UA AEG Meeting March 24th 2011

University of Arizona
Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists

Call and Nicholas, Inc.
International Geotechnical Consultants

Invites You to a Presentation by
Robert Pratt, PE on
Rock Mechanics and Slope Stability

Free Brooklyn Pizza and Soda
Provided by Call and Nicholas, Inc.

When- UA AEG Monthly Meeting, Thursday March 24th, 12:30pm
Where- Mines and Metallurgy Bldg, Room 225

UA AEG Meeting March 24th 2011

University of Arizona
Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists

Call and Nicholas, Inc.
International Geotechnical Consultants

Invites You to a Presentation by
Robert Pratt, PE on
Rock Mechanics and Slope Stability

Free Brooklyn Pizza and Soda
Provided by Call and Nicholas, Inc.

When- UA AEG Monthly Meeting, Thursday March 24th, 12:30pm
Where- Mines and Metallurgy Bldg, Room 225

AEG-AHS Student Night 2011

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Student Night 2011

For All Arizona Students and Professionals in Groundwater,

Environmental, & Engineering Geology

Geotechnical Engineering and Geological Engineering Fields

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Hosted By: AEG and AHS

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Student/Professional Meeting

Networking

Recruiting

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Schedule of Events:

5:30-7:00 Career Fair and Mingling

7:00-7:45 Dinner

7:45- 8:45 Student Presentations

8:45-9:00 Award Presentations

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Location:

Arizona State University in Tempe

Student Memorial Union

Cochise Room

ASU Student-Professional Meet and Greet

Greetings AEG Members and Supporters,

As part of our attempt to outreach to ASU students and faculty, AEG has been working closely with ASU’s GeoClub, a student organization within the School of Earth and Space Exploration. GeoClub will be hosting a Student/Professional Meet and Greet evening on Tuesday March 9th at 5:30 pm. The purpose of the meet and greet event is to provide an informal setting where students can meet with professionals and ask questions related to work in engineering, geology and geology related fields and how they can tailor their course choices and other trainings to prepare for work in the engineering and geologic consulting industry. It is anticipated that refreshments and networking will be the order of business from 5:30 to 6:00 pm with student/professional interaction following.

GeoClub has solicited the support of AEG’s professional membership by attending the event and meeting with students to answering their questions.

If you are a practicing professional, please consider supporting this event by attending and meeting informally with students to answer their questions. Official announcement of this event is expected from ASU’s GeoClub soon and will be forwarded to you upon receipt.

If you are interested, please contact me at the e-mail address provided below.

Best regards,

Gregg Mitchell, R.G.
Student Liaison, Arizona Section, AEG
mailto:user.name@hdrinc.com

PS Please also start thinking about supporting the upcoming Fifth Annual AEG/AHS Student Night event. This year’s event will be held at ASU’s Tempe campus on Tuesday, April 6th. The event is being promoted by the ASU School of Sustainable Engineering and the Build Environment’s Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering program, the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and GeoClub. Formal announcements are being formalized and will be forthcoming.

2010 Student Night

STUDENT NIGHT 2010
For All Arizona Students and Professionals in Groundwater,
Environmental, & Engineering Geology,
Geotechnical Engineering and Geological Engineering Fields


Hosted By: AEG and AHS

Tuesday, April 6, 2010


Student/Professional Meeting



Networking



Recruiting



Schedule of Events:
5:30 – 7:00 Career Fair and Mingling
7:00 – 7:45 Dinner
7:45 – 8:45 Student Presentations
8:45 – 9:00 Award Presentations


Location:
Arizona State University, Tempe
Student Memorial Union
Cochise and Mohave Meeting Rooms


Hosted By: Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists
Arizona Section
&
Arizona Hydrological Society
Phoenix Chapter

Student Night Flyer

Student Night RSVP and Map

Student Night Call for Student Papers

Student Night Announcement to Professionals

Shlemon Conference: Modern Subsidence, Sea-Level Rise, and Future of the Gulf Coast

Shlemon Specialty Conference

Modern Subsidence, Sea-Level Rise, and
the Future of the Gulf Coast
May 13-15, 2010
Galveston Island, Texas

Call for Abstracts

Shlemon Specialty Conferences are sponsored by the AEG Foundation and the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists, and are supported, in part, by funds provided by Roy J. Shlemon, a Trustee of the AEG Foundation, an Honorary Member of the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists, and a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. The conferences provide for an intensive 3-day forum of technical discussions among researchers and practitioners, and focus on topics beneficial to society and directly related to application of the engineering and environmental geosciences. The conferences are intended to promote and disseminate practice and research results, and to foster improvement and understanding of applied geology.

