EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE Celebrating Our 40-Year History H onoring the past. Learning from DFI’s history. And appreciating the initiatives of the people who led DFI to where it is today. These are the reasons I’ve been poring through archives recently. This led me to further research on the history of geotechnical engineering and deep foundation construction. My goal is to prepare an anniversary presentation for our 40th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations, October 12-15, in Oakland that will educate newcomers while reminding long-time supporters of our beginnings and accomplishments so we don’t take for granted the strides made along the way. It’s been an enlightening process of finding out new facts and reminiscing on good times, smiling at old photos and feeling pride in the milestones DFI has reached over the last four decades. It’s humbling to read about all the hard work put into the organization by a relatively small number of people and companies with minimal monetary resources, and seeing what they accomplished with their commitment to working together to benefit the industry. Looking Back and Moving Forward While DFI “came to be” on January 26, 1976, I looked back to the 18th and 19th centuries to read about foundation-related engineering problems. Until that point, the field of geotechnical engineering was more an art than a science, based on trial and error rather than a scientific approach. That was until Charles Augustin Coulomb introduced concepts of engineering mechanics to solve soil problems and William Rankine presented his earth pressure theory. Then came the “Father of Soil Mechanics,” Karl von Terzaghi and his “right hand man,” Arthur Casagrande, who conducted research and education on what is now known as geotechnical engineering. One milestone project that I read about was the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge in New Orleans, La., that was completed in 1956. It’s on the list of ASCE’s Hi s tor ic Civi l Engineering Landmarks because it was completed quickly (in just 14 months) and introduced an assembly-line, mass-production method for the first time in bridge construction. Of the 260 landmarks on this list, it was the one I found most relevant to our Institute as Raymond Concrete Pile Company, an early corporate member company, was the innovator who revolutionized the way piles were manufactured, using 54 in (1.4 m) hollow cylindrical prestressed concrete piles to reduce construction cost and installation time for this project. Fast forward to 1974 Theresa Engler Executive Director [email protected] succeeded in bringing together different groups….and it is hoped that as DFI grows and brings together all concerned with the foundation field, the too frequent adversarial relationship among those representing owner-engineers and the builders can be reduced. Friendly cooperation can work to the benefit of all, saving time and money for the owner.” — deep foundations for building construction were quite commonplace and being utilized to support very large design loads or improve poor soils that were previously unsuitable for construc- tion. Agencies were in need of qualified design- ers, contractors and manufacturers/ suppliers to collaborate with on major projects. Several people at a Piletalk seminar in Saddle Brook, N.J., sponsored by Associated Pile & Fitting (APF), discussed the idea of a “piling institute” that would equally represent designers, field engineers, contractors, materials and equipment suppliers, and owners. From my research, Alan G. MacKinnon of Foundation Equipment was the person who made the suggestion, and Hal W. Hunt and John J. (Jack) Dougherty, Jr. of APF moved it forward, forming a steering committee that chose the name Deep Foundations Institute to emphasize the broader coverage of all foundation types. Jack served as the Institute’s first president and said in one of his first letters to DFI’s 66-person membership, “…we have We look forward to your contribution to DFI’s history; as members you recognize the importance of volunteering your time, dollars, knowledge, experience and ideas. In that support, you honor those who came before you. In the anniversary presentation at the Oakland Marriott City Center, across the bay from the location of DFI’s first conference in San Francisco, you’ll hear more about the people who served as our leaders and those who contributed in various ways or won our awards. You’ll see the growth in our membership numbers and conference participants, the increase in our budget from ~$20,000 to $2.5 million and the evolution of our periodical from a newsletter to a professional magazine. We’ll note the advancement of our committees’ scope of activities and the publications, seminars, courses and information resources their work has provided, plus much more in words, pictures and videos; some of these facts coming directly from the pioneers who started it all “back in the day.” DEEP FOUNDATIONS • MAY/JUNE 2015 • 9
