Present: Paul Mayne (Incoming President); Mehmet Tumay (Outgoing President);

Kyle Rollins (Incoming Treasurer); Rich Finno (Outgoing Treasurer);

Deborah Goodings (Acting Secretary); Bill Kovacs; Chuck Shackelford

Absent: Ahmed Elgamal (Incoming Secretary); Christine LaPlante

1. Approval of minutes of last meeting
2. Budget/Finances:

1. Rich Finno provided his summary treasurer’s report.

1. All expenses of the November 1998 USUCGER workshop held in Rhode Island have been paid. The total cost was $34,647.80.
2. The present USUCGER balance is $42,496.19. $25,349.07 of that

is held in a checking account at First Chicago Bank; the remaining $17,147.12 is funding from the National Science Foundation and is held by Northwestern University. An additional $8000.00 is expected from NSF on October 1, 1999. This is the last installment of a three-year NSF grant (PI’d by Rich Finno, for

USUCGER). Both the NSF monies and the bank account will be transferred to Utah by the incoming Treasurer.

3. Rich Finno passed the job of Treasurer to Kyle Rollins who will

hold the position for 2 years.

1. The present annual dues schedule is:

• $ 50 for institutions with one or two geotechnical faculty

• $100 for institutions with three or four

• $150 for institutions with five or more

In light of the present budget surplus, dues will not be increased, nor will they be collected in 1999. If expenses to USUCGER increase significantly, the dues will remain the same and will be collected once every two years, but billing will be for a two year subscription.

1. USUCGER Workshop

1. Final Proceedings:

The record of the November 1999 workshop is reflected in:

1. The USUCGER Bulletin Board (http://www.usucger.lsu.edu) under items USUCGER ’98 Workshop Press Release, and USUCGER Workshop Images which will be archived shortly but are still accessible on the USUCGER Bulletin Board;

ii) An article describing the workshop which appeared in COREBITS

(Winter 1999, Vol. 2, No.3) ; in Geotechnical News with photos (March 1999, Vol. 127, No.1); and in Foundation Drilling (of ADSC, January 1999).

iii) The completed web pages for 61 university geotechnical programs

summarizing their graduate programs, faculty, and research (on http://www.usucger.lsu.edu under Institutional Research Summaries).

Neither a CD nor a hard copy volume of the proceedings will be produced, as was done for past workshops. By relying on the web, institutions can continually update their entries, and the information is accessible to an

audience extending far beyond the USUCGER workshop attendees.

1. The conclusion of the workshop attendees and the organizers was that the

workshop was very successful and should be repeated. The Board’s target

date for the next similar conference is 2003.

1. USUCGER Mission

The original mission statement posted on USUCGER Bulletin Board was reviewed and remains relevant. In recent years, USUCGER has developed a primary mission of internet connection and communication amongst geotechnical engineering faculty throughout the United States. In addition to email postings, the USUCGER Website & Bulletin Board provide a service that lists available faculty openings, upcoming conferences, email addresses, geotechnical links, and information on member universities.

It has been suggested that USUCGER take a greater role in geotechnical engineering education. The Board concluded that focussing on geotechnical education in general would be a major shift in USUCGER’s mission and objectives, and for the time being the Board sees USUCGER’s contribution focussed on education through the research process.

2. NSF Alert

Recent developments at NSF have raised concerns about the future of geotechnical program funding within NSF. The new emphasis in the Directorate of Engineering at NSF is to integrate small business into research. This favors those areas of engineering associated with manufacturing, which historically have not included either civil or geotechnical engineering. Along these lines, certain new and expensive funding initiatives, such as the XYZ on a Chip program which clearly favors manufacturing, are being funded at the expense of reductions in programs such as the Geomechanical, Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Systems (G3S).

In addition, Dr. Priscilla Nelson, previously program director of Geomechanical, Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Systems, is now the Program Director for Networks for the Earthquake Engineering Simulation program, in addition to being a Senior Engineering Coordinator. Much of her previous program director responsibilities have been transferred to Dr. Cliff Astill for the time being.

Strategies by USUCGER were discussed to ascertain funding, and to intervene as appropriate and possible. Paul Mayne plans to visit NSF and the Geo-Institute (headquartered at ASCE) to act as an advocate for USUCGER’s members research funding interests.

3. USUCGER Web Site

An essential contribution of USUCGER to its membership has been the vastly improved communication between members regarding research, teaching and other professional issues. The USUCGER Website (created and maintained by Roman Hryciw at the University of Michigan) and USUCGER Bulletin Board (created and maintained by Mehmet Tumay at Louisiana State University) have been the vehicles for this. Both Roman and Mehmet have indicated that they wish to retire from these considerable responsibilities. Some lucky USUCGER member/faculty member will be identified to take on the task of combining the two sites and maintaining it as one. The Board discussed providing funds to that member to offset the cost of student assistance for this.

Additions to the present USUCGER Bulletin Board were discussed. These included a button for: "Rules for Use and Disclaimer"; and another itemizing recent initiatives of USUCGER.

Finally, the Board will be contacting institutions which are USUCGER members, but which have not completed their USUCGER Institution Research Summaries.

4. Publicity:

1. Paul Mayne felt strongly that USUCGER needs to develop and distribute a

small, hardcopy brochure about USUCGER’s purpose, its membership, and its successes to be used as an introductory document in discussion with non-members. Paul will head up this initiative. Distribution at appropriate

conferences also was discussed in preference to mailings.

2. A decision was reached that USUCGER should sponsor a session, such as a technical lecture or a panel presentation, at each annual Geo-Institute meeting, followed by a USUCGER meeting.
3. The Board will continue the practice of making USUCGER awards for outstanding service to the American geotechnical research community. These will include awards to outstanding non-academics, who do not administer research funding, but who contribute substantially to supporting American geotechnical research. The first such award, the USUCGER Research Investment Award, was made to Joseph P. Welsh of Hayward Baker during the November 1998 USUCGER workshop. The next Research Investment Award will be made at GeoDenver.

In addition, the Board will award from time to time the USUCGER Service Award. The first such award was given to Mehmet T. Tumay at the November 1998 Workshop for his extraordinary contributions and leadership to USUCGER over the past several years.

d) The USUCGER secretary should prepare for publication in COREBITS a . summary of minutes from each USUCGER Board meeting to keep members . informed of its activities on their behalf.

e) There was discussion about instituting a USUCGER scholarship for graduate

students to be funded principally with contributions solicited from private practice. This idea was put on hold for the time being until a decision is reached regarding how to select recipients.

1. Membership

There are now 96 dues paying member American universities and colleges in USUCGER. Some research universities with geotechnical engineering programs are not yet members and several undergraduate institutions are not members. A list of these non-member institutions is being compiled and Board members will contact them to encourage them to join.

There have been inquiries from some groups, such as from faculty at various foreign universities and geotechnical research institutes, about joining USUCGER. This question may be revisited, however the present Board consensus is to restrict membership to geotechnical faculty at U.S. institutions. At present non-members may receive and send mailings consistent with USUCGER policies, and they may access USUCGER websites.

2. Changes to By-laws

The present term for Board members is 3 years. The By-laws provide for a one year term for each officer (President, Treasurer, and Secretary). This is considered to be too short a term for the President to take on larger initiatives, and for the Treasurer, for continuity of accounting; two years is recommended for each. It was also recommended that the Past-President should remain as a Board member for two years following his or her term as President. The Board will draft a change in the By-laws to reflect those recommendations, and it will be put to the membership for voting.

11. The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 pm.

Minutes were prepared and submitted by Deborah Goodings.