The sixth Shlemon Specialty Conference, Modern Subsidence, Sea-Level Rise, and the Future of the GulfCoast, will include keynote oral presentations by invited experts, a field excursion, poster sessions, and ample time for informal interaction. The field trip held in conjunction with the conference will include various stops around Galveston and the Bay Area to observe evidence of faulting and related subsidence effects on various engineered structures.

The technical focus of the conference concerns:

• Subsidence measurements
• Processes causing subsidence
• Quaternary geology of the GulfCoast
• Engineering geology, coastal flooding, and protection
• Space-based geodesy and subsidence of New Orleans
• Northern hemisphere glaciations and crustal physics, subsidence modeling
• In-SAR and oil field subsidence
• Groundwater subsidence of the GulfCoast

Abstracts for poster sessions are invited and will be organized on various topics. Posters will be on display throughout the entire conference with time set aside each day for review and discussion.

Abstracts for poster sessions should be no more than 350 words and include the title of the abstract, author(s) full name, affiliation, affiliation address, and email address and sent to Julie Keaton, Conference Director (aegjuliek@aol.com). Abstracts may be selected for oral presen-tation.

If you have any questions, please contact either Cynthia Palomares, General Chair (cpalomar@tceq.state.tx.us) or Roy Dokka, Technical Program Chair (dokka1@lsu.edu).

AEG Scholarship Opportunities

To all students and faculty in the applied geosciences field:

The AEG Foundation (Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists Foundation) offers many scholarships each year to assist students with field work and studies in the applied geosciences. Scholarship amounts range from $200 to $2000. Traditionally, we have not had very many Arizona students apply for these scholarships. I’d like to see that change this year and to see some qualified Arizona students apply for these scholarships. I have copied some information below outlining the scholarship types and application deadlines (February 1st). Please visit www.aegfoundation.org for more information and to apply online.

Professors – Please pass this information along to your students.

Scholarships Available through the AEG Foundation
The Lemke Scholarship Fund was established in 2007 with a bequest from the estate of Richard and June Lemke. The fund supports student members of AEG who are sole or first authors of papers or posters presented at AEG Annual Meetings or at selected meetings of other professional or scientific organizations with which AEG is affiliated.

The Marliave Scholarship Fund was established in 1968 by the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG). The fund name honors an eminent family of engineering geologists: Chester E. Marliave (1888-1958), and his sons Elmer C. Marliave (1910-1967) and Burton H. Marliave (1917-1991), who were pioneers in the profession. The funds are distributed as grants, which are intended to support academic activity and reward outstanding students in engineering geology and geological engineering. Recipients of grants are designated as “Marliave Scholars.”

The Martin L. Stout Scholarship is in memory of Dr. Martin L. Stout, Professor of Geology at California State University, Los Angeles from 1960 to 1990. He is remembered by all of his students for his passionate and insightful instruction in engineering geology. Dr. Stout guided his students through and beyond the fundamentals of engineering geology, often using Kodachrome™ slides for illustration. He emphasized hands-on experience and critical thought. Dr. Stout was well known for his expertise on mega landslides, his worldly travels, his good humor, and his gracious manner. This scholarship supports his legacy.

The Norman R. Tilford Field Studies Scholarship fund was established shortly after Norm died in late 1997 while flying his small aircraft to meet a Texas A&M University student field trip. Norm was a leader in engineering geology, a Past President of AEG, and a professor at Texas A&M University. He was dedicated to teaching geology in the field. This scholarship supports his legacy.

AEG Foundation Scholarships

Lemke Scholarship Fund
Applicants must be student members of AEG who are sole or first authors of a paper to be presented at an AEG Annual Meeting, or a meeting or conference sponsored, co-sponsored, or supported by AEG. Application deadlines vary according to the meeting calendar. Grant amounts vary according to meeting and available funding.
Varies
Typical minimum $200

Marliave Scholarship Fund
A Marliave Scholar applicant must be a senior or graduate student presently enrolled full-time in a college or university degree program that is directly applicable to engineering geology or geological engineering, and a student member of AEG. The application deadline is February 1
$2,000

Martin L. Stout Scholarship
Applicants must be a student member of AEG at time of award. Applications may be submitted with the scholarship application. The application deadline is February 1
$1,000 Undergrad $1,500 Masters $2,000 Doctoral

Norman R. Tilford Field Studies Scholarship
Applicants must be a student member of AEG. Two to three awards are given one for undergraduate and two to graduate students. The application deadline is February 1
$1,000 Undergrad $1,500 Masters $2,000 Doctoral

Arizona Geological Survey Budget Cuts - Input Requested

Hello all,

I'm sure that you all have seen that our state government is in pretty poor shape these days. Things are looking especially bad for the AZGS as more budget cuts are needed. Up to now the AZGS has managed to not significantly reduce the services that it provides, but that will no longer be the case with this next round of cuts. As a result, the AZGS is requesting comments as to what parts of its mission are critical and what parts expendable.

