AEG News September 2015

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Vol. 58, No. 3 – September 2015

AEG

Transitioning for the Future

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Vol. 58, No. 3 – September 2015

AEG News (ISSN 0899-5788; USPS 954-380) is published six times a year by the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG), with the quarterly issues Nos. 1–4, published in March, June, September and December, respectively. The Annual Report and Directory issue is published in January. The Annual Meeting Program with Abstracts issue is published in September. Print copies are distributed at the meeting. Subscriptions for Association members, which includes all six issues of the AEG News, are included in annual membership dues. Nonmember annual subscription is $40.00, and includes only the four regular issues (#1–4) of the News. The Annual Report and Directory issue and the Annual Meeting Program with Abstracts issue are priced separately. Back issues of the AEG News are $10 each. Inquiries should be sent to AEG Headquarters: Marrijane Jones, Association Manager, 1100 Brandywine Blvd. Suite H, Zanesville, Ohio 43701 844-331-7867.

Periodical Postage paid at Zanesville, OH, and additional mailing offices: POSTMASTER: Send address changes to AEG News, 1100 Brandywine Blvd. Suite H Zanesville, Ohio 43701, USA. AEG News is printed by The Ovid Bell Press, Fulton, MO 65251, USA. © 2015 Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists—All Rights Reserved Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those officially representing the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists except where expressly stated.

AEG News Editor Anna Saindon Geotechnology, Inc. 11816 Lackland Road, Suite 150 St. Louis, MO 63146 314-581-6286 news@aegweb.org

Managing Editor/Production Andrea Leigh Ptak Communicating Words & Images 6542 52nd Ave. So. Seattle, WA 98118 Office: 206-725-9169 Cell: 206-300-2067 andrealeighptak@me.com

Table of Contents News of the Association 2 The President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Treasurer’s Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 AEG Foundation 2015 Scholars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Raising Funds for Your Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Remembering AEG Pioneers: Moore & Taber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 In Memory of John E. Moylan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 News of the Profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 AEG’s Hasan Awarded the Fulbright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 New York State to License Geologists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Professional Contributions 10 The Geology of Pittsburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Journeying through Time: Geology Meets Archeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Issues in Professional Licensure

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The HomeFront

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Index to Advertisers

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On the Cover

Submission Information

A stream cuts through the alternating reduced and oxidized argillite layers of the Grinnell Formation (Mesoproterozoic Era) in Red Rock Canyon at the Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada.

In order of preference:

PHOTO BY ANNA SAINDON

1. Send files via email, preferably as attachments, to both email addresses above. Optimum file format is MSWord 2004. Users of other software programs should convert their file to ASCII or text only.

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The association

3. The policy of AEG News editorial staff is to limit the credentials of an individual to two. For example, if John Smith has a MS, a PhD and a PG plus a CEG and a CGWP, his credentials would be limited to John Smith PhD, PG, the two principal credentials. BS/BA and MS degrees will not be recognized. No effort will be made by the AEG News editorial staff to determine if individuals whose credentials are missing from the submitted copy actually have academic or professional credentials, nor will the staff verify the existence or correctness of the credentials submitted.

2014–15 Officers

For detailed guidelines visit: www.aegweb.org/publications/aeg-news/submit-to-aeg-news

President: KENNETH C. FERGASON Amec Foster Wheeler, 602-329-9714, fergasonaeg@gmail.com Vice President/President Elect: PAUL M. SANTI Colorado School of Mines, 303-273-3108, psanti629@gmail.com Treasurer: DALE C. ANDREWS Carmeuse Lime & Stone, 412-777-0728, dale.andrews@carmeusena.com Secretary: KATHY G. TROOST University of Washington, 206-909-9757, ktroostaeg@gmail.com Past President: GARY C. LUCE Resource Concepts Inc., 775-690-0537, lucegc@charter.net

Advertising in the News

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Contact AEG Headquarters at advertising@aegweb.org.

Next Submission Deadline

AEG Foundation—President: DAVE FENSTER, aegfprez@gmail.com

October 31, 2015, for the December Issue Canada Agreement number: PM40063731; Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Station A, PO Box 54; Windsor, ON N9A 6J5; Email: returnsil@imex.pb.com

September 2015

Communications Directors: MATT BRUNENGO, 503-534-0414, mbrunengo@aol.com and KAMI DEPUTY, KDD@shanwil.com, 425-463-5903

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NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION – THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Turn, Turn, Turn

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Ken Fergason, AEG 2014–15 President

t is an interesting exercise to reflect on the past year as my term as President of AEG comes to a close. Without a doubt, it has been the greatest honor of my career to serve AEG in this way and to have so many peers and colleagues express their confidence in me through this opportunity. It has also been quite a challenge with this period of change for AEG, or as I think of it, a period of evolution.

Just before I became President we parted ways with our association manager and brought on a new management company. Of course this occurred in the middle of the final preparations for our Annual Meeting in Scottsdale and our initial pushes toward restructuring the AEG governance. Institutional knowledge needed to be transferred and excavated from digital archives as well as a dusty storage facility in suburban Denver. Furthermore, after two years of struggling with our website and database, we moved to another platform, which was no small task. Thankfully, our new management company made the process as seamless as it could be.

In addition to these administrative changes, there have been some great new endeavors in AEG. We had an extremely successful forum in Seattle, WA: The AEG Professional Forum on Landslides: Time to Face the Landslide Hazard Dilemma: Bridging Science, Policy, Public Safety, and Potential Loss. Over 200 professionals from many disciplines were brought together to discuss landside hazards and their impact on the public. AEG plans to use this forum (and a few others) as templates for discussion of other relevant topics in more of these regional/topical professional forums that will add yet another benefit to membership as it advances the profession.

The AEG journal, Environmental & Engineering Geology, now offers digital first publishing, which allows articles to make it onto the web before the print journal is produced, speeding up publication by months. Additionally, archived articles from the Bulletin of the Association of Engineering Geologists are now available through Geoscience World. We are also working to bring some of our Special Publications to the digital world as eBooks and develop a program for future electronic and print-on-demand publications.

Behind the scenes, many volunteers have been putting in a lot of effort for the ongoing governance restructuring. You’ve seen articles in the AEG News, the Insider, on the website, and had letters mailed directly. By now you’ve had the opportunity to vote on restating and updating our Articles of Incorporation for us to become compliant with current California law. Right now we are hard at work revising our bylaws to bring them in line with current law and the general practice of non-profit corporations. In the coming months, you will be asked to comment on the restated and amended bylaws and eventually to vote to accept them. Concurrent with this effort will be the amending and revising of our Operating Policies. While all this is happening, we will be making the transition to a regional gover2

nance model that will reduce the size of our Board of Directors and give Sections and Chapters more support and flexibility. The season is turning and AEG is evolving—as it must in order to avoid the potential of extinction.

The website contains lots of information regarding the details of the governance restructure process, as well the means for you to provide comments and input.

We are listening and membership input is a tremendous help to us as we build AEG’s future.

In closing, thank you again for the opportunity to serve and lead. It has been an honor and privilege that I will always remember. I look forward to seeing all of you at future meetings and join me in welcoming our new President, Paul Santi.

AEG’s future is in good hands.

Seen AEG’s New Website?

If you haven’t logged on in a while, please visit the Get Started With the New Site page to set a new password and review your profile before logging into the new site for the first time. We are still at www.aegweb.org.

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September 2015

NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION – TREASURER’S REPORT

Transitioning for the Future

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Dale C. Andrews, 2014–15 AEG Treasurer

irst, a quick update. In my last report, I highlighted many of the of fiscal reporting changes that AEG was implementing to improve how we track and forecast our financials as well as to improve our overall fiscal accountability. With nearly all the changes in place, I am happy to report that we are already experiencing many benefits from this effort. The changes have positively impacted how we track revenue and pay expenses and will simplify how we prepare budgets and submit audits going forward.

I had also previously forecasted that 2015 would likely be a deficit year for AEG, not taking into account any Annual Meeting revenue. Now that we are halfway into the year, we have significantly reduced the deficit. There are many reasons for this achievement, but let me highlight just two. First, our Members—membership is up in 2015 over 2014, and we hope to continue to see this trend for years to come! Second, we had an extremely successful AEG Professional Landslide Forum in Seattle, WA. The volunteers who made this incredible opportunity available cannot be thanked enough.

With that said, let’s get into the numbers. I have received our June financials and have compared it to our current budget. This provides a good opportunity to reevaluate our existing budget predictions and make recommendations as to whether AEG needs to adjust its spending. It is also time to begin drafting a budget for 2016, but let’s save that for the next report.

As you read on, keep in mind the 2015 budget and actual to-date numbers that I will be presenting below do not include any Annual Meeting revenue or expenses. The Annual Meeting is budgeted separately and is anticipated to generate approximately an additional $25,000 in revenue. Also, aside from the Annual Meeting, the gross majority of our revenue is generated in the first half of the year; whereas our expenses are fairly consistent from month to month. For this report, I will briefly touch on our actual vs. budget revenue and expenses, our cash reserves, Treasurer’s reserve and Legislative fund.

Revenue AEG budgeted $343,125 in revenue for 2015. As of June 30th, AEG’s actual revenue to date is $346,913 or about 1% over budget. Based on the prior year’s 3Qtr and 4Qtr revenue, AEG will likely close the year nearly 2% over budget.

September 2015

Expenses AEG budgeted $343,400 in expenses for 2015. In addition, a $10,000 adjustment was authorized at the mid-year Directors meeting to cover a rare, unbudgeted cost to have an attorney review and restate all of our governing documents to ensure their compliance with California law (to be funded through our Treasurer’s reserve). As of June 30th, AEG has spent $185,921, which is about 54.1% of budget. Forecasting spending through the end of the year, without adjustment, AEG may exceed budget by approximately 5%. AEG’s officers are exploring options to reduce this.

