June e.Geo

June 2020

In this issue:

1. Economic Outlook: Post COVID-19
2. CalGeo goes digital with Online Learning Library
3. Scholarship Winners
4. Project Award Spotlight: Inn at the Mission
5. Job Postings - Free through June
6. New Member Explosion
7. Upcoming Events - the e.Calendar

Economic Outlook: Post COVID-19 TOMORROW 3pm!

Presented by Dr. Robert Eyler, Sonoma State University

Please join us for this important economic outlook as we enter the post-COVID19 economy. Dr. Eyler will look at global, national and California specific economic projections focused on the construction industry. His presentation will last approximately 45-minutes and allow for 15-minutes of question and answer.

The webinar will be recorded and available to MEMBERS ONLY on our On-line Learning Library

About the Speaker:

Dr. Robert Eyler is Dean of the School of Extended and International Education at Sonoma State University. Dr. Eyler is Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Regional Economic Analysis at Sonoma State University, where he has been teaching since 1995. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in 1998. He earned a B.A. in Economics at CSU, Chico in 1992. Dr. Eyler serves on the board of directors of Redwood Credit Union, a $6 billion nonprofit financial cooperative.  Robert also serves on various other board of directors both private and non-profit.
Robert has been a visiting scholar at both the University of Bologna and Stanford University. He is married and has one daughter, Luciana, and is a native of Sonoma County, California. His family have been sheep and cattle ranchers in Marin and Sonoma counties since 1910.

Cost: Free for CalGeo Members (use code MEMBER25), $25/non-members. Clicking the link below will open the GoToWebinar registration window.

Register Now >>

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

CalGeo Goes Virtual with an On-line Learning Library

We have kept busy these last two months even through the cancellation of all of our live, in-person events. With the move to more on-line learning, CalGeo is announcing our new On-line Learning Library! This takes the place of our simplified "Members Club" page where all our recorded webinars, presentations, slides and handouts will now be houses.

Benefits:

• Links to your CalGeo website login/password. Employees of member firms have full access to all previous recorded webcasts and materials! *
• Searchable categories include Technical, Management, Legal, Membership and more
• Technical videos come with 1-hr Professional Development Certificate on completion.
• PDH certificates are automatically linked to your Profile on our website
• Expansion capabilities for multiple Lessons under each Course

*If you don't see all the technical and management courses, please e-mail Kelly Cabal to have your e-mail address linked to your company's membership.

Access the On-line Library Now >>

Login Instructions: Please login with your CalGeo username (e-mail address) and password. You must be linked to your company's membership to view all available courses. Please contact [email protected] if you have any difficulty.

Congratulations to our Scholarship Winners

We were so excited to award five students with the 2020 CalGeo student scholarship this year, even if its via mail instead of in-person.

Congratulations:

Athul Parayancode, UCSD awarded $2000
Jeonghyun (Peter) Lee, UCLA awarded $2000
Brian Yamashiro, UCSD awarded $2000
Teresa Magana, CSUSac awarded $2000
Claire Anovick, Cal Poly SLO awarded $2000

We asked the students to send us a fun picture of them with their medal for your viewing pleasure. We present Brian Yamashiro and Claire Anovick - thanks guys!

Project Award Winner Spotlight: Inn at the Mission, San Juan Capistrano by GMU Geotechnical

Well, another casualty of COVID-19 is that our amazing project award winners were not allowed to receive their awards in person this April. Instead, we have requested they all submit a short 5-10minute project summary video that will be available on our new On-line Learning Library.

Pro-tip: Access to our On-line Learning Library is through our home-page under the Quick Links menu bar or under the main navigation, Programs>On-line Learning

WINNER: GMU Geotechnical (Private Medium Category)

Inn at the Mission: Innovative Remediation Techniques used to economically develop a culturally significant hotel complex transforming the gateway to the city of San Juan Capistrano.

The project consisted of the development of raw land into a hotel complex consisting of a 3 story, 124-room hotel building, two adjacent 2-story buildings providing 15,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, and office space, as well as parking areas, retaining walls, a swimming pool, and other appurtenant structures.  The development is significant as it is adjacent to, and designed to be visually integrated with, the Historic Mission San Juan Capistrano.  The project also serves as the entrance development to the entire City of San Juan Capistrano via the City’s main entrance at Ortega Highway and the 5 Freeway.

Inn at the Mission - Archeological Ruins

The geotechnical investigation involved the use of numerous types of investigative techniques and overcoming numerous design constraints which included: 1) soft, saturated clay soils which presented both adverse settlement magnitude and settlement time constraints, 2) buried archeological ruins from the Juaneño Mission Indians which needed to be unearthed, documented, re-buried, and then designed around with a site specific foundation design to support buildings overtop, and 3)  geo-structural design of an aesthetic permanent shoring wall.  

GMU had a unique role in the project consisting of Geotechnical Engineer, Structural Engineer for a key site wall, as well as Lead Geotechnical and Special Inspector.  Because of our multi-discipline role, GMU needed to forge unique relationships with the owner and construction manager.  GMU also had to work closely with the representatives of the local Indian tribe (the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians) and the archeologist (McKeehan Environmental Consultants) to carefully unearth the ruins, document the ruins, and develop special grading procedures to bury and preserve the ruins. Consequently, considerable design team interaction was essential.