A review panel of stakeholder organizations will meet in early October to help advise AZGS on the tough decisions ahead. AEG will be a part of this review panel. I'm asking all of you (members and non-members) to please comment so that your input can be included. Lee Allison (the State Geologist and director of the AZGS) is posting about this on his blog at http://arizonageology.blogspot.com/. His original post on the issue can be found at http://arizonageology.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-should-we-eliminate-in-next-round.html. He will also be posting the services and activities that are on the chopping block, so check back often.

Below, I've copied some of the email that Lee sent me that outlines just how bad the situation is.

We have to submit plans for 15-20% cuts in the current budget by October 10, based on permanent elimination of AZGS programs. No other options (furloughs, salary reductions, spreading cuts around) will be considered.

The situation is more desperate than might seem apparent. The cuts would take place in January, which means we have to implement a full year’s cuts in 6 months. This results in effective cuts of 30-40% by permanently eliminating enough programs to achieve that. We are also being told to turn over 15-20% of our bookstore revenues (used to run the store and produce publications) and an equal amount of funds we collect from contracts and grants to pay for the cost of carrying out those operations. We are still assessing the extent and impacts of these two fund transfers.

We have already taken about 30% in cuts in the past 15 months. However, our infrastructure costs have not been reduced (rent, phones, accountants, insurance, etc).

As a result, this next round of cuts may necessitate reduction of our geoscience operations by 80% or so.

Student Volunteers Needed at AEG National Meeting

Student Volunteers are needed for the 2009 AEG Conference in Lake Tahoe September 21st to the 26th. Your incentive for volunteering is FREE registration! To volunteer, go to the AEG website (aegweb.org) and click on the Lake Tahoe icon, click on Student Volunteer Registration, enter your AEG Student username and password and fill out the form. If you're not an AEG Student Member, you can join for only $25 by visiting the Why You Should Join AEG under the Students tab. Don't forget to sign up for the Student-Professional Event on Tuesday, it's FREE! Hope to see you there!

Field Trip to SR 87 Landslide

Hello from the beautiful (and HOT!) Phoenix. The Arizona Section held a field trip this August 15, 2009 in lieu of our regularly scheduled meeting. The group took the opportunity to get out of the heat and headed to north to the project site.

The project site, the State Route 87 (SR 87) Landslide, located between about 45 miles north of Phoenix in the Mazatzal Mountains near Rye, Arizona. The field trip was led by Pancho Garza, Arizona Section Vice Chair, and Wayne Harrison, Arizona Section member. In addition to their AEG affiliation, both are with AECOM, the engineering firm hired to investigate the landslide and develop emergency and long-term mitigation in response to the landslide.

The project has been a local news story of much local interest since March 21, 2008 when after a series of heavy precipitation events, a landslide in a cut slope buckled an adjacent portion of SR 87 resulting in a week-long closure of the highway. Immediately after the landslide, the Arizona Department of Transportation and their consultants conducted an initial assessment of the damage and possible causes. Aerial photogeologic reconnaissance and surficial geologic mapping guided an extensive subsurface investigation of the local slide and the much larger ancient landslide which consisted of test drilling and monitoring instrumentation installations. Monitoring and instrumentation included slope inclinometers, vibrating-wire piezometers, wire-extensometers, deformation surveys, and time-domain reflectometry (TDR).

The group totaling about 30 people included a mixture of professionals and students including attendees from all across the state. Everyone met up early Saturday morning before piling into two 15-passenger vans. The hour drive to the site was spent getting to know everyone, and discussing various geologic features along the way.

The project site is located at an elevation of approximately 4500 feet in the Mazatzal Mountains which are located within the Transition Zone Physiographic Province. The Transition Zone province is a very jumbled and extremely interesting geologic area that lies between the relatively flat uplifted Colorado Plateau province to the north and the tilted Basin and Range province to the south.

The field trip included three stops at various areas with the project site with the group leaders providing explanations to the group. The first stop allowed attendees to hike up on top of a dual-tiered set of soil nail walls to get a good view of the various project features including the head scarp of the ancient landslide structure in which the recent landslide occurred and the various cut slopes, buttresses, drainages, and instrumentation included in the investigation and mitigation. The second stop involved a 12-foot multi-plate with water dissipaters underneath an embankment buttress. The third and final stop was at a rock buttress within the landslide completed as part of the mitigation measures. Here site plans showing boring, instrumentation, and cross section locations and interpreted slide limits and cross sections showing the landslide and underlying geology were presented. Also, an up-close inspection of the instrumentation used in the on-going monitoring was presented.