Legislative Our legislative fund grew from $39,498 at this time last year to $56,116 as of June 30, 2015. This fund is supported by a small defined percentage of our member dues.

Treasurer’s Reserve Our Treasurer’s Reserve fund has grown from $230,152 at this time last year to $262,963 as of June 30, 2015. This account’s growth is due in part from interest, as well as a deposit from excess revenue generated from the prior year’s Annual Meeting.

Cash Reserves AEG made a change in recent years to build our cash reserves in our Operations account such that it alone can cover all of the current year’s expenses. Over the past two years, AEG has been building the cash reserve and is now within 10% of our total expenses. Assuming we continue to see our typical Annual Meeting success, we are on track to reach this goal as soon as 2016.

In closing, AEG’s total net equity is approximately $20,000 greater now than it was at this time last year and although we are on track to exceed our budgeted expenses, I am forecasting that with the addition of the predicted 2015 Annual Meeting revenue, this number will increase to close to $30,000 by the year’s end. FinanAEG contributes to its members’ cially, AEG is trending professional success and the in the right direction, public welfare by providing but this would not be leadership, advocacy, and applied possible without the research in environmental and success of our Associengineering geology. ation Meetings. So again, thank you to our members for supporting AEG.

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AEG’s Mission:

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NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION – FOUNDATION REPORT

AEG Foundation 2015 Scholars mega landslides, his worldly travels, his good humor, and his gracious manner. This scholarship supports his legacy.

Beardsley-Kuper Field Camp Scholarship Ann Sutton Teichmiller

Christopher C. Mathewson Scholarship

University of Mississippi No Photo Available

Richard Goldberg

Darren Seidel

University of Texas – Arlington Graduate Division, No Photo Available

Angelo State University The Beardsley-Kuper Field Camp Scholarship Fund is proud to announce its fifth annual awards.

Funds are intended to support geology field camp expenses with applied environmental and engineering geology that will be useful to the students’ future profession as an environmental or engineer geologist.

Kimberly Belle Barry University of Texas Arlington Undergraduate Division

Norman R. Tilford Field Study Scholarships David Korte

Marliave Scholarship

Kent State University PhD Division

Lauren Schaefer Michigan Technological University

Annette Patton

The Marliave Scholarship Fund was established in 1968 to honor the late Chester E. Marliave, Burton H. Marliave, and Elmer C. Marliave, outstanding engineering geologists and supporters of AEG. The funds are distributed as grants, which are intended to support academic activity and reward outstanding scholarship in Engineering Geology and Geological Engineering.

Colorado State University Masters Division

Sara Fischer Indiana University–Purdue University – Ft. Wayne Undergraduate Division

Stout Scholarship

The scholarships are awarded for the summer field season and were established in memory of Norman R. Tilford, who was a leader in engineering geology and a professor of engineering geology at Texas A&M University. Norm died in late 1997 while flying his small aircraft to meet a student field trip. Norm was dedicated to teaching geology in the field and these scholarships will support his legacy.

Sara Lindsey Poluga Kent State University Graduate Division – 1st Place

Stephanie Gugolz University of Georgia Graduate Division – 2nd Place

West-Gray Scholarship

Justin Alford

Patrick Beaudry

East Carolina University Undergraduate Division – 1st Place, No Photo Available

CUNY – Queens College

Robert Huber Radford University Undergraduate Division – 2nd Place, No Photo Available Dr. Martin L. Stout was 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 was well known for his expertise on 4

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Established in 2014 with initial funding provided as a gift from AEG Past Presidents Terry R. West and Richard E. Gray, this fund supports undergraduate and graduate geology students in the eastern half of the United States through scholarship grants.

September 2015

NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION

Raising Funds for Your Section

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Rick Kolb, Carolinas Section

he economy seems to be improving and consultants and contractors with whom I speak in the Carolinas profess to be busy. The Carolinas Section is one of the stronger Sections in AEG for several reasons, one of which is the funding sources we maintain and another is the strong leadership and number of volunteers that actively lead our Section.

However, I have been to several association board meetings and have heard folks talk about how their Sections have no money to undertake special projects. The Carolinas Section is in almost the opposite situation, having funds to serve and strengthen our profession and focus attention on AEG. Your Section can have similar success with a sustained effort of low-key, volunteer driven fund raising. Consider the following:

Seek Out Section Sponsors The Carolinas Section in 2015 has 23 sponsors. These include laboratories, drilling contractors, service companies (e.g., USTclosure and waste-disposal contractors), remediation contractors, and consulting firms. These sponsors pay an annual fee that ranges from $250/year for Silver Sponsorship to $600 for Titanium Sponsorships, with varying levels of benefits (details are in our Section newsletter at www.aegcarolinas.org). Many have sponsored our Section for a decade. In 2015, sponsor fees provided a total of $7,125. The key to maintaining these sponsors is to take care of them. Jane Gill-Shaler was our sponsorship chair for years, and she gave out many hugs to our sponsors at our Section meetings. Continuity is important, and I

Why We Fundraise…

For the last several years, our Section has had regular infusions of funds, beginning with the “profit’ from AEG’s 2010 Annual Meeting. These funds have allowed us to: ● Pay for student memberships back when their membership cost $25/year ● Provide free dinners for students that attend our Section meetings ● Pay travel expenses for the Jahns Lecturers’ week-long visits to our Section ● Pay travel expenses for an annual visit by AEG’s President ● Provide pizza and soft drinks for students during our Visiting Professional presentations (generally five or more schools each year) ● Pay for our chair’s attendance at AEG’s board meetings ● Establish a Section scholarship ● Purchase a sound system for use at our meetings (essential in noisy brewpubs) ● Maintain and upgrade our Section’s website.

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have found persistence is even more important—staying pleasantly pesky but not irritating until we receive the sponsor check.

Yes, we have lost sponsors in the past (we had nearly 30 one year), but new companies are always moving to the Carolinas, and they are looking for publicity in any way. Doesn’t each consulting geologist know of contractors they use regularly? Solicit those you know; I have found very few say no.

Co-host an Educational Conference What’s a hot topic in your area? Several years ago, fracking was illegal in North Carolina (we have nominal shale-gas resources), but when the popularity of shale gas arose, there was great interest in the topic. In 2012, our Section teamed with the American Ground Water Trust to host a two-day conference in Raleigh. We approached the Trust with the idea, and they took care of all the details, but our planning group of eight learned along the way. We marketed the conference to our Section and adjacent Sections, solicited some of the speakers and sponsors, and found the venue. The Trust paid us $20 for each attendee (registration was $235 for AEG members/$235 for non-members). We had over 200 in attendance, from all walks of life. For a non-profit, we made a tidy “profit” for our Section’s future use. Equally important, we realized we could do the entire conference ourselves and gain even more “profit.”

And, it was fun being on the radio and television.

Host an Educational Conference Two years later, the planners from the shale gas conference thought, “Let’s do this again.” With the EPA having released draft guidance, the hot topic was vapor intrusion. This time, we did it on our own, with a planning committee of eight, which included a few newcomers to the planning circus. Once again, it was the right topic at the right time, with invited speakers from all over the country, and a reasonable price ($249/$299) for a two-day conference. We again had over 200 in attendance, but this time, our income exceeded our expenses by $25,000. This was a great boon to our treasury and allowed us to seed the AEG Carolinas Section Scholarship Fund, which will be presented for the first time next year.

Present Continuing Education Courses Bill Deutsch presented two courses in groundwater geochemistry at AEG’s Annual Meeting in Charleston in 2010. In the last five years, the number of consulting jobs in the Carolinas has increased, so our Section thought there would be enough demand from those who missed it to offer the courses again.

In October, Bill will fly from Washington State to Raleigh and present Basic and Intermediate Groundwater Geochemistry classes (one day each). Our expenses will be minimal: Maddie

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Continued on page 7…

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NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION

Remembering AEG Pioneers

Return F. Moore and Ray Taber

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Dr. Dave Rodgers

eturn Francis “Ret” Moore, PE, CEG (1923–2015) was born in Los Angeles in 1923, but grew up in Long Beach, where he was named valedictorian of David Starr Jordan High School in June 1941. He attended Long Beach City College, with an emphasis on chemical engineering, receiving his AA degree in June 1943. Before graduation he enlisted in the Navy and was accepted for their V-12 accelerated officer training program, and assigned to continue his studies at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and was assigned to study civil engineering.

A year later he was commissioned as a Civil Engineering Corps officer in the U.S. Navy, and assigned to the 17th Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) Navy Seabees at Port Hueneme, the largest Seabee installation on the west coast. The battalion sailed from Port Hueneme on September 11, 1944, and reached Saipan (Mariana Islands) on October 6. There the battalion was engaged in constructing an air base to support the invasion of nearby Tinian. In June 1945, the 17th NCB moved to Okinawa, where they were when the war ended in mid-August.

Moore was then sent to Seeadler Harbor on Manus Island in the Bismarck Archipelago (north of New Guinea), where the Seabees had established a major ship repair facility. It’s docking and repair workshops and vessel maintenance facilities were equal to the best in the U.S., and Moore was assigned the task of making two of the largest floating dry docks in the Pacific Ocean seaworthy for transport back to Pearl Harbor. This undertaking precluded his being discharged from the Navy until late May of 1946.

In June 1946, Moore re-enrolled at Caltech with the support of the GI Bill and married his gal Margaret. He completed his BS in civil engineering in June 1947. Instead of accepting a job offer in civil engineering, he chose to continue his studies at Caltech in geology, because he loved mountaineering. He spent the next year and a half taking geology classes, completing all the coursework for a second bachelors and master’s degree, but never completing his master’s thesis.

In December 1948, Moore decided to leave Caltech when he was offered the first “engineering geologist” position with the Foundation Investigation Section of the State Division of Highways Bridge Department in Sacramento. In mid-1950, he began working with Ray Taber and became a registered engineer in 1952. In 1955, Ret Moore left the Division of Highways and founded his own firm, Geo-Engineering.

