Billy Camp, P.E., D.GE, M.ASCE, will serve as the IFCEE 2015 Congress Chairman.

Billy is a Technical Principal, Vice President, and Senior Geotechnical Engineer with S&ME, Inc. and is based in their Charleston, SC office. During his 23 year tenure with S&ME, his primary activities have focused on site characterization, design and testing of deep foundations, earthquake engineering, and development of soft ground sites. He received a BSCE from University of Virginia and a MSCE from University of Texas at Austin. Originally from Southeastern Virginia, Billy has resided in South Carolina since 1988. He lives on Sullivan's Island with his wife and three boys.

Learn more about the congress here.

Source: ADSC-IAFD via email

Fine Software announces the introduction of new training materials for GEO5 Geotechnical Software. Engineering manuals explain how a particular engineering problem can be solved in GEO5 software.

New GEO5 version 16 has been released. It brings significant improvements to FEM program, automatic DXF import of structure and more.
We are pleased to announce the release of GEO5 version 16. It brings significant improvements to FEM program, automatic DXF import of structure and many other modifications and enhancements within GEO5 programs.

The seventh international conference on case histories in geotechnical engineering was held in Chicago, Illinois from May 1 through May 04, 2013 to commemorate the legacy of Professor Ralph B. Peck for introducing Observational Methods in Geotechnical Engineering. In a special session on this subject, six world renowned leaders who had worked with Professor Peck made technical and non-technical presentations. These included Gholamreza Mesri, Edward Cording, Elmo DiBiagio, Shamsher Prakash, Nancy Peck Young, and David Rogers.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world's biggest publicly traded copper producer, reported a tunnel collapse at its Grasberg complex in Indonesia. Grasberg in Papua province includes open-pit and underground operations and is the world's third-biggest copper mine ranked by production capacity, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The reason for the cave-in that cost at least two lives, and possibly many more, remains presently unknown.

Bloomberg reports that according to the National Institute of Culture and Heritage in Belize, a contractor has destroyed a 2,300-year-old Mayan Temple and used the limestone bricks for gravel to build a village road.

Shamsher Prakash Foundation solicits nomination (no application) for the "2013 SHAMSHER PRAKASH PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE PRACTICE OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING" for young persons(45 years) primarily from practicing engineers from all over the world. Nominations are invited so as to reach the Honorary Secretary on or before June 30, 2013. The candidates should be specialists in Geotechnical Engineering and/or Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and it is necessary that they have significant independent contributions to practice and show promise of excellence. The Prize consists of US $1100.00 and a plaque. The nominations may be made on plain paper. The age may be relaxed in exceptional cases at the discretion of the judging committee.