After a quick lunch, the group piled back into the vans and headed back to Phoenix. The group arrived in the early afternoon where the weary travelers got into their vehicles and headed home, mostly to cool off and rest I think. Most of the attendees found the trip and presentation very interesting and suggested more field trips. Overall the trip was a great success!

For more information on the SR 87 Landslide project, be sure to catch the upcoming presentation at the AEG National conference in September. Upcoming Arizona Section events include our regular monthly meeting tentatively scheduled the week before the AEG Annual meeting (anyone visiting Arizona on vacation is encouraged to attend) our annual Holiday Meeting, and in early 2010, our fifth annual Student Night that will be held at the campus of Arizona State University.

Next Meeting: Thursday June, 11 - AEG President Mark Molinari

The Arizona Section of AEG is pleased to announce that our next meeting will be held on Thursday, June 11, 2009 at Pizzeria Uno in Tempe. The social hour begins at 6 PM dinner is usually around 7 PM and the talk will begin shortly after dinner. The presentation topic is "Practical Applications of Airborne LiDAR Data for Environmental and Engineering Geology Projects" presented by Mark Molinari, L.G. Mr. Molinari is the 2009 AEG President and we are happy to have him in from Washington. Hope to see you all there! Thanks to Yellow Jacket Drilling for sponsorship!

Please RSVP to Pancho Garza, by Monday, June 8, 2009.

2) Don’t forget. It's time for elections to happen once again.

So, nominations are open - I've listed the responsibilities of officers below. I have agreed to return as Chair, Pancho Garza has agreed to return as Vice-Chair. Ben Ciampa has agreed to return as Treasurer and Gregg Mitchell has agreed to return as Student Liaison. The non-utilized Field Trip Coordinator is currently vacant, but not terribly important - Pancho is currently picking up those duties with a planned field trip later this summer.

This leaves the position of Secretary. Unfortunately, Heather Hespeler cannot continue in this role. Thankfully, Bonnie Whitley with GTI has agreed to take over.

So, if you want to nominate yourself or someone else (hopefully with their knowledge) for any position, go ahead - but we do currently have people in place to fill the roles that need filling.

The elections will be at our next meeting on Thursday evening. Most likely they will be voice vote unless we have multiple candidates and need a more private way.


Chair – coordinate officer duties liaison with national, attend AEG Board meetings, and manage preparation of annual report including financial report. Coordinate meeting sponsorship and Arizona Section website. Prepare newsletter.

Vice Chair – coordinate speakers and topics for all meetings, have discussions with members to see what kind of topics they are interested in hearing about, and help out with meeting setup

Treasurer – manage chapter’s bank account, collect/deposit/manage money collected at meetings/events, and prepare annual financial report.

Student Liaison – correspond with students at U of A, ASU, NAU, and organize student night.

Secretary – coordinate meeting locations and food, send out meeting announcements, receive and tally RSVP’s.

Field Trip Coordinator – organize at least one field trip per year for AZ AEG members and anyone else interested.

Mid-Year BOD Meeting Summary

ASSOCIATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL & ENGINEERING GEOLOGISTS (AEG)
Annual Board of Directors Meeting Summary

The Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG) Directors convene meetings biannually to review the status and conduct the business of our organization. On April 17th and 18th, 2009, the Board of Directors (BOD) Mid-Year Board Meeting was in session in Seattle, Washington, the President’s city of residence. Detailed meeting minutes were prepared and will be available for approval at the next Annual Board Meeting, which will take place in South Lake Tahoe, California, September 26-27, 2009. The following summary was prepared to assist our Directors in highlighting major issues and topic areas for communication to the general membership.

AEG has twenty-five (25) sections and five Executive Council members totaling thirty Directors. Nineteen (19) Section Chairpersons or their proxies were present along with the Executive Council (EC): President Molinari, Vice President/President-Elect Kreuger, Treasurer Hilton, Secretary Bauer, and Past-President Kuper, achieving the required majority present for a quorum. Chief Operating Officer Roland was also present, as were Governance Committee Chair Andrews, Finance Committee Chair Sofield, Strategic Planning Committee Chair Hale, Communications Committee Chair Shaw and other invited guests. Sections absent were Montreal, New England, New York-Philadelphia, Ohio River Valley, Southeastern, and Southern Nevada.