Harmon Ray Taber, Sr., PE, CEG (1927–2011) was from a pioneer family that ranched the Capay Valley near Esparto, CA, on the west side of the Sacramento Valley. He was an Eagle Scout and played football and tennis at Esparto Union School, graduating in mid-1944. He enlisted in 6

the Navy and was sent to Stanford University under the Navy’s V-12 officer training program as an electronics technician. In July 1946, he was discharged and returned to Stanford to finish his degree in geology. In February 1947, he married his high school sweetheart, Betty Jean Stephens. His summer field geology courses were in Hollister, CA, and Candelaria, NV; he received his BS in geology in June 1948. In 1949, he returned to Stanford to complete graduate work in civil engineering so he could secure an engineering position with the Division of Highways in Sacramento.

In June 1950, he began working in the bridge department in Sacramento. From 1950–55 he and Ret Moore developed written procedures to guide bridge engineering studies, which included a thorough engineering geologic examination of all sites, including borings on both upstream and downstream ends of any supporting bent. Taber became registered as a civil engineer in mid-1954.

The Formation of Moore & Taber About seven months after Ret Moore founded Geo-Engineering, he persuaded Ray Taber to join him as a principal. In 1956, they formed Moore & Taber, with Moore as president. Shortly thereafter, Ret Moore opened their office in southern California, with Ray Taber operating the office in Sacramento. The following year, Ray became a charter member of the California Association of Engineering Geologists. He served as AEG President in 1963–64, when the association went national.

Southern California Office The firm’s southern California office was located in Fullerton in 1964, where Moore lived until his death in in 2015. The firm later moved to Anaheim, with branch offices in Bakersfield, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, and San Diego.

Ret Moore spent the remainder of his life living in Fullerton, and was a 60-year member of the Sierra Club and was active in their Sierra Peaks Section into his 80’s. Some of the key players at the southern California office in the 1960s included former Los Angeles County Geologist Douglas R. Brown, Carl Bock, Peter Tresselt, Thomas D. Hays, and Jerry McNey. By the mid-1980s some of the key personnel included Scott Kerwin, Donald Clark, and Gary Lass. Clark later supervised their San Diego office. Jack T. Eagen left the CA Division of Highways before joining Moore & Taber in 1965. He became Senior Vice President of the firm’s office in Anaheim, then out of Woodland Hills. Bob Dickey took over the reins of the successor firm in southern California, called M&T Agra, in the early 1990s, when the company was performing a lot of geoenvironmental work.

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September 2015

NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION

Northern California office Ray Taber lived in Davis and worked out of the northern California office in West Sacramento. During the late 1960s Moore & Taber also opened a branch office in Santa Rosa. The senior engineering geologist at that office was William N. Schlax, occasionally assisted by Charles L. “Van” Van Alstine from the West Sacramento office. The branch was shut down during the recession of the early 1970s.

In 1974 the firm split into two separate firms, Moore & Taber Northern California and Southern California. In 1983 the northern California entity was renamed Taber Consultants, and remained in West Sacramento. Ray Taber continued working until 1990, when he retired (he passed away in 2011). Frank Taber, GE, has served as the firm’s president since June 1979.

Andy Taber serves as the firm’s CFO, while Martin W. McIlroy, PE, CEG manages the firm’s West Sacramento office. The senior staff includes vice president Dave Kitzmann, PE, CEG, senior engineering geologist Eric Nichols, PE, CEG, and Tom Ballard, CHG, who serves as the firm’s principal hydrogeologist.

Ray Taber Foundation In July 2014, the Ray Taber Foundation was set up by Taber Consultants to conduct educational courses for undergraduate/graduate students and industry professionals. Each year professionals from consulting firms and public agencies and students from UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and other regional universities converge upon

Raising Funds

PICTURED: Ret Moore’s Sierra Peaks Section List Finish on Lamont Peak in the High Sierras, in September 2003, the day before his 80th birthday. He is surrounded by Sue Wyman, Barbara Sholle, Pat Holleman, and Mirna Roach.

PHOTO BY REINER STENZEL.

Continued from page 5…

German, our vice-chair/soon-to-be chair, found a free venue. In addition to Bill’s travel/lodging expenses, all we have to do is arrange the catering/set up/clean up/etc. This may sound like a chore but is going to be fun (e.g., a Carolina pig pickin’ one day for lunch). With this arrangement, we can keep the tuition low ($195/$175), which has encouraged attendance by the regulators as well as consultants. Based on our seat-of-thepants projection, we expect income will exceed expenses by at least $10,000.

How do we solicit sponsors? As an environmental geologist, I regularly use the services of drilling and geoprobe companies, laboratories, equipment providers, and services companies—several of which were already sponsors. However, I also used those that weren’t sponsors. Like many of you, I see these representatives on a regular basis, such as when they drop by my office or when I attend professional meetings.

I have made it a practice to have spare copies of our section’s bulletin and sponsor application form in my office. Whenever a non-sponsor comes by to visit, we would conduct our business, and at then I would talk to them for a few minutes about AEG and the opportunity to meet hundreds of potential clients at our Section meetings and through our emails, which go to over 2,000 recipients. I also point out which of their competitors are our sponsors; that seems to be a real motivator, and an argument they use when asking their boss for funds to become a

September 2015

the Taber Ranch for a day of free instruction.

These presentations include explanations of drilling and sampling techniques typically used for geotechnical and geoenvironmental investigations, and focus on demonstrating the reasoning behind and utility of methods used in field exploration and sampling. The Taber Geotechnical Exploration Class offers Continuing Education Credits for attendance.

sponsor. I have also used this strategy successfully for new companies coming to town that want to start up a local branch of their business. The opportunity to meet 75 potential clients in one, three-hour evening sounds very appealing to someone just starting up a local business.

The key to our Section’s success has been solicitation of companies that provide environmental services, since our managing council seems to know them in greater number than those that provide engineering services. However, the selling point is the same—whether engineering or environmental.

These contractors can meet lots of potential clients in a simple, inexpensive way. Come to our meetings, become a sponsor, and make some friends, too. Once they get to know the Section and its members, they’ll be pushing their bosses for membership renewal, and your job will be made easier. And they buy the beer at our Section meetings, too. We all have a good time.

One closing target: don’t forget your Members’ companies.

They can be sponsors as well as your contractors. Sell the idea to the office manager as a way to show support for AEG and our practice, and as a way to keep the company’s name in front of peers. You never know where your next employee will come from, or who will find out about you. It’s all about networking, and our contractors know that, too.

Feel free to email or call me if you would like to discuss this topic or have questions.

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NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION

In Memory of John E. Moylan

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Syed E. Hasan and Julie WestHoff

ne of AEG’s founding members, John Moylan—Kansas City/Omaha Section (KC/O), passed away June 29, 2015 after a brief illness. John was an active member of the KC/O Section since 1967 and the Section and the broader Kansas City geologic and engineering community will truly miss him.

In the early 1960s, as a member of three groups of applied geologists in Kansas and Missouri, John became interested in the new and growing California Association of Engineering Geologists (forerunner of AEG), As a result, he played a major role in the establishment of the KC/O Section founded in January 1967. He served as Section Chair twice—first for the 1969–70 term and again in 2002–04. The KC/O Section has been active for the past 13 years due mainly to John’s involvement in reviving it.

John received a BS in Geology in 1958 from the University of Kansas, and completed a special Corps of Engineers Geological Engineering Program at the University of Minnesota in 1974.

John was a highly respected engineering geologist and hydrogeologist with over 55 years of experience in the engineering and environmental fields. He started his professional career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District, when he conducted geologic design investigations and studies for 8 of the 18 dam projects completed in the Kansas City. Later he was involved in providing engineering geological and hydrogeological support for conventional civil and military projects. He directed hydrogeological investigations and studies, which focused not only on the degree and extent of contamination but also on the site characterization needs for effective remedial design and remedial action.

John would stress the importance of good site characterization and sound interpretation of the data. He stayed with the Corps for 33 years, and retired as Chief of the Geotechnical Branch in 1991.

In addition to his work with the Corps, John was an Adjunct Instructor in Geology at the University of MissouriKansas City (UMKC) from 1979–85 where he taught graduate courses in hydrogeology and geology for engineers. Following his “retirement” from the Corps, he worked for WoodwardClyde Consultants/URS for ten years as a Senior Consulting Geologist and then as an independent consulting geologist up until the time of his death. More recently, he assisted project design teams on large remediation projects worldwide in the public and private sector as well as serving as a peer reviewer and groundwater expert on numerous projects for various consulting firms in the area.

John was also a member of the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the Association of Ground Water Scientists and Engineers. His many awards include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 1990 Commanders Award for Civilian Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 1991 Department of the 8

Army Decoration for Meritorious Civilian Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2000 Distinguished Civilian Service Award, and was named the AEG 2007 Jahns Distinguished Lecturer.

During his career, John authored over 30 papers and regularly presented his papers at local section meetings and the Kansas Hydrology Conference held in Topeka, KS, and nationally at the AEG and GSA annual meetings.

John was born October 15, 1936, to Anna Gunner and John Stephen Moylan in Kansas City, KS. He was a lifelong resident of the Roeland Park and Mission area, attending St. Agnes grade and high school. John and his wife of 56 years, Annette, raised five children together—Mark, Margaret, Paul, Mary, and Kathleen—and have 10 grandchildren.

John was an exceptional individual and mentored hundreds of professional geologists, engineers, and hydrogeologist throughout his career. He always had time to discuss geotechnical features of a project and reviewed reports for those working with him and for his professional colleagues both in the industry and the academia.

One of the latest professional engagements of John was to serve as a co-expert in a legal case, along with Paul Hilpman (Professor Emeritus, Geology, UMKC and Geotechnical Consultant), involving conflicts over dredging in the Missouri River alluvium. When asked by the attorney to find a replacement for John, Paul replied, “There really isn’t anyone.” This is so very true because there is no one of John’s stature locally, regionally and perhaps nationally. Indeed with the sad demise of John we have lost a considerate colleague, a caring mentor and, above all, a compassionate and superb human being.

