John R. Wolosick, P.E., D.GE., director of engineering at Hayward Baker’s Atlanta office, presented the Lizzi Lecture on March 30, 2017, at the 13th International Workshop on Micropiles in Vancouver, BC, Canada. His presentation, titled Loading Effects on Battered Micropiles in Compression, was the 9th annual Lizzi Lecture delivered since inauguration of the series in 2008. Wolosick’s lecture topic was based on a technical paper he co-authored with Robert F. Scott, Jr., P.E., a fellow Hayward Baker engineer.
The Lizzi Lecture honors the accomplishments of Dr. Fernando Lizzi (1914-2003), an Italian engineer who is considered the “father of micropile technology” and whose pioneering work is credited with saving many historic structures in his native country. Lizzi’s concept of restoration and consolidation spread to Europe and to many other countries in the ensuring decades.
Wolosick has more than 35 years of experience in geotechnical engineering and contracting. He began working in micropile technology in 1988. He is the author of more than 15 technical papers related to micropiles and has been involved in more than 350 projects where micropiles were used for underpinning and/or foundation support, serving clients including state DOTs (bridges), industrial plants, power plants, hospitals, convention centers/hotels, airports, NASA and TVA (nuclear and fossil). He has been instrumental in deploying micropile technology in North America through education and innovation.
Wolosick received the 2008 Martin S. Kapp Foundation Engineering Award from the Geo Institute of ASCE. He is the immediate past president (2015-2016) of DFI and the former co-chair of the ADSC/DFI Micropile Committee (2004-2007). He is also a member of the ASCE Earth Retaining Structures Committee and past chair of Geo-Institute of Georgia’s Geotechnical Committee (2003-2005). He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign.
Commenting on his Lizzi Lecture presentation, Wolosick said, “I am pleased and honored to add my talk to the great list of lectures that have been presented in the past to honor Fernando Lizzi. On a personal note, an autographed copy of Lizzi’s original book is one of my prized possessions!”
The 13th workshop was hosted by the International Society for Micropiles (ISM), the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) and the International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC). This year’s theme was Micropiles: Resisting and Remediating the Effects of Mother Nature, and focused on the application of micropiles to resist and remediate extreme events, geo-hazards and other natural forces such as wind, water and soil movement.