· President Molinari discussed his Section visits, and told the Board that he would report back to them after discussing the Jahns Lecturer Selection with GSA.

· Treasurer Hilton reported that the IRS accepted AEG’s request to change the fiscal year from July-June to January-December, starting January 1st, 2009, which means AEG has to file a tax return for the short year of July-December 2008. The accountant-audited financials for the fiscal year 07-08 will be available at the end of April 2009 and our taxes are due May 15th. He also reported that our investments, down around 6%, are doing much better than the overall stock market, due to our conservative investment strategy which is consistent with prior BOD direction.

· The 2008 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA had a surplus of around $21,000.

· Chief Operating Officer Roland reported that our Year-to-date membership total is 2632 members, which is around 85% of the total for 2008. Staff members at headquarters are in the process of calling lapsed members, but Section cooperation is imperative to bringing these members back to AEG.

· Sections that have access to lists of State Licensees are asked to send these lists to Headquarters for membership solicitation.

· Communications Committee Chair Allen Shaw discussed the print media of AEG. He asked that Sections ask their members to submit technical papers or case studies to the Environmental &Engineering Geoscience Journal. There will be several papers in a future issue of the journal by speakers at the Shlemon Specialty Conference on Fault Rupture that was held in Southern California in February 2009, and there is also the potential for a Special Publication from the conference proceedings and papers. Allen would like to increase advertising in the AEG NEWS in order to add more color photos and enhance the quality of the publication.

· Website Committee member Dale Andrews reported on ideas about the website revision. He emphasized the need for the website to be a living document and for the Board to consider how it will be continually updated after revision.

· In addition to presenting Finance Committee report, the Finance Committee Chair, Darrell Sofield, reminded the Board of its fiscal responsibilities and how the committee helps to meet those responsibilities. He then stated that without a Treasurer’s report or a fiscal report that compares the actual financials to the budget, the FC could not do its job. “With out those reports, you can’t tell if the budget was met,” Darrell said. The FC suggested that the BOD develop a policy on procedures for financial reporting including procedures for comparing the budget to the actual money spent and a discussion section for items where considerable difference was noted between the budget and actual money spent. The EC has already begun implementing the FC’s suggestions in the 2009 budget, as the budget and actual financials will be broken into quarters for easier comparison, and dissemination to the FC and BOD.

· Sofield also made a request to members of the current BOD to join the committee. After waiving the 30-day notice, the Board approved by blind vote Mary Kay Markunas and Niall Henshaw as Finance Committee members.

· 2009 Annual Meeting Co-chair Gary Luce reported that planning for the Annual Meeting in South Lake Tahoe is going well. COO Roland will distribute the PowerPoint presentation to Section Chairs for promotion at Section meetings. President Molinari will send the Board information on the Outstanding Environmental and Engineering Geology Award after the selection committee makes a decision.

· Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) Chair Paul Hale gave an update on some of his sub-committees.

o Advocacy committee has been working on gathering information on the photos they received from the photo contest they hosted, is developing one page technical information flyers, and is considering making a short movie promoting the profession.
o Student/Young Professional Support Committee has been busy with the Visiting Professionals Program, Section Champions/Student Liaison coordination, the Facebook page (New Geologist), the Student Chapter application template, a Student Welcome Packet, and planning a pre-Ice Breaker event at the Annual Meeting to connect students and professionals.
o Section/Chapter Support Committee is finalizing an Officers’ Handbook for Section Officers and conducting a survey of Section Chairs to find out where they need help.

· The SPC contracted with Creativity @ Work to conduct a member survey and internal and external interviews. The results were used to direct the Strategic Planning workshop, which was held April 17th in Seattle, the Friday before the Board meeting. During the workshop, the attendees defined the areas of concern regarding the future of AEG. Now the SPC will work on a new Strategic Plan and will present it at the 2009 Annual Board Meeting.

· During lunch each Section was asked to answer three questions: 1) What is working for your Section? 2) How is the economy affecting the Section and its members? 3) What committee(s) are you on or would you like to be on? Answers will be posted with the minutes of the meeting.