The Kansas City/Omaha Section has made a donation to the AEG Jahns Lecturer Fund in Memoriam for John that will place him on the AEG Foundation Honor Roll.

We are also establishing a fund to honor John’s life-long commitment to support and mentor young geologists. If interested, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the “John Moylan Fund.” Please contact the AEG Foundation, 17926 Dixie Highway, Suite B, Homewood, IL 60430: Phone: 312-403-0846; Email: staff@aegfoundation.org for details.

AEG NEWS 58 (3)

September 2015

NEWS OF THE PROFESSION

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AEG’s Hasan Awarded Fulbright

yed E. Hasan, PhD, geosciences professor emeritus, University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), and a long-time member of AEG, has been awarded a Fulbright to Qatar by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FFSB). Hasan will teach courses in waste management and environmental geology at Qatar University, and offer seminars at other Middle East universities, during the 2016 spring semester.

“Qatar, with its unique marine and desert ecosystems, needs to implement a waste management strategy that is compatible with its natural environment,” Hasan said. “I am looking forward to sharing my expertise in the field of waste management with students and faculty at Qatar University to help them develop a sound waste management plan for their country.”

Hasan is the author of a college textbook, Geology and Hazardous Waste Management (Prentice Hall, 1996), which was selected for the AEG’s Claire P. Holdredge Award for best publication by a member in 1998.

Hasan has been actively involved in mentoring students via AEG. He established Student Chapters at the University of Arizona in Tucson (1979) and UMKC (2008) and served as the faculty adviser for both.

New York State to License Geologists!

Hasan has been a member of AEG since 1974 and served as the chair of the Kansas City-Omaha Section during 1989–90. Currently he heads the Environmental Characterization and Remediation Technical Working Group of AEG. Hasan also served as chair of the Geological Society of America’s Engineering Geology Division (2006–07) and the Geology and Health Division (2009–10). He is a registered geologist in Missouri, as well as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, and Life Fellow of the Geological Society of India.

The Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries. It is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. The grant is made possible through funds approved annually by the U.S. Congress and, in many cases, by contributions from partner countries and the private sector.

Call for Papers: AEG Members are encouraged to submit papers on interesting case histories, original research or other projects to its journal:

Summarized from the New York State Education Department webpage

On November 21, 2014, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Chapter 475 of the Laws of 2014 that provides for the licensure of professional geologists under Title VIII of the Education Law. The law does not take effect until November 2016.

Under the provisions of the new law, Geology will be added to the current State Board for Engineering and Land Surveying. To implement the licensing provisions, the Board of Regents must first appoint qualified geologists to the board.

The State Board will assist the Regents and the Department in developing regulations necessary to license qualified individuals in the new profession. You can find additional information at http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/geo/.

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Advertisers and their agencies are solely responsible for the content of all advertisements printed and also assume responsibility for any claims arising therefrom against the publisher. AEG and AEG News reserve the right to reject any advertising copy.

September 2015

■ Environmental geology ■ Engineering geology ■ Feasibility studies ■ Geotechnical engineering Geomorphology Low-temperature geochemistry Applied hydrogeology Near-surface processes Review papers in applied geosciences and technical notes (< 6 pages)

■ Best Paper Award

Instructions for Authors: http://eeg.allentrack.net/

AEG NEWS 58 (3)

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PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

The Geology of Pittsburgh

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Brian Greene

he latest publication (being finalized in the summer of 2015) in the Cities of the World Series of papers is the Geology of Pittsburgh. The paper, a culmination of five years of work, is a joint effort of coauthors, Richard E. Gray, Brian H. Greene, Ryan W. Fandray and Robert J. Turkaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all practitioners of engineering and environmental geology in the Pittsburgh region. This article summarizes the information provided in the full version that will be available on the AEG website and via GeoscienceWorld.

The City of Pittsburgh is located west of the Appalachian Mountains in a moderately to deeply dissected portion of the Appalachian Plateau Province. The relatively flat surface of the plateau is dissected by local drainage from the three principal rivers of the region, the Allegheny, Monongahela, and the Ohio.

Pittsburghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategic location helped shape the westward expansion during the early forFigure 1. Duquesne Incline from Mount Washington (Plastipork, 2008) mation of the U.S., largely because of the rivers that served as an inexpensive and efficient means of transportation. The region was considered a stronghold for the emerging country because of its tactical location and later due to its abundance of natural resources that include coal, natural gas, oil, salt, limestone, sand and gravel, and water. Figure 1 depicts present-day Pittsburgh from the vantage point of Mt. Washington (formerly called Coal Hill by Pittsburgh residents).

Western Pennsylvania is associated with the westernmost formation of the Appalachian Mountain chain.

The Allegheny Orogeny had the most effect on southwest Pennsylvania.

The uplift created a series of nearly flat-lying, gently warped Paleozoic sedimentary rocks under the region.

Rock outcroppings in the Appalachian Plateau vary in age from Devonian to Permian. Surficial bedrock of southwest Pennsylvania is Figure 2. Geologic Map of Pennsylvania (PA Bureau of Topographic and Geologic associated with deltaic depositional environments with a Survey, 2007). cyclical nature, from fluctuating sea levels. Pennsylvanian strata that underlie Pittsburgh are dominated by thin cyclic sequences of sandstone, shale, claystone, coal, and limestone (Figure 2).

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AEG NEWS 58 (3)

September 2015

PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS The formation of Pittsburgh’s three rivers has a long history dating back to before the Pleistocene Period, linked closely to the retreat of continental glaciation, and subsequent meltwaters filling the river channels and eroding the landscape. During the last ice age, there were four major advances and retreats of continental ice sheets in North America. At least two of these ice sheets, the Illinoian and Wisconsinian, extended into western Pennsylvania, disrupting the direction of drainage of the major river systems and forming the present-day river systems and flow directions. Pittsburgh was not glaciated, however, periglacial activity and sand-gravel outwash represent two major impacts of glaciation, which terminated just north of Pittsburgh (Figure 3).

Geologic hazards present in Pittsburgh and its surroundings include mine subsidence, acid mine drainage, expansive shales and slags, pyritic acid rock, and slope instability.

Locally, slope instability results from low shear strength colluvial deposits and the Pittsburgh Redbeds, a notorious claystone responsible for numerous landslides. Attributable to the region’s steep topography, abundant rainfall, low shear strength rocks, and soils with low residual strength, landslides have resulted in major property damage and loss of life. Mine subsidence is an ongoing hazard linked to the region’s long history of mining of the Pittsburgh Coal and the Upper Freeport Coal. Figure 4 describes the various modes of coalmine subsidence which occur in Pittsburgh. Coal continues to dominate as the primary source of energy to fuel area power plants. Natural gas produced from hydrofracturing of shale formations also is a significant energy resource.

Hydroelectric power is also a contributor.

Figure 3. Limit of Glaciation in western Pennsylvania and Present River Systems (Harper, 1997).

Figure 4. Modes of Mine Subsidence (Gray, 1999) September 2015

AEG NEWS 58 (3)

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PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS Infrastructure is significant in Pittsburgh. The city was founded and grew because of the natural river systems, supplemented by manmade canals. Today, the region has 23 navigation locks and dams. The early system of canals was later replaced by rail systems for the shipment of bulk commodities. Allegheny County, the county encompassing Pittsburgh, has more bridges than any other county in the U.S. In addition to bridges, Pittsburgh has eleven tunnels that facilitate vehicular transportation and two locally famous inclines, including the Duquesne Incline shown in Figure 1. These inclines were originally used to transport workers up and down the steep slope of Mt. Washington, and are currently a tourist attraction. The existing infrastructure of roads, bridges, tunnels, railways and navigation locks and dams are aging. The Pennsylvania Turnpike is the oldest interstate in the nation and is undergoing improvements.

Today, Pittsburgh has transcended the legacy name “Steel City.” Boasting a vibrant downtown, the city also has nationally recognized universities and medical centers. There is resurgence in shale natural gas exploration using hydrofracturing methods. Coal continues to be the dominant energy source for the numerous power plants in the region.

Many environmental remediation projects are underway, including acid mine drainage from legacy coal mining and reclamation of former steel mill lands. Maintaining and replacing Pittsburgh’s aging infrastructure of roads, bridges, tunnels, dams and river navigation structures will be a major challenge and generate work for many years into the future.

Pittsburgh is a city with a bright future as its employment focus changes and the region’s abundant natural resources are utilized. Water is plentiful and is used in many ways to benefit the citizens of the region.

References Gray, R. E., 1999, Land Subsidence-Mines, in Schultz, C.H. (editor), The Geology of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, Harrisburg, PA. Harper, J. A., 1997, Of Ice and Waters Flowing: The formation of Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers: Pennsylvania Geology, Vol. 28, No. 3 of 4, pp. 2-8.

Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, 2007, Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 2007, 4th ser., Map 7, scale 1:2,000,000, Third Edition, 1990; Fourth Printing, Slightly Revised, 2007.

Plastikspork, 2008, Duquesne Incline from the top, available at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duquesne_Incline_from_top.jpg, accessed November 17, 2014.

Got Volcanics?

Call for abstracts for the March 2016 issue of AEG News…

The March special edition of the News will be on volcanology.

Please submit ideas for articles to AEG News editor Anna Saindon at rmsain@gmail.com. Final articles will be due no later than January 31, 2016. As a reminder, photos and other graphic images must be a minimum of 300 dpi—ideally at 7.5” wide—for cover consideration.

