Welcome to Delaware Valley Geo-Institute!

_

Coming Soon: DVGI November 2024 Meeting

DVGI will continue its 2024-25 meeting schedule on Tuesday, November 12th, as PennDOT’s Sarah McInnes and Dan Gleason team up with Schnabel Engineering’s Majid Khabbazian to present on the June 2023 emergency repair of I-95 in Philadelphia. The presentation will discuss the repair effort it took to reopen the damaged portion of the interstate in just 12 days, the conditions the project team endured during the severely abbreviated design and construction process, and the mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) design of the temporary embankment. Mark your calendars and register here!

About the Speakers

Sarah McInnes, P.E., is the Senior Construction Services Engineer in PennDOT District 6, serving Philadelphia and the four surrounding counties. She oversees materials, structure control, agreements, constructability and schedule review, and a wide variety of construction projects. Sarah previously spent 25 years in District 6’s Geotechnical Unit, 15 of them as the District’s Geotechnical Engineer for 15 years, and has been involved in all phases of geotechnical work on transportation projects. Sarah holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Civil Engineering from Syracuse University and Villanova University, respectively.

Daniel Gleason is the Assistant Construction Engineer for Interstates in PennDOT District 6. He has been in the heavy highway construction industry for 28 years, spending 20 of those with PennDOT. Dan’s previous roles include stints as a Transportation Construction Inspector with a consultant, an Inspector in Charge for PennDOT, and PennDOT’s Assistant Construction Engineer for Federal Aid Projects. His projects have included the I-95/PA Turnpike interchange, as well as many large sections of I-95 and I-76 in Philadelphia. Dan has also served on the board of ASCE’s Philadelphia section.

Majid Khabbazian, Ph.D., P.E., is a Senior Geo-Structural Engineer at Schnabel Engineering in Chadds Ford, PA. He specializes in numerical modeling, ground improvement techniques, risk and reliability analysis, as well as the design of excavation support systems, retaining walls, and deep foundations. Majid has 12 years of experience in geotechnical practice and has been with Schnabel Engineering since 2018. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Civil Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran, and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware.

Recap: DVGI October 2024 Meeting

DVGI continued its 2024-25 meeting schedule on Thursday, October 17th, as Mark Gallagher of Princeton Hydro presented on “The Status of Coastal Resilience Designs in Our Region.” The presentation reviewed cutting-edge techniques for combating issues in modern coastal engineering, including loss of biodiversity, shoreline erosion, and climate change-induced sea level rise. The attendees had a good time and certainly came away with an improved understanding of the geotechnical challenges faced in coastal preservation.

DVGI members listen as Mark Gallagher describes a coastal resiliency case study.

DVGI Receives Best Chapter Award from ASCE Geo-Institute
During ASCE’s GeoCongress 2024, held February 25th to 28th in Vancouver, BC, DVGI was honored to receive the ASCE Geo-Institute’s 2023 Best Chapter Award. With the award, the Geo-Institute recognized DVGI’s accomplishments for its members and community. DVGI thanks the many volunteers whose dedicated service led to its selection out of the many deserving local Geo-Institute chapters.

DVGI members attending GeoCongress, including several present and former board members, accept the ASCE Geo-Institute’s 2023 Best Chapter Award from G-I President Jie Han, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, at GeoCongress 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Recap: DVGI September 2024 Meeting
After its annual summer break, DVGI kicked off its 2024-25 season on Tuesday, September 17th. Members enjoyed a relaxing social hour and a scrumptious dinner before being treated to a presentation by Eli Brinker, EIT, and Elisabetta Iannetti, EIT, of Pennoni Associates on the 2024 DVGI Project of the Year, the SPARK – Gene Therapy Innovation Center in University City. Mr. Brinker and Ms. Iannetti, giving their second Project of the Year presentation within two years, delivered an excellent overview of the project’s design and construction challenges. Their review of how the team successfully overcame them through careful software modeling, vigilant field inspection, and a dash of good old-fashioned geotechnical ingenuity captivated the audience and started the DVGI season off strong.

Presenters Eli Brinker and Elisabetta Iannetti, flanked by several of their Pennoni peers, hold the firm’s 2024 DVGI Geotechnical Project of the Year award.