DFI Appoints New Technical Committee Chairs

Three of the 16 DFI Technical Committees have new committee chairs. It is the role of the Technical Committees to focus on the unique issues of major methods and technologies and their applications within deep foundations and excavation, and to keep DFI members and the industry up to date with the state of practice through publications, guidance documents, peer review of papers, educational events and committee reports in Deep Foundations magazine.

Lori Simpson, P.E., G.E., principal engineer at Langan Treadwell Rollo, is the new chair of the Codes and Standards Committee, following Tom Gurtowski of Shannon & Wilson, Inc. Simpson has over 25 years of experience in geotechnical engineering. She obtained a B.S. in civil engineering from Stanford University and an M.S. in geotechnical engineering from UC Berkeley. Simpson has provided geotechnical services during design and construction for a variety of projects that include deep foundations, deep excavations and ground improvement, predominantly on sites that have poor ground conditions, including potentially liquefiable soil and highly compressible clays. She has been active on the Codes and Standards Committee for many years, and has written and defended code proposals that have advanced the practice of foundation engineering in the U.S.

Giovanni Bonita, Ph.D., P.E., vice president of GEI Consultants, takes over the reins of the Slurry Walls Committee, replacing Nicolas Willig-Friedrich of Case Foundations. Bonita has over 21 years of experience with complex underground structures, retaining systems, ground improvement, geological and geophysical investigations, and deep foundations. He received an M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering from Virginia Tech, an M.S. in hydrogeology from the University of Kentucky, and a B.A. in geology from Franklin and Marshall College. Bonita is experienced in geotechnical and geostructural engineering, support of excavations systems, movement of adjacent structures, ground improvement, hydrogeology, geophysics, karst geology and geologic mapping. He has extensive expertise with both temporary and permanent slurry, secant, soldier pile and lagging, soil mix and soil nail walls for historic buildings, structures with deep foundations, transit systems, tunnels, dams and tall buildings. He has used traditional and advanced analytical techniques to recommend and design excavation and ground improvement methods and foundation systems for major high-profile public works projects with difficult engineering challenges. Bonita is also an adjunct faculty member in the Civil Engineering Department at Catholic University in Washington DC.

Steve Davidow, P.E., S.E., vice president of Crux Subsurface, Inc., has succeeded Jon Bennett of Brayman Construction as chair of the ADSC-DFI Joint Micropile Committee along with ADSC representative Greg Sullivan, P.E. of Subsurface Construction Company LLC. Davidow has over 15 years of experience as a structural engineer with projects around the world. He is licensed as a civil and structural engineer in 40 states and serves as engineer of record for all design build activities performed by Crux Subsurface. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from Washington State University. Davidow is an expert in commercial structure and deep foundation design and is heavily involved in the electrical transmission and distribution industry. Davidow also co-chairs the DFI Electric Power Systems Foundation Working Group with Peter Kandaris, office manager, DiGioia Gray & Associates.