· The Board discussed the Joint Task Force on Areas of Practice (JTFAP) Guidance document during the MYBM. There was considerable concern that the document in its current condition does not effectively represent our professional practice and its intended use and purpose remains unclear. Although a vote was not called for, an informal blind straw poll was conducted asking if the document should: 1) stop, 2) proceed with the input and guidance of AEG on a broader basis, or 3) proceed as a publication solely published by AEG. Two abstained, 20 thought AEG should proceed on a broader basis, and 1 thought we should proceed with a publication published solely by AEG.

o President Molinari requested creating an ad hoc committee. The BOD concurred, stipulating the following committee make-up guidelines:
1. Minimum of 3 members from Western US, minimum of 2 members from Mid-west/Eastern US, plus two current JTF committee members
2. Minimum of 5 members are current or former board members
3. Strive to include at least one member of AEG Licensure Committee
4. Strive to include at least one member who has been or is included on State Licensure Board
5. Range of 7-10 members
o The Ad-hoc Committee’s charge will be to:
1. Review and summarize member comments about the document
2. Consult with Mark Molinari after he obtains feedback from AIPG and Geo-Institute (after June 15 deadline) regarding how they intend to proceed and invite to forum if appropriate
3. Make recommendations for action and direction of the document
4. Present recommendations to the membership one month before the Annual Meeting
5. Have a discussion forum at the 2009 Annual Meeting assuming the document goes forward with the other groups
6. Work with CA, OR, WA and other licensure boards

· The Spring Shlemon Conference was a great success and had an approximate surplus of $12,000. The selection committee is looking for proposals for future conferences, beginning next year.

· President Molinari discussed the progress of the future Annual Meetings.
o 2010 – Charleston, SC
o 2011 – Anchorage, AL - AEG will need to help with the planning of this meeting
o 2012 – Salt Lake City, UT
o 2013 – Seattle, WA

· The Board decided it would like to post each AEG NEWS issue online when it is mailed and to allow public access for current and past issues.

· Governance Committee (GC) Chair Dale Andrews reviewed the GC’s summary of observations from the 2008 Annual Board Meeting. He also presented three Conflict of Interest templates for the board to decide among, in order to comply with IRS requirements. The board decided to have an attorney review all three statements and work with the GC and EC to finalize a version for Board approval at the 2009 Annual Board Meeting.

· Andrews also presented a template for Sections to use for meeting announcements, which will be posted under the Section/Chapter Support documents on the website.

· The GC compared the governance structure of AEG with other similar organizations and presented potential options for AEG. The Board discussed AEG’s current governance structure and decided that it is effective, but feels that the GC should look into other options including the proposed options of Delegates and Regionalization as well as define performance measures and ways to measure efficiency and effectiveness of the governance of the Association in its current structure.

· Treasurer Hilton presented the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, which covers from January-December 2009, to the board, emphasizing the major changes from the FY08/09 budget. Items such as reduced printing in the coming year, increased advertising/sponsorship efforts, and membership drives are essential to achieve/exceed this budget and allow the use of discretionary funds. The Board approved the budget as presented.

· The Board discussed the pros and cons of online vs. print publications. Through straw vote, the Board’s order of priority for electronic publication is 1) E&EG Journal (21 votes); 2) AEG News (14 votes); 3) Directory (5 votes); and 4) Abstracts with Programs (0 votes). Members will be asked for their priority in a demographics survey that will be included with their membership renewals.

· The Board discussed ways to retain and recruit members; each Director/Section Chair pledged to recruit a certain number of members by the 2009 Annual Meeting. Look for our goal to be posted and progress to be tracked as part of the membership drive.

· Director Metz offered a free frequent flyer ticket to any member who recruited the most members before the 2009 Annual Meeting.

· The Board approved changes to certain By-laws to account for the change in fiscal year to a calendar year.

· The Board approved a template for a Memorandum of Understanding between AEG and Sections proposing to host a future Annual Meeting.

· Two Student Chapters were approved by the Board: The College of Charleston and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

· The Board approved by blind vote a nominee to be included on the Executive Council ballot as Secretary for 2009/2010. This nomination is not a final result, but places this candidate on the mailed ballot; the election results will be presented at the AEG Business Luncheon in Tahoe in September.

· COO Roland summarized the report that the AEG Foundation (AEGF) submitted. The AEGF would like to work closely with the EC to establish one committee for the Lemke and Corporate Sponsor scholarships for students at the Annual Meeting. It would like to look at ways to support un- or underemployed members. It is supporting color photos in the E&EG, but would like for AEG to find a way for this to be self-sustaining.

· PowerPoint slides on the AEGF are available for Section Chairs to have at their Section meetings.

· President Molinari discussed AEG submitting a proposal to IAEG at the 2010 meeting to host the 2014 meeting, and reminded the Board that this meeting would replace AEG’s Annual Meeting that year, and would be an IAEG meeting, not a joint meeting.

· The next Board of Directors meeting is on September 26th and 27th in South Lake Tahoe, CA.