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AEG NEWS 58 (3)

September 2015

PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Journeying through Time: Geology Meets Archaeology

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Stefanie Voss

hen we think about geology, it is usually in terms of environmental, engineering, seismology, and paleontology. How does archaeology fit in? For more than five years, I have been a part of the nonprofit group Cave Archaeology Investigation & Research Network (CAIRN). I serve as the group’s geologist. Susie Jansen and Craig Williams, my friends and coworkers at AECOM— formerly URS—are archaeologists and founders of CAIRN. They invited me to function as the group geologist, although I assist in many other ways as needed. CAIRN was established in 2008 to fill a void in archaeological and cave studies. CAIRN is typically contacted by private landowners, cave research organizations, and government agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service. In some cases, people have a cave on their property and want to know if there has been any prehistoric activity there. In other cases, cave research

groups look to CAIRN to culturally assess a cave as part of a larger project or in conjunction with federal agencies. When archaeological sites are located, they are documented non-destructively and in-situ with techniques that best fit the situation (photos/sketch maps/video/survey).

Artifacts are not removed. Once we have recorded the site, CAIRN sets about writing a report that is given to the relevant party or parties. Cave locations are kept discrete by CAIRN. Peter Campbell, a fellow archaeologist and colleague, heads up CAIRN’s Submerged Archaeology Division.

As the CAIRN geologist, I help describe the geology of the surrounding cave systems that house these archaeological

Exploring the historic Philadelphia brewery cave PHOTO BY: MICHAEL SCHOENEWIES

September 2015

AEG NEWS 58 (3)

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PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

CAIRN team investigating for possible artifacts at cave gate site PHOTO BY: JESSI SCHOENEWIES

Rappelling into Crankshaft Cave PHOTO BY: JESSI SCHOENEWIES

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sites. I offer a wider prospective of cave use and patterns of occupation. In Missouri, there are plenty of cave-forming rock units; such as the Gasconade Dolomite, Pearson Formation, and St. Louis Limestone. A random rock fragment may have been shaped by erosion, instead of man. Chert fragments may have been reworked to make an arrowhead or spear point.

In other cases, some rocks that are not present in a particular area or formation were brought in for some purpose—burial slabs, trade, etc. One of my roles is to identify rock types and discern if they are “local.” This isn’t limited to prehistoric sites. A CAIRN project at a historic mine site had several pits with piles of tailings nearby. In some of these pits, I could tell what the marker beds were in the ore veins that the prospectors were chasing, based on the waste quartz fragments left behind in the pits. I also helped identify what may have been considered “waste” rocks as opposed to what may have been shaped by far older geologic or non-geologic processes.

Our work has taken us into large and small naturally formed caverns, human-modified brewery caves under urban areas, caves that require crawls or rappelling, and also shelter caves. Investigations span prehistoric and historic archaeology.

Some of our investigations have been more historic in nature.

In 2013, CAIRN was asked to help identify car parts from a Model-T that were dumped in a pit cave. Trained CAIRN specialists (including me!) rappelled 70 feet into the cave to document the rusted and decomposing parts. We found serial numbers to help identify the make and model of the car. In brewery caves, we have identified bottles to determine the age of the operation and post-brewery use. One brewery cave was found to have a yet-explored submerged second level, which is unusual and industrious for the 1800s. There is likelihood that these perceived isolated brewery caves are part of a network, long since blocked off by prior owners. At another site in 2014, shelter caves, close to a Civil War archaeological site investigated by CAIRN, were found to have unusual markings that could be prehistoric or masonic in nature. Our group has collaborated with academia interested in testing the 3D imaging capabilities of using structured light scanning underground. This research could help refine the use of equipment to further explore caves in areas that would challenge even the most adventurous caver.

It could also help investigate cave collapse or flooded mines.

As an organization, we strive to cause as little damage to the cave and archaeological site as possible. The cave can be a habitat for various species, some of which are endangered.

The goal is to leave it as we found it. We also maintain privacy of the cave locations for the people who invite us onto their property, as well as out of respect for the cave and preserving it for future generations.

Why is cave stewardship and cave archaeology important?

Looting is a serious threat to caves. Caves are more than just shelters from the elements, as depicted in cartoons and books.

AEG NEWS 58 (3)

September 2015

PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Model T Ford car wheel parts dismantled and disposed into Crankshaft Cave PHOTOS BY MICHAEL SCHOENEWIES

In many cultures, it was the entrance to the underworld.

People buried their dead in caves sometimes, with gifts or belongings to help them on their journey though the spirit world.

In most cases, this sanctity is damaged or destroyed by present-day looters. Many of the caves that CAIRN visits across Missouri have been looted for their “treasures.” This is more than just exploring for arrowheads and bits of pottery on the ground. It is the systematic excavation of prehistoric graves for anything of monetary value included in these final resting places. This not only damages an archaeological site, it in turn damages the delicate cave environment by rerouting drainages, disturbing the ecology, and destroying formations. It is something to consider during your next visit to the rock shop along the highway or your next Amazon purchase of geologic material. Regular cave visits like those by CAIRN or cavers allow monitoring of the archaeology and biology, so we can keep an eye on threats.

When allowed and applicable, CAIRN reports the findings to the appropriate state historic preservation agency. This archaeological site, and hence the cave that contains it, will then be on the state record. Only archaeologists have access to this record when researching projects. In numerous cases, logging cave and archaeology sites with the state authority has provided information that has helped save both caves and archaeological sites from imminent destruction from a construction project such as a pipeline or road. CAIRN investigations are also helpful and required when other cave advocacy groups attempt to gate caves to keep out looters or vandals.

CAIRN has provided me a way to learn about archaeology and their corresponding interplay with caves and geology. I would be remiss if I didn’t do a plug for CAIRN, and say that if you have any questions or if you would like to us to visit a cave on your property, we would love to investigate.

For more information or to contact us, CAIRN is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cairnstl?fref=ts or at http://www.cavearchaeology.org/.

Article author Stefanie Voss prepares the ascent from Crankshaft Cave.

PHOTO BY: MICHAEL SCHOENEWIES

September 2015

AEG NEWS 58 (3)

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HEADERIN ISSUES HERE PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE In this series, we present the opinions of the author as he explores the issues that are important in the implementation and operation of statutory licensure for geologists. The author’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists or any other organization or entity.

Issue LXXV

Experience and the PG Examination Robert E. Tepel, PG, CEG, and Past President AEG

Introduction

Supporters

The title of this article parallels the title of the main (and motivating) reference, Landers (2015). There are many parallels between the licensure processes for engineers and for geologists. When a trend develops in the administration of engineering licensure laws, geologists and geology licensure boards will benefit by being aware of it: the trend might expand to their licensure world. The current trend in engineering licensure, as described in Landers (2015) is called “early taking” of the PE exam. Would “early taking” of the ASBOG® (National Association of State Boards of Geology) PG exam benefit geologists and the public we serve?

As described in Landers (2015) the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) appears to be the initiator and prime organizational supporter of the current attempts to allow early taking. Several engineers active in licensure matters in ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers), and staff of NCEES (National Council of Examiners in Engineering and Surveying), support or accept the concept to varying degrees. Landers (2015) provides abundant quotes from participants in the discussion.

“Early Taking” and “Wait Times” According to remarks in Landers (2015), the content of the PE exam is based on the assumption that a recommended four years of progressively responsible professional experience has been acquired by the candidate after graduation, and the PE exam is designed in part to test knowledge gained in those early years of professional practice. Many state engineering licensure laws and boards have a coordinated four-year (or so) “wait-time” after graduation until candidates (who have passed the FE exam) are allowed to sit for the PE exam. Some states do not. Most geologist licensure boards have a similar “wait time” criterion for a newly graduated geologist to take the PG exam. The PG exam content is based on a similar experience criterion, and it is also designed to test knowledge gained in the early years of professional geological practice. Landers (2015) describe a trend among U.S. engineering licensure boards to reduce the wait time before the candidate can take the PE exam. His article contains extensive discussion and opinion from engineers, their professional associations, and staff of the NCEES (National Council of Examiners in Engineering and Surveying).

Early taking of the PE exam does not mean early licensure.

Early takers who pass the exam must still obtain the required years of progressively responsible experience and meet all other licensure criteria before a license is granted by a state board. This same requirement would likely apply to geologists if early taking expands to geologist licensure.

So, what is the discussion really all about, and can geologists look forward to an early taking trend in their professional licensure system? It turns out that the discussion brought an important related issue to the surface that also applies to the ASBOG PG examination.

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Pros and Cons First in the supporters’ rationale of early taking is that it will attract more engineers to become licensed. They view this as a positive for the individuals and for the profession. At the personal level, licensed professionals will have more job and promotion opportunities. In a larger sense, the public will benefit if there are more licensed professionals who adhere to the high performance and ethical standards imposed by engineering licensure boards. Early taking, it is thought, will attract candidates who might be planning careers in exempt practice to take the PE exam because they will find it more convenient to do so early in their careers, at a time closer to the completion of their academic education. This eases the burden of review study for the academic part of the PE exam.

This convenience factor also applies to candidates who plan careers as licensed engineers.

A point made in Landers (2015) is that the public will benefit from early taking if it results in more engineers who practice in exempt industries being licensed, because they will be practicing under the strong practice regulations and ethical standards imposed by engineering licensure boards. This should enhance the protection of the public health, safety, and well-being by improving engineering practice standards in the exempt industries. As to the practice of geology in exempt industries (see Tepel, 2015), this benefit would not be widely available to the public because of the weak codes of ethics (or practice guidelines) of nearly all geology licensure boards (see Tepel, 2012).

There are two main concepts among the cons of early taking. First, because the PE (and PG) exam is designed to test knowledge gained in the first four (or so) years on the job after graduation, early takers might lack at least some of that knowledge and perform poorly on the exam. Second, if some state boards allow early taking and others do not, this lack of uniformity might place barriers in the comity process.

AEG NEWS 58 (3)

September 2015

ISSUES IN PROFESSIONAL HEADER LICENSURE HERE

Related Issue: Validity of Irrelevant Information in Exam Items Background A related issue discussed in Landers (2015) also applies to the ASBOG PG exam. The concern rose to a level such that ASCE developed Policy Statement 544 to address it (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2014). This concern questions a detail in how the exam items are presented to the candidates.

