January/February 2025 - 53

MATTHEW R. GLISSON, P.E.
DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES
TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES
H e r e w e a r e
again at the beginning
of a new
year! I hope 2024
was a good one for you and that you had
a fun and relaxing holiday break to
close it out.
By chance, have you decided that
2025 is the year for you to work on your
leadership skills? If so, you are in luck
as I will be sharing some thoughts and
lessons learned on leadership as
previously promised.
To be completely transparent, I am
not an expert in leadership. I have
participated in various formal and
informal leadership training dating
back to my years as a Boy Scout,
including a few stints where I was part
of a group giving leadership training.
Nonetheless, my efforts to learn more
and improve have waxed and waned
over the years. As you might have
guessed already, I am in a period of
higher interest and decided to bring you
all along with me.
One part I have always remembered
from Boy Scouts' Junior Leadership
Training ( JLT) was the topic of
" resources " because of the associated
paradigm shift I had. Prior to JLT, I
always thought of resources as inanimate,
primarily physical things like
computers, shovels, desks, storage
space, etc. JLT focused on human
resources. Specifically, the skills,
personalities and abilities of the leader
and those working with the leader to
accomplish a goal. An effective leader
knows what resources they bring to the
project, as well as what resources they
need from other team members.
There are numerous leadership
theories out there, but they all include
leadership personality or style in some
way. Some focus only on the personality
of the leader while others look
at the personality of the leader and of
the follower. Knowing your leadership
personality is part of the resources you
have and will help you identify which
theory or theories might fit you the best.
Next time, I will dive into the
leadership theories that are dominant
today. So, you have a little more time to
take some di fferent leadership
personality/style quizzes!
On a separate topic, we recently
finalized the schedule for our Midyear
Committee Week. Each of our committees
and industry-wide working groups
meets virtually during this week. With
no overlapping committee meetings
and no need to travel, it is a great opportunity
to learn about what a committee
is doing, even if you are not a member of
the committee.
Vi s i t ht tps : //dfi -event s . org/
committeeweek25 to learn more and
to register to attend meetings for committees
you do not belong to.
CHAIR MIRIAM SMITH, PH.D., P.E.
Ground Improvement
The Ground Improvement Committee focuses on addressing
important issues pertaining to the design and installation of
ground improvement systems. The committee continues to
support several DFI funded projects related to ground improvement including:
* Reinforcing Mechanisms of Soil-Cement Columns in Liquefiable Sand Under
Embankment and Earthquake Loading - Mohammad Khosravi, Ph.D., Montana
State University. The results of this research will provide a better understanding
of soil-cement column performance under both seismic and embankment
loading conditions, leading to better design strategies.
* Experimental Evaluation of Confinement Effects on Rigid Inclusions for Improved
Seismic Design - Hannah Iezzoni, P.E., Villanova University and Keller North
America. This research focuses on the experimental evaluation of confinement
effect on unreinforced grout applicable to rigid inclusions.
* Seismic Performance of Rigid Inclusions Phase 2 - Matt Gibson, Ph.D., P.E., Clarity
Engineering, and Armin Stuedlein, Ph.D., P.E., Oregon State University. Gibson and
Stuedlein are building upon Phase 1 of their research in which numerical simulations
were performed to capture the kinematic soil-rigid inclusion interaction
under seismic loading to identify key mechanisms that contribute to seismic
performance.
Besides supporting outside funded research projects, the committee continues to
identify important issues facing ground improvement designers and reviewers, and
work toward advancing the state of practice. Within the committee, several task
forces have been established with the goals of publishing or contributing to
important guidelines.
* The Ground Improvement Committee will deliver a Rigid Inclusion Summit that
will be held in three locations across the country in 2025, e.g., the West Coast,
Midwest and Northeast. The goal of the Rigid Inclusion Summit is to have open
dialogue about the challenges and key factors in the design and installation of rigid
inclusions, with a focus on regional issues. Each summit will last three quarters of
a day, consisting of invited guest speakers, as well as a panel discussion of
representatives of DFI, American Society of Engineers and local experts.
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * JAN/FEB 2025 * 53
https://dfi-events.org/committeeweek25
January/February 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January/February 2025
