porter
and
Valérie
Fréchette
).
Some outstanding members received
prestigious awards from the CGS as
well as external organizations such as
the Engineering Institute of Canada
(EIC). The most prestigious award of
the CGS, the Robert F. Legget Medal,
was received by
Doug Stead
in 2017.
The recipient of this award for 2018
was
Michel Aubertin
, who has served
the CGS in many leading volunteering
roles including the highest position
as the President, and now contribut-
ing as the Executive Director with the
Society’s National Office. Another
CGS Past President,
Kerry Rowe
was
awarded with the Order of Canada,
an honour of national significance.
I would like to take the opportunity
to encourage all CGS members to
promote the CGS Awards and solicit
nominations from colleagues! The
details related to the award winners for
this year are presented elsewhere in
this magazine.
The CGS is maintaining very good
relationships with affiliates, including
the Engineering Institute of Canada,
the Canadian Society for Civil Engi-
neers and the Canadian Foundation for
Geotechnique. It is a pleasure to note
that we now have a fully signed Mem-
orandum of Understanding (MOU)
with ASCE Geo-Institute, which will
allow us to collaborate more effec-
tively with our important neighbouring
learned Society.
As of January 01, 2019,
Mario Ruel
will become the President of the
Society for the next two-year period.
It is my pleasure to congratulate and
welcome Mario and his team! I extend
my fullest support to ensure a seam-
less transition from one administration
to the other.
It is also important that I take the
opportunity to extend my sincere
thanks to all BOD members, and of
course, for the tremendous contribu-
tions and commitments by the follow-
ing individuals:
• The members of the Executive
Committee: VP Technical -
Suzanne Powell
; VP Finance -
Kent Bannister
; VP Communica-
tions and Member Services -
Jean
Côté
; Technical Division Repre-
sentatives -
Richard Brachman
(2016-2017) and
Nicholas
Vlachopoulos
(2018); Section
Representatives -
Seán
MacEoin
(2016-2017) and
Andrea Lougheed
(2018-2019);
and Young Professional Repre-
sentatives -
Ariane Locat
(2016-
2017) and
Maraika DeGroot
(2018-2019).
• Bruno Bussière
(Chair of the
GRB);
Ian Moore
,
Craig Lake
,
and
Daichao Sheng
(Editors of the
Canadian Geotechnical Journal)
• The National Office Team:
Michel
Aubertin
(Executive Director),
Wayne Gibson
(Director, Ad-
ministration and Finance),
Lisa
McJunkin
(Director, Communica-
tions and Member Services), and
Emily Fournier
(Communications