The concern is, essentially, that the tendency in recent years to cleanse PE exam items of “extraneous information” results in items that present the candidate with the information needed to solve a problem or answer a question, and no more than that. Some of the discussants in Landers (2015) hold that, in the world of licensed professional engineering practice, it is important for the practitioner to be able to sift through information resources that might include extraneous or irrelevant information and to select the appropriate information needed to complete a task. (In the context of discussion in this article, “information” includes all information presented to the candidate in the stem of an exam item: textual, graphical, imagery, numerical, and mathematical, and “data” means numerical information. Where these words appear in quotations from sources, their meaning is controlled by the original context.) In my opinion, not only is the point on information relevance/irrelevance valid, it highlights the wider issue of data integrity and what exam candidates should be expected to know about that.

Discussion: What Does Item Writing Guidance Say About Irrelevant Information in Exam Items?

Item writing guidance varies on the issue of including irrelevant information depending on the type of examination. Here are two examples of guidance at the level of university coursework exams. Mueller (n.d., p. 8) advises “Keep the item simple, only including relevant information.” Zimmerman and others, 1990, p. 4) say “exclude extraneous and irrelevant information,” and on page 8 they suggest “Include as much of the item as possible in the stem, but do not include irrelevant material.” Students are protected from the trauma of discerning irrelevant information if these guidelines are followed by their professors. But what about exams at the professional credentialing level? My small collection of psychometric literature yielded no references that specifically address the issue of including irrelevant information in exam items. For example, it is not addressed in LaDuca and others (1995). The issue is covered indirectly by Office of Professional Examination Services (1997), which notes (p. 3) “Use realistic scenarios or case data to increase job-relatedness. … The scenario or case data format set the item in an applied context. The scenario presented should be a common situation that occurs on the job. Graphics, diagrams, or tables of information may be included if they are consistent with the information candidates would encounter on the job.”

This guidance neither approves nor disapproves the inclusion of irrelevant information in an exam item; it does call for September 2015

items to be realistic and job-related. Certainly (my opinion), dealing with irrelevant information, whether numerical, graphical, image-based, or textual, is a task that licensure candidates are very likely to have encountered on the job, and will encounter after licensure.

Discussion: Is the Task in the Test Specification?

A Test Specification (or Examination Plan or Blueprint) is the document that lists the job-related tasks that are the basis for writing items that appear on the exam. If a task is on the list, there will be at least one exam item on it on each administration of the exam; if a task is not on the list, or it is not an inferable part of a listed task, questions about it will not appear on the exam. The discussants in Landers (2015), who want the PE exam to be true to its goal of testing knowledge gained in the early years of professional practice by including items that present the candidates with irrelevant information, along with the relevant information needed to arrive at the correct answer, have the chore of finding their favored task (recognizing irrelevant information) in the test specification. If their favored task is not in the test specification, or if it cannot be inferred to be included in a listed task, items that include irrelevant information will be written only by happenstance because the item writers have no directive to write such items. To broaden the conceptual basis of the favored task for this discussion, I’ll expand the simple task of “recognize irrelevant information” to this task statement: Analyze and evaluate information resources containing information with varying levels of relevance, reliability, consistency, precision, accuracy, and coverage for project purposes. Table One allows a comparison of this expanded task and “best fit” tasks from selected test specifications or exam plan that might be related to it or to the task of “recognize irrelevant information.”

Discussion: Table One Nothing close to either my generalized information evaluation task or the simple “recognize irrelevant information” task appears in any of the “best fit” tasks, although one might infer that “recognize irrelevant information” is included in some of the listed task statements. So, how to correct this lack of clarity and specificity? Make use of the exam development cycle. In a typical exam development cycle, the Subject Matter Experts, working from a Task Analysis Survey (ASBOG) or from a Professional Activities and Knowledge Survey (NCEES) decide what tasks are important for exam purposes and develop the Test Specification or Examination Plan that lists the tasks upon which exam items will be based. If the task of “recognize irrelevant information” (or my suggested generalized information resource evaluation task), is placed on the next Task Analysis Survey or Professional Activities and Knowledge Survey, the response from practicing professionals will clarify the matter. If practicing professionals rate the “recognize irrelevant information” task high, then it should appear in the Test Specification or Exam Plan and related items will be on the exam. Based on my experience working with psychometricians on three geology credentialing exams, I think that

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HEADERIN ISSUES HERE PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE TABLE ONE. Expanded Resource Information Analysis Task and Best Fits from Selected NCEES and ASBOG Task Lists 1. Source Expanded Task Statement (Row 2) and Best Fit Task Statements from NCEES and ASBOG Task Lists (Rows 3-5). Links to sources given in notes.

2. This article Analyze and evaluate information resources containing information with varying levels of relevance, reliability, consistency, precision, accuracy, and coverage for project purposes. ` 3. NCEES (Note 1) IA. Site Characterization, Interpretation of available existing site data and proposed site development data ….

4. ASBOG 2010 (Note 2) Task 2. Collect, compile, and interpret historic information to plan geological investigations.

Task 3. Interpret and analyze available geological and geophysical data….

Tasks 9. Evaluate geochemical and isotopic data….

Tasks 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 32, and 38 are all in the form of Plan and conduct…investigations….

5. ASBOG 2015 (Note 3) Task 2. Compile and organize available information to plan geological investigations.

Tasks 9. Evaluate geochemical and isotopic data….

Tasks 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 32, and 38 are all in the form of Plan and conduct…investigations….

Notes for Table One: 1. The NCEES exam specification for the civil engineering breadth and geotechnical engineering depth exams (found at http://ncees.org/exams/pe-exam/), 2. The ASBOG 2010 PG examination blueprint (found at http://asbog.org/documents/testblueprint.pdf).

3. The ASBOG 2015 Task Analysis Survey list of tasks found in Section 3.0 of the report at http://www.asbog.org/documents/ASBOG%20TAS%202015 %20-%20Summary%20Report%20%28April%202015%29.pdf.

psychometricians would have concerns that this type of item is not overly time-consuming for the candidates, does not become mere “trickery,” and does not devolve into a test of the candidates’ test-taking skills instead of being substantively and realistically job-related.

The Practicality of Cleansing Irrelevant Information in a Geology Credentialing Exam The general sense of concern about cleansing engineering exam items of irrelevant information in Landers (2015) relates in large part to items that require the use of deductive reasoning to derive a mathematically based answer. One discussant expressed a concern that by removing irrelevant information the problem becomes a simple “plug and chug” solution of an equation. Deductive thinking and equationsolving abilities are important in both engineering and geology, and mathematically-based exam items can be restated without irrelevant data if the goal is to test equationsolving skills at the university scholar level. The practice of geology is characterized by the considerable use of inductive thinking to structure, and to draw conclusions from, inherently complex information sources that supply information that is relevant for some uses and not relevant for other uses. A

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geological map, cross-section, stratigraphic column, structure contour map, or geophysical log or section is an ideal subject for an exam item that is based on a job-related case study or scenario format (as recommended by Office of Professional Examination Services, 1997; excerpt quoted above). These complex resources include, by their very nature, much information that is irrelevant to a specific task for which they do contain relevant information. Cleansing these complex images of irrelevant information is neither feasible nor practical if the item is to be realistic and job-related.

Conclusions Early taking of the ASBOG PG exam will likely become a policy issue if early taking of the PE exam becomes widely accepted in the engineering community.

The comparatively weak codes of ethics or practice guidelines of geology licensure boards give no support to the idea that increasing the number of licensed geologists practicing under the industry exemption will raise practice standards in those industries and better protect the public.

While it is possible to cleanse mathematically based PG exam items of irrelevant information, doing so would reduce them to the level of a college course exam. For the PG exam, image-based items cannot be cleansed of extraneous information and retain realism or job-relatedness.

An idealized task requiring the exam candidate to evaluate and analyze information resources of varying quality and applicability, while it has merit on the face of it, has only weak linkage to existing tasks lists for the PE and PG exams. The validity and importance of this task can be determined by placing it on a Task Analysis Survey or Professional Activities and Knowledge Survey.

References American Society of Civil Engineers, 2014, Policy Statement 544 – The Purpose of the Principles and Practice of Engineering Examination. Accessible by search at www.asce.org.

LaDuca, Anthony, Downing, Steven M., and Henzel, Thomas R., 1995, Systematic Item Writing and Test Construction. Chapter 5 (pp. 115-148) in Impara, James C., editor, 1995, Licensure Testing: Purposes, Procedures, and Practices, Buros Institute of Mental Measurement, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Landers, Jay, 2015, Experience and the PE Exam. Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, May 2015, pp. 58-63.

Mueller, Jon, n.d., Authentic Assessment Toolbox” Constructing Good Item.

Posted at http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/tests/gooditems. htm#terminology.

Office of Professional Examination Services. California Department of Consumer Affairs, 1997, A Practical Guide to Constructing MultipleChoice Examinations.

Tepel, Robert E., 2012, Issue LXIII: The “Primacy Clause” in Codes of Ethics: a Window into Licensure Board and Professional Association Values.

AEG News, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 32-37.

Tepel, Robert E., 2015, Issue LXXIII, The Industry Exemption in Geology Licensure Laws: Should it Stay? AEG News, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 27-29.

Zimmerman, Beverly B., Sudweeks, Richard R., Shelley, Monte, and Wood, Bud, 1990, How to Prepare Better Tests: Guidelines for University Faculty. Brigham Young University.

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Carolinas Section

New York – Philadelphia Section

Alex Rutledge, Chair, and Maddie German, Vice Chair

Mia Painter, Newsletter Editor

The Carolinas Section has been light on events but heavy on planning during the summer of 2015.

