Actes du colloque - Volume 6

278 / 479

Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013
REPORT FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF ISSMGE FOR NORTH AMERICA
Gabriel Auvinet
ISSMGE Vice-President for North America
1 INTRODUCTION.
This report contains a summary of the activities of the North
American Region from October 2009 to September 2013.
During this period, ISSMGE Vice-Presidency for North
America was first occupied by M.P. Romo, as established in the
ISSMGE Council Meeting during the 17th ICSMGE held in
Alexandria in October 2009. G. Auvinet, former president of
Mexican Society of Geotechnical Engineering, took over after
M.P. Romo resigned for personal reasons in December 2009.
Progress reports on activities in the region were presented
by G. Auvinet to the ISSMGE Board during the following
meetings:
- Board meeting in Moscow, June 6th, 2010
- Board meeting in New Delhi, November 8th, 2010
- Board meeting in Hong Kong, May 22nd, 2011
- Board meeting in Toronto, Oct 1rst, 2011
- Board meeting in Lagos, Apr 29th, 2012
- Board meeting in Melbourne, July 15th, 2012
- Board meeting in College Station, Apr 27th, 2013
2 THE NORTH AMERICAN REGION
The North American region includes only three member
countries: Canada, USA and Mexico, a small number when
compared to other regions such as South America, Asia and
Europe. The individual membership in the ISSMGE represents
however close to 20% of the grand total membership
(approximately 18,000) of all Member Societies around the
globe. It has already been pointed out in the past that the impact
of the three votes of the region (out of more than 80 countries)
in the major issues under consideration on the floor at Council
Meetings is far from proportionate to the number of individual
members and their fee contributions.
The three member societies of the region are extremely
active and have a strong presence and influence in the
engineering community and the society in general in their
respective country as well as internationally.
Detailed information regarding the activities of each of the
three Member Societies can be found on their excellent
individual web sites:
Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS, Canada):
GeoInstitute (GI, USA)
Sociedad Mexicana de Ingeniería Geotécnica (SMIG,
Mexico)
Only the main activities of the period will thus be presented
in the appendix.
3 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
During the period, formal international relations between the
three member countries were encouraged. Contacts were also
established in an informal manner taking advantage of personal
relations. Typical were the lectures given in Mexico by Jorge
Zornberg (G-I) on Geotextiles and by Serge Leroueil (Canada)
on Compacted soils.
An agreement of cooperation was signed between G-I
(USA) and SMIG (Mexico) on October 7th, 2009 in Alexandria,
Egypt. To follow up on this agreement, Juan de Dios Alemán,
SMIG President, and G. Auvinet, ISSMGE VP for North
America, were invited to attend the G-I board of governors
meeting in Dallas (March 12th 2011). A proposal to organize a
joint technical event in 2014 on “Geotechnical Hazards” is
being evaluated.
G. Auvinet, ISSMGE VP for North America, was also
kindly invited to attend the board of governors meeting of CGS
in Calgary, on September 12th, 2010.
Invitation of ISSMGE Vice President for North America to
National Conferences should become a systematic practice to
reinforce the contacts between the three countries.
4 PAN-AMERICAN COMMITTEE MEETINGS
4.1 Gramado Meeting
To promote a wide participation in the Pan-American
conference, a special meeting of the Pan-American Committee
was organized in Gramado, Brazil (during COBRAMSEG2010,
August 17-22 2010) with participation of delegates from 15
member countries. Professor Giovanni Cascante, co-chair of the
14th PCSMGE organizing committee, presented the advances in
the Toronto Conference organization.
President of ISSMGE Jean-Louis Briaud and Past President
Pedro Sêco e Pinto, attended this meeting. The North American
region was represented by Giovanni Cascante (Canada), Robert
Holtz (USA), Walter Paniagua (Mexico) and G. Auvinet
(ISSMGE VP for North America).
To foster participation of members of all countries of the
continent, including some that may not be able to attend the
Conference, and respecting a tradition inherited from previous
Pan-American Conferences, the Organizing Committee kindly
agreed to include all accepted papers in the Proceedings.
However, only duly registered members by July 2011 were
considered for oral and poster presentations.).
Volume 6 - Page 278