Next Meeting - May 7th: SR 87 Landslide

The Arizona Section of AEG is pleased to announce that our next meeting will be held on Thursday, May 7, 2009 at Pizzeria Uno in Tempe. The hosted social hour begins at 6 PM (thanks to AECOM), dinner is usually around 7 PM and the talk will begin shortly after dinner. The presentation topic is "SR 87 Landslide Remedial Repairs, Investigation and Monitoring”
presented by Keith Dahlen, PE, and Wayne Harrison, PG. We are happy to have Wayne and Keith presenting on this project of great interest. Look out for future information on a follow-up field trip to the SR 87 landslide sometime this summer!

Please RSVP to Heather Hespeler, by replying to hhespeler@ninyoandmoore.com by Monday, May 4th.

2009 AEG Annual Meeting Silent Auction

As preparations are being made for the 52nd AEG Annual Meeting, the AEG Foundation would like to invite you to participate in this year’s Silent Auction. Items for the auction can range from:

Jewelry, precious minerals, photographs of wildlife, etc., wine, cheese, cigars, maps, publications, air miles, a condo in paradise, or just plain old cash…just use your imagination and think outside the box.

Any and all donations will be appreciated! This year the auction will benefit the Marliave Scholarship which honors the memory, work and contributions of Elmer C., Chester E., and Burton H. Marliave. The money that is generated from this auction will be awarded to an outstanding student on the basis of demonstrated ability, scholarship potential for contributions to the profession, character, and activities in student/professional societies, etc. Therefore, if you would like to be a part of this benefit by making a donation to the Silent Auction, please contact Donna Schmitz at donnas@ext.msstate.edu or call Donna at 662-325-1757 for further information.

AEG Still Accepting Abstracts for the 2009 Annual Meeting in Lake Tahoe

We have received 190 Abstracts to date for AEG’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Lake Tahoe. We still need 40 Abstracts to complete our Technical Program. We will continue to accept Abstracts on a first-come-first-serve basis until our program is complete. Please email all abstracts to Heather Skladanowski at meetings@aeg-web.org. If you have submitted an Abstract and have not received a confirmation email, please contact Heather to be sure it was received. Please visit www.aegweb.oeg for submission guidelines and details on the 2009 Meeting. We look forward to seeing you in beautiful Lake Tahoe!

Do you Twitter?

AEG Arizona is now on Twitter. No, it's not me telling you a bunch of boring things you could care less about, it's basically another RSS for this blog. All the blog posts are mentioned through Twitter.

On days when I'm extremely bored there may be more, but for now it's just another portal for this blog.

JTFAP Draft Document Review Period Extended

The controversial JTFAP Draft Document review period has been extended (see announcment below). And on a related note, in case you missed it, a few members of the Arizona Section met and wrote this memo in response to the draft document.

Dear Members,

We sincerely appreciate all of the comments we have received thus far on the draft JTFAP document. Our members of the JTFAP have recently been informed that Geo-Institute has released the document to their membership for review and comment, much as AEG has done. This will allow us to extend the comment period to June 15, 2009, coincident with Geo-Institute 's deadline. This is great news since it allows all of us more time to discuss, interact, and provide review comments over a more reasonable timeframe. We will provide the AEG Board with copies of the responses received to date in advance of our April 18-19 Board of Directors Meeting in Seattle and will have discussion during the meeting. The BOD will be asked to provide feedback and direction on how AEG members of the JTFAP should proceed but no action is now required until after all comments are received and reviewed in July. Again, we thank you for your attention to this very important document to our profession and please let us know if you have any difficulties downloading the document or uploading your comments.

Regards,
Mark Molinari, AEG President

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.

JTFAP Engineering and Geology Practice Guidelines

Members of AEG have likely been barraged by emails relating to the Joint Task Force on Areas of Practice (JTFAP) draft Engineering and Geology Practice Guidelines. Much of what is flying around is negative, and I'm sure there are some positive comments as well. Earlier this week some members of the AEG Arizona Section met to discuss the document. The momo copied below is the result of the meeting and has been submitted to AEG in comment to the document. Enjoy! (or not)

Memo
To: Becky Roland, Mark Molinari, and Bruce Hilton
From: Ken Fergason
Date: March 19, 2009
RE: Joint Task Force Areas of Practice (JTFAP)
Draft Engineering and Geology Practice Guidelines
Arizona Section Meeting

Attending:

Heather Hespeler, R.G., AEG Member, Arizona Section Secretary
Mark Edwards, G.I.T., AEG Member

Jason Williams, R.G., AEG Member
Jeff Rodgers, R.G., AEG Member
Scott Neely, P.E.