Investigation difficulties included the following:

• Evaluation and integration of previous geotechnical data.
• Use of 3 different types of exploration techniques: CPT’s, Hollow Stem Auger borings and backhoe test pits to evaluate shallow geotechnical conditions and to perform infiltration testing.

Detailed geotechnical engineering analyses included:

• Liquefaction and seismic settlement.
• Static settlement – both magnitude and time rate.
• Wick drain analyses.
• Development of construction sequencing for grading to development to induce the required settlement within the desired time constraints.

Innovations consisted of:

• Development of a settlement mitigation scheme to keep the project on schedule and reduce construction costs.
• Development of special grading procedures to grade adjacent to archeological ruins.
• Development of special foundation design for auxiliary buildings over buried archeological ruins.
• Design and development of an Aesthetic Permanent Shoring Wall

Inn at the Mission - Permanent Shoring Wall

Job Postings FREE through June 30th

Providing value to our members is more important than ever during this time. We know with unemployment skyrocketing, yet construction work staying strong, some firms are looking to expand their workforce.

Login to CalGeo's Career Center and use the code: TOGETHER2020 for free job posts through June 30, 2020. The code will automatically be disabled at that date so feel free to post away!

Your CalGeo account login and password are the ones to use, we keep it simple that way.

New Member Explosion

The popularity of our SHA online course has sparked a mini membership boom. We are so pleased to welcome the following new company members and individual members. Click the logos below to visit each company's website.

New Active Member Companies:

Environmental Science Corporation: ESC is an Architect-Engineering and environmental consulting firm with offices in Japan and Guam. Our goal is to provide world-class expertise and experience to our clients. We offer a bridge to Japan and the greater pacific region.

Atlas Geotechnical: We focus on soft ground, heavy loads, compressed schedules, and projects that require thoughtful planning and multidisciplinary engineering. We design specialty foundations, ground improvement, dewatering and shoring, and all manner of geotechnical works.

R. T. Frankian & Associates: From expansive commercial ventures to small residential projects, the experienced team at R. T. Frankian has provided award-winning geotechnical services throughout California and other states for more than fifty years.

Gannett Fleming: Founded in 1915, we’ve been a driving force in shaping infrastructure and improving communities in more than 65 countries, specializing in natural resources, transportation, water, power, and facility-related projects. We embrace sustainability and innovation in our projects and internal activities, and achieve results while being responsible stewards of our environment.

Advanced Earth Sciences, Inc. is a geotechnical and environmental engineering consulting firm based in Irvine, California. Founded in 1995, Advanced Earth Sciences, has emerged as a highly reputed geoenvironmental firm providing multi-disciplined expertise to clients in the public and private sectors.

Eaglepeak Engineering Services Inc. is a geotechnical, environmental, and material testing company founded in 2019, that provides design, construction support, and advanced testing. We provide services to public and private clients in the following areas: public works, energy, transportation, environmental, department of defense, water resources, solid waste, ports/harbors, buildings, and research & development.

Rutherford & Chekene: R+C Geotechnical is experienced in essentially all soils conditions encountered in Northern California. Projects range from levee and dam evaluations in Santa Cruz, to foundation design on marginal sites including reclaimed lands and an old landfill adjacent to the San Francisco Bay, to fault hazard evaluations in Santa Rosa, to landslide mitigation at Sutro Hill, to the mitigation of geologic hazards on potentially liquefiable soils in Moss Landing.

GeoSoils, Inc. is a geotechnical and environmental engineering consulting firm, which was founded in 1974. GeoSoils, Inc. provides services regionally, nationally, and internationally, and currently has offices in the Inland Empire and San Diego County. GeoSoils, Inc.'s offices are fully equipped, and laboratories can be set up on an as-needed basis at project locations. Each office of GeoSoils, Inc. is organized and staffed to meet the needs of our clients.

New Individual Members:

New Affiliate Member:

Geo-Ex Subsurface Exploration is a registered California Small Business Enterprise (Micro Business), providing drilling services to the geotechnical, environmental and construction industries. Geo-Ex is centrally located in Dixon, CA. Our staff has built a solid reputation of providing both quality service and technical excellence.

The e.Calendar & Upcoming Events - The Geo-Calendar

Quick Browse: SoCal events in ORANGE, NorCal events in GREEN

All in-person events are cancelled for the foreseeable future. We will notify you when we plan to hold a dinner meeting or Emerging Professional event.

Upcoming Webinars:

May 22 - June 26: Site Specific Ground Motion Hazard Analysis 6-week short course with Dr. Norm Abrahamson, UC Berkeley.

June 3, 3-4pm: Economic Outlook with Dr. Robert Eyler

Affiliate & Partner Virtual Learning:

June 4, 10-11am: Tencate Geosynthetic Reinforced Retaining Walls (MSE) and Reinforced Slopes

June 11, 10-11am: Tencate Geosynthetic Reinforcement for Pond Cap Enclosures and Construction Platforms

June 18, 10-11am: TenCate Geotube® Dewatering Technology

Visit our COVID-19 Resources page for more information and tips for managing your business through this time of crisis.