TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES MARY ELLEN BRUCE LARGE, P.E., D.GE, TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES MANAGER Technical Activities Update Technical Activities at the DFI 41 Annual Conference st Control and Remediation (41 Annual Conference) is quickly approaching and is packed with networking, technical and social activities planned to foster energy and enthusiasm in the deep foundations industry. The DFI Technical Committees and Working Groups play major roles in the week-long conference program. This issue’s technical activities section highlights the many and varied committee activities at the conference, so members can develop a plan to take advantage of programs beyond the technical sessions that could enhance business and professional advancement. A key goal of DFI’s 2014-2019 strategic plan is to “Revitalize the technical committees to include more varied activities and more globally diverse members.” DFI recognizes the importance of the technical committees and working groups. Full details of the strategic plan are reported in past Deep Foundations articles, including the September/October 2015 issue, available at committees are pursuing, in their own ways, the following subgoals of this committee-related strategic plan goal to: • Generate new activities • Participate globally • Educate industry • Communicate effectively • Evaluate event relevance The schedule of technical committee and working group meetings is posted on each committee’s webpage at www.dfi.org and at www.deepfoundations2016.org. The first meetings begin at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 12, and are held in four concurrent timeslots until 3:45 p.m. Members are welcome to attend any of them to either join in the discussion or just to listen. New members are always encouraged to participate. Every effort has been made to minimize technical overlap of related committee topics, but if there are two meetings scheduled at the same time, please feel free to hop out of one and into another. They are typically run informally, and attendees are always coming and going. The committee meetings are a vehicle for renewing friendships, meeting new colleagues and expanding personal networks; they are the intersection for all member types: clients, consultants, contractors, manufacturers/equipment/service providers, researchers and owners. Committee and working group meetings often include discussions of trends, practices, innovations and challenges that affect the industry and market. They are the forum for expressing the various stakeholder viewpoints in the industry…for finding common ground. Please add your voice to the conversation. DFI’s International Conference on Deep Foundations, Seepage st Contact information for committee chairs and rosters of members are available on the committee webpages on the DFI website at www.dfi.org . Click the “Group” tab and then select “Technical Committees” or “Working Groups.” Each committee or group page presents the chair’s most recent magazine report and lists recent news items related to the committee’s technical area. Call-in information for meetings and agendas can be requested by contacting the committee chairs. www.dfi.org. All DFI DFI Committee Project Fund Have you ever identified a technical issue in practice that you wish someone would address? For example, do you know that data are available in the literature on a specific issue but they are not readily accessible? Are you convinced that a more practical approach could be used to address a design issue? Do you believe that there is an educational need that would require some teach- ing tools to be developed? Can the barriers to market use of a technology be broken down with a state- of-practice synthesis or workshop discussion? The DFI Committee Project Fund was established to respond to these and other needs and advance the initiatives of the technical committees. During the annual conference meet- ings, committee members will discuss and develop proposals for the com- petitively bid 2017 DFI Committee Project Fund. Proposals are due Dec- ember 1, 2016. Please join The committee meetings are a vehicle for renewing friendships, meeting new colleagues and expanding personal networks; they are the intersection for all member types: clients, consultants, contractors, manufacturers/equipment/ service providers, researchers and owners. a committee meeting to help identify projects with usable deliverables that could be readily introduced into practice. Since its inception in 2012, DFI has awarded over half a million dollars in research funds. Click the “Awards” tab on the DFI website at www.dfi.org and select “Committee Project Fund” to view a list of projects that have been completed and are currently in progress and to download the research reports and articles. The DFI Board of Trustees and Committee and Working Group chairs meet on Wednesday afternoon, October 12. This meeting is aimed at discussing the most current information learned in the DEEP FOUNDATIONS • SEPT/OCT 2016 • 101
