The 2007 Specialty Seminar entitled “Engineering of Geo-Hazards” was presented by the ASCE Metropolitan Section Geotechnical Group and the Geo-Institute of ASCE on May 16th and 17th, 2007 at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City to an audience of over 175 registrants. Twenty-six exhibitors demonstrated their civil engineering products and services during the event. The seminar was chaired by Paul Pizzimenti and Eric Wang of the Geotechnical Committee. Eighteen technical papers were given in 6 sessions on topics such as Hurricane Katrina, legal considerations for geo-professionals, failed rock cut stabilization, geoseismic hazard assessment, mine stabilization, and serpentinite rock masses. Two keynote lectures were given to begin and end the seminar.

The Younger Member Forum paid tribute to the Section's newly inducted Life Members on April 25, 2007. This year’s dinner was held at New York City College of Technology with Met Section President, Larry Chiarelli, welcoming the honorees. The event also included the presentation of awards to outstanding members of student chapters at area colleges and universities. A fellow Ridgway Award recipient himself, Larry stressed the importance of staying involved with ASCE. This event is unique in that the Life Members share their experiences and offer words of wisdom to the future leaders of our profession. One Life Member inductee, Karl Rubenacker, summed up his experiences with the following Top Ten List:

Ray Sandiford presented the March Geotechnical Lecture at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan on March 15, 2007 to a standing-room only audience of over 200 attendees. The lecture focused on geotechnical aspects of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center (WTC) site, both those currently underway and those still in planning.

Mr. Sandiford began the lecture by describing the Port Authority's facilities in the region, and detailing the history of the WTC site. The site occupies much of the west side of lower Manhattan. About half of the site was once in the Hudson River and was underlain by either fill or deposits of organic silts. The original PATH system tunnels crossed the site and terminated in the old H&M Building. In addition, the 1 and 9 subway lines crossed through the site. The original excavation for the WTC construction provided the fill used to create the Battery Park City development.

A total of thirty six teams consisting of seventh and eighth graders from middle schools in the metropolitan region competed in the New York City Regional Future City Competition on January 20, 2007. The event was held at Polytechnic University and also hosted by the ASCE Met Section. The winning team was “Esperanza” from Valley Middle School, Oakland, NJ. Students: Brandon Boccellari, Alec Carpenter and Jimmy Kilmek, Teacher: Judith Vihonski and Engineer Mentor: Mike McNally of McNally Engineers PC, Oakland, New Jersey.

The Geotechnical Group began the New Year with a lecture on January 11, 2007 that included a pair of presentations by Dr. Allen Sehn and Dr. David Yang, distinguished engineers with experience applying deep soil mixing methods to a variety of geotechnical design challenges. Dr. Sehn kicked off the lecture with a general overview of soil mixing methods, particularly emphasizing the use of single axis mixing. Deep soil mixing involves mechanically incorporating a cementitious binder into soft in-situ soils for the purpose of improving the strength and stability of the soil. The result creates soil-crete columns which are typically three feet in diameter, but which can be as large as seven feet across. These columns are constructed one after another to create configurations within the ground such as walls or grid patterns. The primary factors which most affect the overall performance of mixed soils are the initial soil conditions, the mixing energy applied to the soil by the cutting tool and the content of binder material added during mixing.