Peter Kroopknik, R.G., AEG Member

Ken Fergason, R.G., AEG Member, Arizona Section Chair

Concerned members and professionals of the Arizona Section of AEG met to discuss the JTFAP Draft Engineering and Geology Practice Guidelines document (document). The consensus of the group is that AEG should not endorse this document in its current form. The primary objection of the group is the inclusion of the Areas of Practice Matrix (matrix, pages 11 and 12). The matrix encourages misuse and misinterpretation of the document and will serve as a de facto executive summary that will likely be used out of context of the text of the document.

The other major objection to the document in its current form is the lack of clarity regarding its intent. The group recommends inclusion of a one- to two-sentence Statement of Intent at the beginning of the executive summary. The lack of clarity of the document’s purpose resulted in our group questioning the ‘real’ purpose of the document. We simply want to know who the intended audience is, why this document exists and what benefit members of AEG receive from its existence. In its current form, the document fails to provide these answers.

Below is a bulleted list of other issues the group had with the document.

• The document seems to be a solution in search of a problem.

• The document is focused on Professional Civil Engineers, Professional Geotechnical Engineers, Professional Engineering Geologists, and Professional Geologists – particularly the matrix. This causes confusion for the vast majority of states where all four of these professional registrations are not present – only California seems to have all four registrations. The document needs to better reflect other states which only have registration for engineers and geologists or only engineers. This also produces confusion regarding what seals are necessary for what documents – for example, does any report that contains a geology section require a stamp from geologist (regardless of how large, small, or significant)?

• The specialties and other professionals excluded from this document don’t make much sense and raise further implications regarding the intent, benefit, and audience of the document. These exclusions include Geological Engineers, geohydrology/hydrogeology, environmental engineering/geology, and engineering geophysics (several of which are mentioned in some way in the matrix regardless of their exclusion).

• The group unanimously feels that the matrix should be removed from the document and that without the matrix the document is much more palatable. The group also has disagreement with many of the details within the matrix summarized below.

• Why are PGs excluded from landslide subsurface investigation?
• Why are PEGs and PGs excluded from subsurface exploration for portions of projects involving earth/structure interaction?
• Why are PEGs and PGs excluded from ground deformation analysis? How is ground deformation defined in this context? For example, is ground subsidence ground deformation?
• Why are PEGs and PGs excluded from man-made fill disposition assessment?
• Why are PGs excluded from slope stability analysis?
• Why are PEGs and PGs excluded from many of the construction observation and documentation entries?
  
  The exclusions mentioned above are often in contradiction to the text of the document. The matrix creates absolute distinctions which are also in contraditiction to the document.

• The final sentence in the first paragraph of Section 4.2 states “In developing this guidance document, the JTFAP has not attempted to establish individual practice standards or specifications.” This begs the question “then why is the matrix included” and it is especially puzzling that the matrix immediately follows this statement. Another apparent contradiction of the matrix is its title: Overlapping Areas of Practice Matrix. As presented, the matrix draws lines between areas of practice rather than indicating overlapping areas.

• If AEG decides to move forward with the document, how will final approval of the document be reached? A majority vote of membership? Of the BOD? The group advocates membership vote for eventual approval/disproval of the finalized document.

• The 30-day comment period is inadequate and the group feels that a longer review time is appropriate – especially considering that the document was originally posted at the AEG website which is very user un-friendly. This caused the document to be largely ignored until other AEG members advocated distribution via a PDF document attached to email messages.

• The document should be aware of who will use it, how they will use it, and will they use it as intended. If satisfactory answers to these questions don’t exist, then it seriously questions whether the document should exist.
  
  

In summary, the group does not feel that the document should be endorsed in its current form. The strongest objection is the presence of the matrix, which the group feels should be removed. The group also feels that the intent and benefits of the document should be better clarified throughout the document and that a statement of intent should be included in the executive summary.

If you have any questions regarding this memorandum, please contact me and I look forward to sharing the group’s concerns with the document at the upcoming mid-year Board of Directors meeting.

Regards,

Ken Fergason, R.G.
Arizona Section Chair, AEG

Next Meeting - March 26th, 2009

Dear AEG Members, Professional Colleagues, Students, and Friends:

The Arizona Section of AEG is pleased to announce that our next meeting will be held on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at Pizzeria Uno in Tempe. The hosted social hour begins at 6 PM (thanks to Geomechanics Southwest, Inc.), dinner is usually around 7 PM and the talk will begin shortly after dinner. The presentation topic is "Something to Chew on- Rock is More Nutritious than Dirt" presented by Dr. Edmund Medley, Ph.D., PE, CEG, F.ASCE. Dr. Medley is the 2009 Jahn's Lecturer and we are thrilled to hear him speak. Hope to see you all there!

Please RSVP, Heather Hespeler(hhespeler@ninyoandmoore.com) by Monday, March 23rd.