ASU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Special Seminar

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
SPECIAL SEMINAR

Edmund Medley, Ph.D., P.E., C.E.G.
2009 AEG and GSA Jahns Distinguished Lecturer
OF ELEPHANTS, EARTHQUAKES, CAVES AND HOT ROCK - RECENT
GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING ADVENTURES

Thursday, March 26, 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Discovery Hall, Room 250
(Pizza will be served before the lecture)

(But remember - the Arizona AEG meeting also has Dr. Medley speaking on Thursday evening at the usual time and place).

Three recent case histories will be used to provide examples of the broad technical skill sets necessary for the two-way translations of geology and engineering required of Geological Engineers. These case histories include: a summary of the Geological Engineering observations from a reconnaissance commissioned to observe damage resulting from the October 2006 Hawaii earthquake; the very challenging Forbes Cave project in Hawaii, a rare story of a geopractitioner becoming very dirty as a Court- Appointed Expert advising on lava tube cave stability and recovering a buried collection of unique Hawaiian cultural artifacts; and, the Geological Engineering insight required for overall geoengineering characterization of terrain hazards at the Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea, located in a geothermally active, collapsed volcanic caldera.

Edmund Medley, Ph.D, PE, CEG, F.ASCE is the AEG/GSA 2009 Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lecturer in Engineering Geology. The Jahns Distinguished Lecturer award was established in 1988 to commemorate Professor Richard Jahns (1915-1983), a noted engineering geologist who had an influential and diverse career in academia, consulting and government. Dr. Medley is a Senior Consultant in the Oakland, California office of Geosyntec Consultants, an international consulting firm reknown for innovative solutions to geoengineering and environmental problems. He has an international reputation for his pioneering research into the engineering and geological characterization of block-in-matrix rocks (bimorcks), complex geological mixtures of rock and soil such as melanges, fault rocks, weathered rocks, tills, and colluvium.