Geosynthetic Institute
George R.
Koerner, Ph.D., P.E. and CQA
Director
Email: gsigeokoerner@gmail.com
Dr. George R. Koerner’s interest in geosynthetics
spans his entire professional life from undergraduate work in the 1980’s to the
present.
George was born and raised in the
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area and gained BSCE (1985), MSCE (1987), and Ph.D.
(1993) degrees in Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at Drexel
University in Philadelphia. Between BSCE
and MSCE degrees he worked for Schnabel Foundation Co. and S & ME,
Inc. He is a Professional Engineer in
Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is an ASQC Quality Auditor.
George’s master thesis was on direct
shear testing of geosynthetic interfaces and his doctoral dissertation was on
landfill leachate clogging of soil and geosynthetic filters. Both are regularly cited to this day. Beginning as a research assistant, then research
associate in the Geosynthetic Research Institute his task segued into Assistant
Director, Associate Director, Director Designate and Director of the
Geosynthetic Institute. During these
30-years of geosynthetics activities, Dr. Koerner’s output has been tremendous;
for example, he has to his credit the following publications:
·
Books
Edited or Co-Edited – 15
·
Journal
Papers – 18
·
Symposium
and Conference Publications – 40
·
Book
Chapters and Published Reports – 4
·
Miscellaneous
Articles – 30
In the course of developing these
publications (and the usual verbal presentation of the material), George has
received numerous awards. They are the
following:
·
Chi
Epsilon National Honorary Society, 1985
·
Site
Engineers Annual Soil Mechanics and Foundation Award, 1985
·
ASTM’s
D-35 T.A. Haliburton Memorial Award, 1993
·
NAGS,
Environmental Technology Award of Excellence, 1995
·
ASTM’s
D-35 T.A. Haliburton Memorial Award, 1996
·
Geotechnical
Engineer-of-the-Year Philadelphia Section ASCE, 2004
·
ASTM
D35 Award of Appreciation, 2011
·
ASTM
Fellow, 2013
George’s memberships are in the
following organizations:
·
American
Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE
·
American
Society of Testing and Materials, ASTM
·
North
American Geosynthetics Society, NAGS
·
International
Geotextile Society, IGS
There are two major programs within GSI
which have been developed and managed by George which are outstanding and have
had a major positive impact on the geosynthetic industry. These two very successful programs are the
following:
·
The
Geosynthetic Accreditation Institute-Laboratory Accreditation Program (GAI-LAP)
which has 70 laboratories testing as many as 230 individual tests which are
evaluated by proficiency tests each year and audited every five years.
·
The
Geosynthetic Certification Institute-Inspector Certification Program (GCI-ICP)
which has 400+ certified inspectors for the installation of geosynthetics and
compacted clay liners.