More than 1,000 attendees from around the world joined DFI at its 43rd Annual Conference on Deep Foundations, October 24-27, 2018, in Anaheim, Calif. The conference featured more than 75 technical presentations, panel discussions, 144+ exhibits of innovative products and services, technical committee and industry-wide working group meetings, poster presentations, networking events and the annual awards ceremony.
The event featured two keynote presentations: Hayward Baker and Becho teamed up to discuss the Construction Package IV (CP-4) of the California High Speed Rail Project, and a panel of young professionals made a joint presentation on the magnitude of several Los Angeles Metro station construction projects from three different perspectives: structural engineering, geotechnical engineering and construction. There was also a special presentation titled Value Engineering – Design Risk and Reward at Major Sports Arena Projects.
Carl Lewis, winner of 10 Olympic medals in track and field, presented the 2018 Hal Hunt Lecture on Communications, “Taking Command: You Can Do That.”
Winners of DFI’s most prestigious awards were celebrated at the Awards Reception and Banquet. The Distinguished Service Award, DFI’s highest award to an individual, was presented to Garland E. Likins Jr., P.E., cofounder, past president and consultant of Pile Dynamics, Inc. (PDI). The Outstanding Project Award was presented to the team of Malcolm Drilling (specialty contractor), Arup (structural and geotechnical engineer) and Brierley Associates (support of excavation designer) for 181 Fremont Tower, a mixed-use high-rise building under construction in the dense urban core of the South of Market District of San Francisco. And the C. William Bermingham Innovation Award was presented to Al Ruckman, P.E., and Bob Barrett, P.G., founders of GeoStabilization International, for the Soil Nail Launcher™. Ruckman and Barrett graciously donated their $5,000 CAN prize to the DFI Educational Trust to provide scholarships to students in the deep foundations field.
Other activities included a Women in Deep Foundations networking reception and presentation of five professional development grants to women in the industry, presentations by the winners of the Young Professor and Student Paper Competitions, and a Student Activities Program including a visit the Gerald Desmond Bridge project, a large-scale ongoing construction project, in Long Beach, Calif.
Visit archive.dfi.org/annual2018 to access photos from the event.
