Come to Chicago for SuperPile ’16 Registration is now open for SuperPile ’16, being held June 7-9, 2016, at the Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Ill. This two-day conference will include presentations on the latest developments in the following areas: • Projects specific to the Lake Michigan area including Chicago, Milwaukee and Northwest Indiana • Augered Cast-in-Place and Drilled Displacement Piles • Drilled Shafts • Driven Piles • Marine Foundations • Micropiles • Seismic and Lateral Loads • Testing and Evaluation • Ground Improvement (related to piling) • Helical Piles and Tiebacks Andrew Verity, chair of DFI’s Driven Pile Committee, is the chair for this highly-anticipated event. Verity serves as a national account manager for Terracon, out of its Dallas office. He has more than 20 years of geotechnical and business development experience in the U.S. and Europe. Verity has a B.Eng. in civil engineering from the University of London and attended Cambridge University on a research scholarship. He is very active in DFI and is excited about chairing SuperPile ’16. Preliminary Plans Day One (Wednesday, June 8) will be a plenary session and Day Two (Thursday, June 9) will have two parallel sessions providing attendees the option to choose presentations of interest. Invited and selected presentations will highlight advancements, innovations and challenges in design and construction of deep foundations, particularly related to piling solutions. Panel discussions on current topics will provide attendees opportunities to share new ideas and industry experience. Equipment, material and instrumentation suppliers, contractors, engineers, and other vendors will present their services in the exhibit hall. Pre-conference committee meetings will be held on Tuesday, June 7, in the afternoon. The DFI Women in Deep Foundations Committee is planning a Benefit Boat Cruise on Tuesday evening to raise money for the Women in Deep Foundations Fund. The Fund is an endowment created by the DFI Educational Trust to provide professional development grants and sponsor other endeavors that support women in the deep foundations industry. The boat cruise will include a technical presentation highlighting the foundations for high-rise buildings including the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, the John Hancock Building and the Trump Hotel located along the Chicago River. Attendees will need to register for the cruise and will receive general PDHs from DFI. Awards and Lectures For the first time, the Osterberg Memorial Lecture will be presented as the opening lecture of SuperPile ’16. An award will be presented to the chosen lecturer. This lecture and award were established by DFI Corporate Member Loadtest, in conjunction with the DFI Educational Trust, in honor of Dr. Jorj O. Osterberg, one of the true pioneers of geotechnical engineering. The award recognizes innovations in deep foundations construction related to engineering, design, testing or education. The DFI 2015 Osterberg Lecturer was Frank Rausche, Ph.D, P.E., founder and principal of GRL Engineers. Stay tuned to www.dfi.org to find out who will be selected as the DFI 2016 Osterberg Lecturer. The Ben C. Gerwick Award for Innovation in the Design and Construction of Marine Foundations will also be presented at SuperPile ’16 during the conference luncheon. This award was established in 2008 to recognize the innovative spirit of Ben C. Gerwick and his phenomenal contribution to the marine foundation industry over his 62-year professional career as a contractor, educator and construction engineer. The award encourages and recognizes innovation in the marine foundations industry. With the addition of these two special events, DFI will provide an annual donation to the Educational Trust from the proceeds of the SuperPile Conference. Nine DFI Technical Committees have once again come together to plan this highly-anticipated industry event. For more information or to register visit www.dfi-superpile.org. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JAN/FEB 2016 • 27