In late June, we tried a new networking social event at one of the local Sporting Clay ranges! Although attendance was modest, we attracted quite a few AEG Members that don’t regularly attend events and meetings. The highlight of the Carolina’s Section summer activity is our ability to announce that as of June 2015, the Carolinas Scholarship Fund is accepting donations through the AEG Foundation and we will be awarding Scholarships in 2016! The fund will support undergraduate students’ research, travel, and schooling while attending colleges and universities in North or South Carolina.

The Section Board of Directors, committee chairs, and section advisors met for a full day in June to plan events and initiatives for the coming year. One of the results of this meeting was the addition of a summer section meeting held in Raleigh, NC, on August 6th. At this meeting Dr. Chris Tacker presented the igneous geochemistry, diamond petrogenesis, exploration methods, and techniques used by Jeff Moyer to find 13 gemquality diamonds in NC over the last ten years.

On August 19, we held a networking social event at the Tobacco Road Café in Durham, NC. The seating on the patio allowed us to watch the Durham Bulls, a local minor league team, play live while we socialized, ate, and, of course, sampled a wide variety of craft beverages!

NY-P hosted our first student night in April and it was quite a success! We enjoyed 11 posters and 4 oral presentations from students attending Villanova University, Widener University, Ramapo College, University of Pennsylvania, Delaware County Community College, and West Chester University. We were proud to present participation gifts to each student presenter and a grand prize was awarded to the presenters who received the highest speaker evaluation score. Special thanks to Dr. Chad Freed (Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Widener University) for organizing the event!

NY-P hosted our annual field trip on June 6, 2015. Dr. Kenneth Lacovara, famous in recent years for the discovery of the huge dinosaur Dreadnoughtus in Argentina, showed us around his project site at the Inversand Quarry Pit in Mantua Township, NJ. Dr. Lacovara is working closely with Manuta Township to preserve the pit for a fossil park and center for STEM education (follow them at https://www.facebook.com/MantuaTownshipFossilHeritage). A bone bed at the base of the pit is being carefully studied, and possibly represents a ~K/Pg mass death assemblage; and above that are tens of feet of greensand with a variety of fossils that are less important in the research world, but that allow kids and adults from all over the area to be a paleontologist for a day! The township organizes and hosts field trips, and a vastly popular annual “Community Fossil Dig Day.” We greatly enjoyed a field lecture by Dr. Lacovara, then our 60+ attendees had the opportunity to search for fossils in the pit. We are grateful to Dr. Lacovara and the volunteers from the Mantua Township Fossil Heritage for their contributions of time and effort that made this a successful event, and we look forward to supporting the project as it continues to move forward. NY-P

At Press Time: We have some great events scheduled for fall, including our September Section meeting to be held in Asheville, NC. Daphne Jones, PG, RSM, and Joan Smyth, PG, RSM, will present on the surprises encountered on a large brownfield redevelopment site at Winston-Salem State University.

Our section will offer two days of courses in groundwater geochemistry: Introduction to Groundwater Geochemistry on October 5, and Intermediate Groundwater Geochemistry on October 6, 2015. Bill Deutsch, the course instructor, has taught more than 150 courses in groundwater geochemistry and is the author of Groundwater Geochemistry, published by CRC Press.

Our fall field trip will be a Wine Terroir and Tasting Tour in the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina. We’ll be visiting wineries and tasting wine from October 9–11. Dr. Stephen Harper, Dr. Marlene McCauley, and Jane Gill-Shaler will provide details of the terroir and geology associated with each of the wineries and the Yadkin Valley region.

RENEW your membership, sponsorships, and advertisements by December 15 to be included in the 2016 AEG Directory.

September 2015

Dr. Ken Lacovara speaking to NY-P field trip participants

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New York-Philadelphia Section Field Trip to Inversand Quarry Pit

Oregon Section

AEG, NJ LSRPA (NJ Licensed Site Remediation Professionals Association), and AHMP (Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals) also hosted a joint networking event at a local baseball game in midAugust for established and aspiring professionals.

At Press Time: The RE3 Conference will be held in Philadelphia on September 16–18, 2015.

NY-P members will be assisting in the review of the abstracts, and marketing of the conference. We will likely host an exhibition table and spend some time promoting AEG. We continue to thank everybody for keeping our NY-P Section vibrant, either by attending, presenting, serving on a committee, and/or by offering feedback or ideas. We always welcome new ideas and look forward to seeing you at our next meeting!

ABOVE: Casey Twele and Amanda Forsburg at the Inversand Quarry Pit after digging around looking for fossils.

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Mark Swank, Secretary The Oregon Section closed out the 2014–15 lecture series with our annual Student Poster Night on May 20. Posters covered a wide range of topics and were judged by a three-person panel of Section professionals and invited contractors who have supported the Section throughout the year. Presenters and their topics included: Karla Farley, Katherine Armstrong, and Alex Ruzika, Portland State University, NWA 8614: The Least Heated Winonaite; Gabriela R.S. Ferreira and Robert B. Perkins, Portland State University, Arsenic Mobilization from Silicic Volcanic Rocks in the Southern Willamette Valley; Heather Herinckx, Portland State University, Volcanology and Sedimentology of the Dalles Formation in the Dufur West Quadrangle, Oregon; Kassandra Lindsey, Dr. Scott Burns, and David Dreher, Portland State University, Radon on Alameda Ridge, Portland, Oregon and the Relationship with Geology; Megan Masterson, Portland State University, Hydrogeochemistry of the Piceance Creek Basin, Northwestern Colorado; and, Justin McCarley, Portland State University, A Study of Creeping Landslide Movement using CIAS Image Correlation on Raster Images Derived from Lidar Point Cloud Data.

A special congratulations to Jennifer DiGiulio and Nora Utevsky, both from Oregon State University, on winning this year’s Student Award to attend the 2015 Annual Meeting in

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THE HEADER HOMEFRONT HERE Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The award provides each winner with airfare, accommodations, and $1,000 to attend the meeting.

Jennifer’s presentation and poster on Digitization of the 1991 Mount Jefferson Geologic Map: Project Motivation and Applications and Nora’s presentation and poster on Tracers of Ore Fertility & Crustal Signatures: Applying Zircon Geochemistry & Geochronology to Plutons in the Western Cascades, WA & OR will be shown at the meeting.

For several years running, the Oregon Section has been supported by some outstanding individuals. We want to thank the continued diligent coordination by our Program Chair Mike Marshall, Newsletter Editor Scott Braunsten, and Webmaster Keith Olsen, who are all doing a wonderful job with keeping our Section’s presentations interesting and our communications up-to-date and relevant.

Thanks to the Oregon Section Board for all of their efforts during the 2014–15 term—and especially to our out-going Section Chair, Linda Mark. Ballots for the Oregon Section 2015–16 Board have been counted and the official results are as follows: Chair Adam Reese, Chair-Elect Stephen Hay, Treasurer Mark Swank, and, the newest member to the Board and Secretary, Chris Humphrey.

At Press Time: In late-September, Section Vice Chair Stephen Hay will lead a field trip to the Oregon Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Newberg-Dundee Bypass project located along Highway 99W in Oregon’s wine country. ODOT has been working for many years with local communities to plan the Newberg-Dundee Bypass, an expressway that will be an 11-mile, four-lane highway around the cities of Newberg and Dundee. Construction of the Phase 1 of the Bypass includes ten bridge structures where the bypass crosses over creeks, wetlands, railroads, or travels over or under other local roads.

tion and distillation of the damage reports and other inventory of ground shaking and ground rupture reports and measurements.

Our June meeting was held at a new venue—Hoppy Brewing Company in east Sacramento. Our speaker was Coralie Wilhite, PG, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Wilhite presented Slope Failure Investigation and Mitigation Design, Pine Flat Dam, Fresno County, CA. The presentation described the investigation of a slope failure on the downstream right abutment that was first recorded in winter 1995 and posed a threat to appurtenant features of the dam such as an adit, penstocks, and a toe drain. Investigation and mitigation efforts have continued in phases as the landslide has reactivated several times during wet winter seasons up through 2013. The current mitigation alternative using tie-back anchors to restrain the slide mass has been selected for design, which is ongoing.

St. Louis Section Stefanie Voss, Section Editor AEG St. Louis had their annual officer elections in May. The section wishes many thanks to our retiring officers Mike Roark and Jim Fels.

Congratulations to our new officers: Chair Dale Markley, Vice-Chair John Carrow, Treasurer Jon Truesdale, and Secretary Phyllis Steckel.

David Bardsley with Directed Technologies Drilling presented at the May meeting at Pietro’s Restaurant in St. Louis. He discussed directional drilling methods for environmental applications.

Our Section is taking a break for the rest of the summer save for a social event at the Cardinals-Giants baseball game on August 18. Despite the Cardinals’ loss, we had a terrific time.

San Francisco Section

Sacramento Section

Sarah Kalika, Chair

Chase White, Secretary

In July we hosted Jahns Lecturer Eldon Gath at Pyramid Brewing Company in Berkeley, with a whopping turnout of nearly 60 people!

Our Fall 2015 schedule is getting full with presentations set for October—Chris Madugo of PG&E will discuss findings from the EERI response to the Nepal earthquake. In November Ozgur Kozaci of Fugro will discuss the North Anatolian Fault in Turkey. If you’d like to do a presentation at our Section in 2016, please let us know.

We’re still looking for a new meeting venue to replace Sinbad’s and Pyramid Brewing, which closed abruptly a few weeks after our meeting. If anyone has a great idea, please forward it along!

We’d also like to thank our latest Corporate Sponsor Fugro for their support of our Section!

We are planning to hold our Section Board elections after the Annual Meeting, so check your email in early October for your ballot. As always, check our Section website for a copy of our latest newsletter, up to the minute news, meeting information, local job postings, and events—www.aegsf.org.

It is late July in the Central Valley of California, and the Sacramento Section members are busy working and vacationing in the heat of summer. Our Section is taking the month of July off from formal activities but have a great lineup of speakers for monthly meetings ahead.

