PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Relevance A t this year’s ASCE GeoCongress in Oakland, Calif., I had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion on “How to maximize the geo-professional importance and value in the marketplace.” Our presentation, and the discussions that followed, can be summarized by a few key themes — acting like a professional, delivering what you promise, and staying relevant with the current needs and standards of the world around you. The deep foundations industry incorporates a very broad spectrum of the geo- professional world, from consultants, designers, material and equipment suppliers, and construction professionals. Whatever facet of the industry you participate in, the basic themes discussed by the panel hold true. The concept of staying relevant in today’s world means having the ability to look beyond the moment and recognize the impact of your counsel and actions on decisions and work that will happen in the future. In this issue of Deep Foundations, you will find articles from a broad section, both geographically and technically. All of the feature articles describe projects where deep foundations practitioners truly represent the standards for “geo-professionals.” For the Deep Foundations Institute, staying relevant means more than knowing what the industry is doing today, but having the ability to see where the needs of the industry will be tomorrow, and helping our membership be there and ready with the latest developments in technology and engineering practice. The article by Dr. Rama Krishna on the current practice in India highlights the dawning of a major infrastructure expansion program and the needs for state-of-the-art deep foundation technology in that country in coming years. In April, DFI supported a technical session at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston. The article in this magazine by DFI Marine Foundations Committee chair Gerry Houlahan and Paul Doherty, a DFI student paper award winner, on the gaps in marine engineering know- ledge, points clearly at the opportunities and challenges for deep foundations professionals in the very strong global oil, gas and energy markets. Many thanks to Gerry and Robert Stevens from Fugro for spearheading the efforts with OTC. These highlight just a James A. Morrison, P.E. President [email protected] few of the places and sectors that DFI is focusing on today, so that our membership can be there and relevant tomorrow. So how can we maximize the geo- professional’s importance and value in the marketplace? In the deep foundations industry, the contribution from geo- professionals has been important and highly valued all along. So how do we stay relevant for tomorrow? With DFI, it means staying one step ahead of the needs of our membership, and bringing you the news, emerging markets and technology advancements from around the globe that help keep YOU relevant… As of May, OneMine.org had more than 100,000 documents uploaded to the site, representing more than 1.6 million pages of technical information vital to the mining, metals, minerals and underground construction industries. The participating organi- zations reached this milestone in less than 4 years since inception of the OneMine.org archive, and will continue to add documents as quickly as possible to broaden the historical and topical content for participating societies’ members and the industry as a whole. DFI has added all of its publication documents written before 2010 to the library, and will continue to add documents. OneMine.org is a single repository of stored documents ranging from 1871 to the present. OneMine.org was established in 2008 as a 501c3 organization with two main objectives: One was to consolidate knowledge into a centralized repository and to disseminate this information to the industry. The second is to archive and store older materials that are disintegrating due to age. OneMine.org Now Has 100,000 Documents There are several participating societies, including DFI, each supplying its own technical material including: • American Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) • Australasian Institute for Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) • International Marine Minerals Society (IMMS) • Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) • Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) • U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) DFI members have free access to OneMine.org. Members must create a OneMine registration — selecting DFI as your society of affiliation and using your DFI membership number. For help registering, contact OneMine.org at 1-303-948-4248. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2012 • 5
