12
Geotechnical News • September 2019
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
grateful to him for undertaking the
event, which benefited so many of our
members.
Lecture topics for the Spring
2019 CCLT included:
• Enhanced Bentonites for Sustain-
able Chemical Containment
• Membrane Behavior and Chemico-
Osmosis in Clays
• The Role of Diffusion in Environ-
mental Geotechnics
During the tour, local Section and
University representatives met with
Charles, provided tours of their
facilities and assisted with his travel
arrangements. Charles shared the
following gratitude as the Spring 2019
CCLT drew to a close.
“Participating in the CCLT has been
a fantastic experience for me and
certainly one that I will forever cher-
ish. All of the CGS sections I visited
were extremely gracious and accom-
modating, and meeting and interacting
with the members of these sections
was a pleasure. I am grateful to the
CGS, the Canadian Foundation for
Geotechnique, and the corporate spon-
sors of the CCLT, i.e., BGC, Clifton
Associates, Klohn Crippen Berger,
and Thurber Engineering Ltd., for
providing me with this opportunity.
”
Charles D. Shackelford
CGS Student Chapters
We are excited to announced that later
this month the CGS will be launch-
ing 7 student chapters as a pilot test!
The purpose of Student Chapters is to
engage young engineers and scientists
in the geotechnical field earlier in their
career, provide an introduction to the
CGS, create opportunities for student
leadership roles, and support students
with resources from an organization
(e.g. networking and speaker opportu-
nities).
In February we put out a call for
applications and we were thrilled
to receive interest from universi-
ties across the country, from British
Colombia to Nova Scotia. With the
amount of excitement and high-quality
applications, we decided to work
with all the universities. The pilot
test will run from September 2019 to
May 2020, after which the Student
Chapters and CGS Executive Com-
mittee will convene to discuss the
success of the initiative and next steps.
We’ve already had 2 other universi-
ties express interest in forming student
chapters in the future.
The universities include (from west to
east):
• University of British Columbia
• University of Alberta
• University of Saskatchewan
• University of Manitoba
• Waterloo University
• Queen’s University and Royal
Military College
• Dalhousie University
The Student Chapters Executive
Committees are composed of under-
graduate and graduate students, some
who are new to the CGS and others
who have been involved in the CGS
for many years. They already have
great ideas from speaker series, virtual
meetings, MSE wall competitions, to
events that engage high school stu-
dents. We’ve hosted our first planning
webinar and will be preparing for a
September launch over the summer.
Each Student Chapter had to seek a
vote of support from their Local Sec-
tion as part of the application and the
CGS Sections did not disappoint. All
sections welcomed this idea through
writing letters of support. Thank you
CGS members for your continued
support!
Maraika DeGroot
Young Professional Representative
Canadian Foundation
Engineering Manual
The Canadian Geotechnical Society
is in the process of replacing the
current 4th edition of the Canadian
Foundation Engineering Manual with
a new electronically available version
called CFEM 2021. For many years,
the Canadian Foundation Engineer-
ing Manual has been the benchmark
for current practice in foundation
engineering in Canada and we are
very excited to be updating existing
chapters as well as adding new subject
matter. The intent is to have the man-
ual substantially completed by the end
of 2020, with a release early in 2021.
In the meantime, if you have any
questions on this initiative or would
like to contribute to preparation of the
manual, please contact Ken Skaftfeld
at
Upcoming Conferences and
Seminars
GeoSt.John’s 2019
September 29 – October 2,
2019
Come visit us at
GeoSt.John’s 2019
,
taking place in St. John’s, NL at the
end of this month. We look forward to
seeing our old colleagues and meeting
new ones. This will be the 72
nd
annual
conference hosted by the Canadian
Geotechnical Society. Come to St.
John’s and find out why our delegates
keep coming back year after year!
