Speaker: Victor Donald, Terracon

Mr. Donald received his BS and MS from LSU in Civil Engineering and has over 30 years of experience as a practicing geotechnical engineer throughout the southeast.  He currently serves as the National Service Line Director for Terracon’s Geotechnical Service Line.  In this responsibility, he works with over 1,000 geotechnical and construction monitoring practitioners across the country.   This experience has taught him a lot about the “art” of the profession as well as the science, and he will be sharing the benefit of this experience in the area with the group.

Topic : The Unknown Value of Getoechnical Engineers

The geotechnical engineer routinely works with the structural engineer, civil engineer and architect to render a viable approach to design and construction of a myriad of projects ranging from simple to complex.  The geotechnical engineer should serve as an integral part of the design and construction team in such a manner to guide the decisions that impact the site preparation and foundations aspects of the work.  Far too often the geotechnical engineer merely delivers a report of site conditions along with suggestions for design and construction, leaving the civil and structural engineers with the task of determining the final design.  Also, as the project moves into construction, the geotechnical engineer’s involvement may be coincidental, if at all. 

This presentation seeks to point out the need for maintaining the involvement of the geotechnical engineer as an Engineer of Record, utilizing their experience and state-of-the-practice knowledge to develop specialty foundation designs, minimize the unknowns that are inherent in the geotechnical practice, and allowing the other professionals an excellent resource for those aspects of construction that are unique to the geo-profession. 

The topic will be presented by Mr. Vic Donald.  He currently serves as chair of ASCE’s Geo-Institute Task Force dedicated to enhancing the professionalism of the geotechnical engineer. The G-I is working with other professional organizations to increase the awareness of this critical aspect of the geo-professional’s role, and he will be able to bring us all up to speed on the current state of this initiative forged by this prestigious committed of the ASCE.