PEOPLE & COMPANIES Melvin Thomas “Tom” Davisson, Ph.D., P.E., died on September 9, 2016, at age 84. Dr. Davisson was a geotechnical consulting engineer with a distinguished record as a researcher, designer, educator and member of numerous professional societies. He also taught continuing education courses and was an arbitrator for engineering and construction disputes. Davisson received his B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Akron, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Illinois. He began his career at the University of Illinois as a research assistant in 1956 and moved through the academic ranks to a full professorship in 1971. From 1981 to 2000 he devoted full time to his engineering consulting practice established in 1958, M.T. Davisson Consulting Engineers. Davisson published numerous papers and designed and improved specialized construction equipment. He is particularly noted for “The Davisson Limit,” a widespread definition of pile failure load. He received many national and international awards including DFI’s Distinguished Service Award in 1990. Davisson leaves a lasting legacy which is a tribute to his life’s work of significant contributions to the deep foundations industry, specifically in the pile driving field. Steve J. Poulos, Ph.D., P.E., died on October 6, 2016, at age 83. Dr. Poulos was a geotechnical engineer and cofounder of GEI Consultants. Poulos received a B.S. in civil engineering and M.S. in soil mechanics and hydraulics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his Ph.D. in soil mechanics from Harvard University. Upon graduation, he was appointed assistant professor of soil mechanics at Harvard University, where he taught courses in soil mechanics, soil laboratory testing and groundwater flow. Poulos founded Geotechnical Engineers in 1970 alongside colleagues Dan LaGatta, Ron Hirschfeld and Dick Murdock. Poulos served as president of the firm for three 4-year terms between 1970 and 1990, as well as treasurer for several terms. Poulos authored or coauthored over 25 technical papers and made important contributions in the areas of steady state strength of soils, liquefaction and cyclic mobility. He prepared a monograph on the stress-strain curves of soils. Along with Hirschfeld, Poulos coedited the book Embankment-Dam Engineering as a tribute to Arthur Casagrande, his Harvard mentor and professor. Poulos was a generous mentor to all those he worked with. He summarized his expectations of himself and of those he mentored in a few simple words: Kindness, Initiative and Integrity, and Competence. Al Lackner, a project manager at Goettle, died on October 13, 2016, at age 74. Lackner joined Goettle in 1994 and was a valuable source of technical and practical knowledge regarding construction, specifically grouting and augercast piles. His coworkers valued his input and his proactiveness when it came to anticipating and solving potential stumbling blocks. Among many other things, his humble way and team player mentality are attributes that made him a great asset to the company. Lackner started his construction career at Intrusion- Prepakt in Cleveland, Ohio, after serving in the US Marine Corps during the 1960s. James Massey was ap- pointed as Junttan´s tech- nical specialist in the U.S. Massey previously worked as the service and parts manager at Sun Piledriving Equipment and has extensive experience in Junttan equipment. His first goal is to grow Junttan’s customer services in the U.S. in combination with Hammer & Steel. Atlas Copco Construction appointed Scott Carnell as president of its U.S. divi- sion. Carnell replaces Erik Sparby who has accepted the role of general manager, Customer Center CR Greater China. Carnell has over 32 years of industry experience and will be based in Rock Hill, S.C. Atlas Copco Mining, Rock Excavation and Construc- tion appointed Shawn Cheney business line man- ager of rock drilling tools and Jason Blais to Cheney’s former position as vice pres- ident of specialty stores. Cheney earned a mech- anical engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from Indiana University. Blais was product mana- ger for down-the-hole drilling products and most recently regional manager for Atlas Copco stores in the Southeast U.S. region. Jacob (Jake) Wessell, P.E., has joined Schnabel Engi- neering as a business dev- elopment and technical professional. Wessell holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Duke University and an M.S. in civil engineering from North Carolina State University. A licensed Professional Engi- neer in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, Wessell serves as the current president of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Cape Fear Post. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2016 • 127