We held our May 2015 meeting on the 26th at Aviator’s Restaurant at the Executive Airport in south Sacramento. Our speaker for the evening was Julien Cohen-Waeber, PE, CEG, of AECOM. Cohen-Waeber spoke about and presented on The August 24, 2014, M6 South Napa Earthquake, summarizing the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association’s activities and findings after and around the South Napa earthquake event. As the most significant and damaging earthquake to occur in the greater San Francisco Bay Area region since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the South Napa earthquake is an event of primal importance and interest to our engineering geologic practice community. He described the data gathering efforts employed by the GEER team and the compilaSeptember 2015

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The famous Mormon Rocks, comprised of the Punchbowl Formation

Southern California Inland Empire Chapter (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) Shaun Wilkins, Secretary The second quarter of 2015 was a productive one, and started with a bang as our first field trip in years was held on May 2. Coordinated by the chapter vice-chair, Jeff Fitzsimmons, the field trip—An Uplifting Experience: The Cajon Valley: 70 Ma of Textbook Geology—toured the Cajon Pass area and was led by Drs. Don Buchanan and Todd Heibel of San Bernardino Valley College. Contributors included Drs. Robert Reynolds of the California State University Desert Studies Consortium and W. Britt Leatham from California State University – San Bernardino and San Bernardino Valley College.

Some of the features observed and described by our academic panel included: the collision point of the Pacific and North American plates, rotation of Transverse Range blocks with accompanying basin filling, the San Andreas and Squaw Peak faults, timing and sequence of uplift of San Gabriel and San Bernardino blocks and developing geomorphic features such as sag ponds and terraces, as well as several of the key geologic formations in the area. The field trip was a rousing success enjoyed by about 20 people; discussions are already underway for next year’s field trip location.

We are proud to report that we offered another short course in May detailing some of the primary sources of September 2015 22

geologic risk that are associated with our professional fields.

Coordinated by Dr. Kerry Cato of Cato Geoscience, Inc., was held at the Elk’s Lodge in San Bernardino, and included several discussions. The morning was led by Ric Moore, Executive Officer of the California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists (BPELSG), which is the governing agency for licensure for geologists in the state of California.

Moore provided insight into The Geologists and Geophysicists Act – Understanding the Licensure Laws, Responsibilities of the Licensee, and Protection of the Public. Moore was followed by two attorneys who gave their perspectives on Liability, Contracts and Standard of Care as viewed from in-house counsel for a geotechnical firm and as viewed from outside counsel. This panel discussion included Ji Shin, general counsel for Earth Systems, and Robert H. Stellwagen, Jr., Attorney at Law for Collins Collins Muir + Stewart. It provided excellent insight into the importance of contracts, what to include in them, and how to properly word them to help protect both firms and individuals employees from liability and loss.

Rounding out the morning session of the short course was Richard Roth, a consulting insurance actuary who provided a discussion on Professional Liability and Homeowners Insurance: What Is Insured As Applied to Geology.

The second phase of the short course was opened by Dr. Jeff Keaton, principal engineering geologist for AMEC Foster Wheeler, who provided insight into Recognizing and Expressing Uncertainty and Variability in Geology: The Need for Geologic Models. Keaton’s presentation was followed by an engineering geologist with the California Geological Survey,

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Tim Dawson, who gave a discussion of Assessment of Surface Rupture Hazard in Regulatory Earthquake Fault Zones and Practical Considerations for Improvements to the AlquistPriolo Act. Our final and keynote address for the short course was provided by Dr. Roy Shlemon and offered a related if somewhat contrasting viewpoint to Dawson’s. This discussion, Acceptable Risk for Surface-fault Rupture, was on the need to allow for design of structures to withstand minor surface fault rupture.

The short course was well attended and well received. A big thank you to Dr. Kerry Cato for View from the top of the Cajon Pass of the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains putting it together once again!

Finally, our meeting in June was held at the Pinnacle Peaks Steakhouse in Colton, CA, a venue we have not visited lately but may become a regular location. The discussion was provided by Dr. John Izbicki, recent retiree from the USGS with more than 30 years of service in Maryland, Massachusetts, and California. Dr. Izbicki discussed Using Disparate, ProcessOriented Data to Solve Hydrologic Problems. He described the increasingly important need to apply the optimal mix of innovative and basic science, along with collaboration and communication across professional disciplines in order to help solve Looking down the throat of the beast: The San Andreas Fault more complex problems. He stipulated that the goal of process-oriented work and collaboration is to produce ‘more-correct’ interpretations, in support of traditional fielddata and model analysis, than is possible for individuals having limited perspectives and skill sets working alone or in AEG 2016 Annual Meeting ..................................Back Cover “bureaucratic silos.” The attendees appeared to thoroughly AEG Corporate Sponsors ..................................................24 enjoy the discussion, the last for the IE Chapter before Geotechnology....................................................................2 summer break. After summer, we look forward to the REG Review.......................................................................12 national meeting and officer elections.

Index of Advertisers

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Ask your Section’s Chair and/or Newsletter Editor to send in a report for the December News. Submission deadline for the December issue is October 31, 2015.

September 2015

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AEG NEWS 58 (3)

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s r o s n o p S Corporate AEG is grateful to the corporations and individuals who contribute to our operating fund through their sponsorship.

Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club Creek Run Environmental Jason Lenz PO Box 114 Montpelier, IN 47359 765-728-8051 www.CreekRun.com

Platinum Kleinfelder, Inc. Chad Lukkarila 550 West C Street, #1200 San Diego, CA 92101 619-831-4600 CLukkarila@kleinfelder.com www.kleinfelder.com

Ruen Drilling, Inc. Arlan Ruen 2320 River Road Clark Fork, ID 83811 208-266-1151 office@ruendrilling.com www.ruendrilling.com

Gold Parratt-Wolff, Inc. Gary Ellingworth 501 Millstone Dr. Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-644-2814 Gellingworth@pwinc.com www.pwinc.com

Silver

Bronze

Earth Consultants International, Inc.

Enviro-Equipment, Inc.

Tania Gonzalez 1642 East Fourth Street Santa Ana, CA 92701 714-544-5321 tgonzalez@earthconsultants.com www.earthconsultants.com

Exponent Betsy Mathieson 475 14th St., Suite 400 Oakland, CA 94612 510-268-5011 emathieson@exponent.com www.exponent.com Gregg Drilling & Testing, Inc. Patrick Keating 2726 Walnut Ave. Signal Hill, CA 90755 562-427-6899 Info@greggdrilling.com www.greggdrilling.com Michael F. Hoover Consulting Michael F. Hoover PO Box 30860 Santa Barbara, CA 93130 805-569-9670 www.hoovergeo.com Robertson Geotechnical, Inc. Hugh S. Robertson 2500 Townsgate Road, Suite E Westlake Village, CA 91361 805-373-0057 info@robertsongeotechnical.com www.robertsongeotechnical.com

Sage Engineers, Inc. Ara Sanjideh 2251 Douglas Blvd., Suite 200 Roseville, CA 95661 916-677-4800 asanjideh@sageengineers.com www.sageengineers.com

Shannon & Wilson, Inc Bill Laprade 400 N 34th St Seattle, WA 98103 206-632-8020 wtl@shanwil.com www.Shannonwilson.com

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AEG NEWS 58 (3)

Denise Chew 11180 Downs Rd Pineville, NC 28134 704-588-7970 info@enviroequipment.com www.enviroquipment.com

Feffer Geological Consulting Josh Feffer 1990 S Bundy Dr, Suite 400 Los Angeles, CA 90025 310-207-5048 www.feffergeo.com

Geodynamics Consulting Group, Inc. Harry Audell 33282 Golden Lantern Street Dana Point, CA 92629 949-493-1352 www.geodynamicsinc.com

Add Your Company to This List of Supporters!

An investment in AEG is an investment in the future of engineering and environmental geology.

For information on sponsorship and advertising opportunities, contact AEG at advertising@aegweb.org.

We urge all of our Sections, Chapters and individual Members to encourage your coworkers and associates to JOIN AEG! September 2015

For more information about advertising or sponsorship opportunities, please contact AEG at contact@aegweb.org or 844-331-7867.

Experience the magic!

AEG 59th Annual Meeting – September 18–25, 2016

Kona – Island of Hawaii Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa – Group Rate Only $185 Located beachfront along the sun-splashed Kohala Coast, the luxurious Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort welcomes guests with gracious style and Hawaiian service. With the bounty of land and sea captured in stunning views, this Big Island Hawaii hotel and resort is the perfect place for a memorable meeting with colleagues. Experience an authentic Polynesian show at the Sunset Luau as our Special Event. Set upon 15 acres of oceanfront splendor, the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa offers a truly magical setting.

Planned Symposia Rock Engineering-Rock Mechanics Symposium Engineering Geology for Tunnels and Underground Construction Reaching the Last Mile: Our responsibility to effectively communicate to those in harms way what geohazards they face and implement disaster mitigation strategies Environmental Impacts and Cleanup for Military Bases Application of Geophysics to Geotechnical Investigations Coastal and Harbor Projects Archeology and Engineering Geology Dam Safety Projects

Additional Possible Symposia for 2016: Volcanic Hazards in Hawaii and Elsewhere, convener from HVO possible tie-in with a field trip.

Shoreline Processes and Climate Change Impacts A Landslide Symposium

Join us on one or more of these great field trips and guest tours.

FIELD TRIPS The Big Island: Volcanoes, Geohazards & Active Structural Geology The Hāmākua Coast Kīlauea Volcano and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Evening Stargazing at Ozinuka Center for International Astronomy – Mauna Kea Volcano Ka Lea (South Point) and Papakōlea Green Sand Beach

Guest Tours Volcanoes National Park & S. Island Tour Traditional Hawaiian Culture & Gourd Art Macadamia Nut Co & Parker Ranch Downtown Kona Historic Walking Tour