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USUCGER Research Committee
TERMS OF REFERENCE Mission Promote and advance geotechnical engineering research and scholarship in the eye of the profession and the general public. Goals · Support continued and expanded funding of
geotechnical engineering research. Organization The committee will operate under the direction of a chair elected by the USUCGER membership for a two-year term. The committee convened for the first time at the 4th Workshop in Atlanta under the guidance of Carlos Santamarina. At the meeting Dennis R. Hiltunen was elected chair. Dennis is associate professor of civil engineering at Penn State University. The committee proposes to operate via permanent subcommittees designed to address ongoing operations relevant to the mission and goals, and via temporary task forces designed to address short-term specific issues not falling within the operation of an existing subcommittee, e.g., organizing sessions for specific conferences and workshops. Two subcommittees are proposed at this time to address the two goals of the committee listed above: a Funding subcommittee to be chaired by George Filz, Virginia Tech, and a Mentoring subcommittee to be chaired by Giovanna Biscontin, Texas A&M. Membership The committee has received approximately 40 volunteers. The Funding subcommittee has begun operations with an initial membership of 8 volunteers, and the Mentoring subcommittee has begun operations with an initial membership of 5 volunteers. They both expect to expand participation in the near future as appropriate. Funding Subcommittee The subcommittee proposes to establish a section on the USUCGER web site listing available funding agencies for geotechnical research. For each agency, the program manager(s), contact information, research budget, and agency web site will be provided. In addition, a member of USUCGER will be appointed and listed as a liaison between the agency and USUCGER. The liaison will be responsible for keeping the posted information up to date. The liaison will also be responsible for contacting the agency a few times a year to find out whether USUCGER can do anything to help the agency maintain and/or expand its funding of geotechnical engineering research. If the agency would like such help, the subcommittee would mobilize USUCGER to provide as much help as possible. This could include preparation of materials describing (1) the vital importance of geotechnical engineering to developing and maintaining the nation’s infrastructure, (2) specific examples of the benefits of geotechnical engineering research, and (3) other information as needed. Mentoring Subcommittee The subcommittee proposes two initial activities: Chair of the USUCGER Research Committee
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