Mr. Jerry DiMaggio (right) receiving a golden apple from Geotechnical Group Vice Chair Michael Chow at the end of the lecture. Lecture slides were broadcast on large screen TVs.

Mr. DiMaggio is the Implementation Manager of the Strategic Highway Research Program SHRP 2 at the National Academies in Washington D.C and the recipient of the 2011 Kapp Foundation Award. He is also a principal at Jerry A. DiMaggio Consulting, LLC, a small specialized consulting firm serving the civil engineering and construction industry. Mr. DiMaggio has been a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of Delaware, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, The University of Akron in Ohio and Columbia University in New York. He has been the invited keynote speaker at over 30 national meetings and conferences around the United States. Mr. DiMaggio has authored 35 technical papers and publications and edited three civil engineering books. He has received numerous national and international awards.

Mr. DiMaggio delivered an engaging and dynamic talk, tracing the advances of the state of practice in deep foundation design, construction, and monitoring during the past 30 years. He also examined ten deep foundation developments and innovations which have been mainstreamed within the state of practice and at the same time have changed forever the deep foundation industry. Mr DiMaggio emphasized that today's deep foundation specialists must be knowledgeable and experienced with the structural aspects of deep foundations and have an in depth knowledge of contracting, foundation materials, construction, and construction equipment. All these are now fundamental requirements to a successful career.

Summary by Nidal AbiSaab, photo by Joe Caciola.