March/April 2021 - 61

MARY ELLEN BRUCE LARGE, P.E., D.GE
DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES
DFI recently
rejuvenated its
Sustainability
Committee with
the appointment of a new chair, Gerald
Verbeek of Allnamics USA. Please

check out their activities reported
below and contact either of us to get
involved. Also, this column highlights
the ongoing work of the Ground
Improvement Committee and the
Working Platforms Industry-Wide

TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES

Working Group. These industry leaders
continue to advance essential topics
related to foundations and provide new
views and guidance for design,
construction, sustainability and safety
in the industry.

COMMITTEE CHAIR GERALD VERBEEK

Sustainability
For some of us, April 22 is when we
continue a tradition that started in 1872
in Nebraska. Sterling Morton, a pioneer
and editor of the state's first newspaper,
had recently suggested that
Nebraskans plant a tree on April 10. On
that day in 1872, about 1 million trees
Gerald Verbeek
were supposedly planted, eventually
becoming known as Arbor Day and moving to April 22
(Morton's birthday). Then in 1970, through the efforts of
Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, the day became Earth Day,
and is now celebrated worldwide. People still plant trees
then, but the emphasis has become the environment overall
and demonstrating support for environmental protection.
It is no secret that environmental protection can be viewed as
a loaded term; but if it is viewed simply as doing what is
necessary to ensure that our children and grandchildren can
live safely on this earth, who could object to supporting it?
That definition also fits nicely with the sustainable
development goals of the United Nations, which summarize
the focus areas for sustainability. These 17 goals seem to fit
very well with DFI's activities because:
*

As DFI members, education should be important to us;
together with the DFI Educational Trust and in partnership
with ASCE's Geo-Institute and United States Universities
Council on Geotechnical Education and Research (USUCGER),
we can focus on the U.N. goal of quality education (goal 4).

*

Through DFI's Women in Deep Foundations Committee
(WiDF), we can work toward gender equality in our
industry (goal 5).

*

With DFI technical committees, we can work toward
industry innovation, and then work through DFI's Codes
and Standards Committee, GeoCoalition Code Council and
partner organizations (ADSC, ACI, ASCE, ASTM and PDCA,
to name just a few) to incorporate these innovations into
various industry codes and standards (goal 9).

U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (credit: www.sdgs.un.org/goals)

*

Through the work of DFI's Testing and Evaluation and
Subsurface Characterization for Deep Foundations
committees, we can advance the reuse of foundations,
which will result in more sustainable cities and
responsible consumption of resources (goals 11 and 12).

*

By addressing all these topics through industry-wide
committees and organizations, we obviously cover
forming partnerships (goal 17).

These are just a few examples of what DFI's Sustainability
Committee will be promoting, with all DFI members invited to
join the committee in these efforts. Committee meetings are
held the last Tuesday of each month at 11:00 a.m. ET. Contact
Mary Ellen Large (melarge@dfi.org), or Gerald Verbeek,
committee chair, for more information.
COMMITTEE CHAIR TIMOTHY SIEGEL, P.E., D.GE

Ground Improvement
This DFI committee is pleased to report
on the progress of two DFI-sponsored
research programs involving the
behavior of rigid inclusions. Aaron P.
Gallant, Ph.D., P.E., and colleagues at the
University of Maine have been
investigating the conditions that may
Timothy Siegel
lead to failure of walls and
embankments supported by rigid inclusions (DFI Project No:
CPF-2019-GRIM-1). Armin W. Stuedlein, Ph.D., P.E., and
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * MAR/APR 2021 * 61
http://www.sdgs.un.org/goals
March/April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March/April 2021
