In the 1980s, geosynthetic material development, polymeric research, and wide-scale manufacturing advances helped the field of geosynthetics mature quickly. Regulatory support, such as the RCRA Subtitle D rule from the US EPA, contributed significantly to growth and encouraged outside investment. However, a knowledge gap existed because few people in influential positions, such as lead regulators, policymakers, facility owners, and professors, were aware of geosynthetics.

A non-commercial Educate the Educators program was created in the 1990s to help overcome this gap. ETE events and workshops were scheduled and the results were substantial. Geosynthetic engineering provided a major growth area for geotechnical careers and the market grew substantially. As testament to this educational program, all major engineering firms now have designated geosynthetic experts on staff.

However, in the years since those first ETE events, the responsibility for passing on the latest information on geosynthetics has fallen to college and university engineering programs, just as it has for other materials sectors. This has presented a new challenge to the geosynthetics industry, as the market has developed faster than the education required to pass on the knowledge. In North America, for example, only 45 university engineering programs include geosynthetics education in their curricula.

The International Geosynthetics Society has revived the Educate the Educators initiative with the creation of a new non-commercial program, which multiple organizations have signed on to support (e.g., IFAI, Geosynthetic Institute).

A major goal that the IGS Council adopted during the 2010 strategy meeting in Guarujá, Brazil, was “That geosynthetics become indispensable to the point that they are regularly included in engineering curricula and relevant design standards.”

With this long-term goal in mind, a specific objective was established for the IGS four year-plan to “Begin our efforts to increase geosynthetic education at the undergraduate level.”

These efforts started with a pilot program that addressed the educational needs in the country of one of the youngest IGS Chapters: Argentina. Specifically, Educate the Educators (“Educando al Educador”) took place in Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina, 26 – 28 May 2013. This is a good example of a joint effort between an IGS Chapter (IGS Argentina) and the IGS (through its Pan-American Activities and Education Committees).

The focus of the program was on undergraduate education with the larger objective that every student graduating from a civil engineering program in Argentina will have received a basic exposure to geosynthetics. The goal was perhaps a simple one, a basic one-hour class, offered to every civil engineering undergraduate in the country. Thirty civil engineering professors received a fellowship that covered their expenses to attend this premier training program on geosynthetics.

The program benefited from the involvement of the Argentinean Council on Civil Engineering Curriculum (CODIC), an agency that has encouraged development of this educational program.

The revival of ETE built upon the terrific precedent of teaching civil engineering professors about geosynthetics. That earlier iteration was established in North America more than 20 years ago, with Prof. David Elton leading the program from 1994 to 1998. Each year, 25 professors were competitively selected to take part in the courses, which were conducted at Auburn University (Alabama, USA). Attendees had only to arrange their travel to and from Auburn. Meals, housing, and workshop materials were all provided free of charge to the participants.

The format for what was at the time called the “Professor Training Course for Geosynthetics” included lectures by well-known professors, who reviewed extensive class notes prepared as handouts for the course. The lectures covered polymers, manufacturing, erosion control, steep slopes, landfills, mechanically stabilized backfill, pavement applications, embankments over soft ground, and filtration and drainage. The concept of “modular notes” was used, with the notes broken down into many stand-alone parts. In this way, different components of the training session could easily integrate geosynthetics material into existing courses.

Over 15 years after this initial experience in North America, education on geosynthetics at the undergraduate level remains a current, worldwide need. The IGS is not alone in recognizing this important need. Undergraduate students in every civil engineering program deserve to receive a basic exposure to the types, functions, and applications of geosynthetics.

Contact the IGS for more information on how IGS Chapters can help with this important educational initiative program: IGSsec@GeosyntheticsSociety.org.

San Diego, California, 9 – 10 December 2019

IGS North America successfully held their third Educate the Educators (EtE) event on December 9-10, 2019 at the University of California, San Diego.  Richard Brachman (Queen’s University), John McCartney (University of California, San Diego) and Ben Leshchinsky (Oregon State University) served as the Instructors.  After one-half-day on the fundamentals of geosynthetics, the remainder of the two-day event provided specialized technical training on environmental, transportation and reinforcing applications of geosynthetics. Read more about the event by clicking here.

Puebla, Mexico, 04 – 06 July 2019

From July 3 to 6, 2019, the first Educate the Educators (EtE) was held at the University of the Americas Puebla (UDLAP). The event was organized by the Mexican chapter of the IGS (IGS Mexico), under the auspices of the International Society of Geosynthetics (IGS) and in collaboration with the Mexican Society of Geotechnical Engineering (SMIG).

The IGS sponsored the participation of teachers: Professor Jorge Zornberg, Professor Ennio Palmeira and Augusto Alza. During the two day course, the instructors presented 12 subjects divided into basic (introductory), intermediate and advanced levels, mainly in applications in Roads, Reinforced walls and slopes, drainage and mining. The technical experts of the sponsoring companies presented 6 case studies, with the aim of providing application cases and solutions with Geosynthetics so that the assistant professors could include some in the application of their subjects.

It is worth mentioning that this course was attended by 33 professors from 11 states of the republic, 24 from the center of the country, 7 from the south and 2 from the north west, corresponding to 20 universities. A welcome cocktail was held on Wednesday July 3rd with the purpose of integrating the participants and concluded with a farewell dinner and a pre-Hispanic show on July 5th.

Gold Coast, Australia, 20 – 22 February 2019

ACIGS recently hosted the first Educate the Educators course, with 13 academics attending from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.  The Gold Coast provided a wonderful back-drop & experience for the two days, which included –

• 7 formal lectures from the three visiting Professors, which were provided to the attendees for them to use as required in their under-graduate civil engineering courses

• 6 case studies from industry speakers including Professor Malek Bouazza (Monash University), geomembrane installers & product suppliers
• A welding demonstration was provided from very experienced geomembrane welders, showcasing the different welding techniques & what to look for in acceptable welds
• A tour of TRI Australia, a geosynthetics testing laboratory that was nearby

• A tour the Geofabrics production facility where people witnessed production of non-woven geotextiles, geosynthetic clay liners & a geosynthetic coastal solution

Read more about the event by clicking here.

Lima, Peru, 14 – 16 January 2019

The IGS EtE in Peru was held in Lima, 14-16 January 2019 at the Mario Samamé Boggio Auditorium of the National Council of the College of Engineers of Peru (Av. Arequipa 4947, Miraflores, Lima). The course program was comprised of 2 days of classes and a day of visit to a Geosynthetic Plant. Classes were provided by the following instructors:

Jorge G. Zornberg, Ph.D., PE, F. ASCE
Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
Former President, International Geosynthetics Society
Dr. Zornberg is a professor at the University of Texas in Austin. He earned his bachelor’s degree from National University of Córdoba (Argentina), its Master’s degree from the PUC of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and its PhD from the University of California in Berkeley

Ennio Marques Palmeira, Eng or Civil, MSc., PhD.
www.geotecnia.unb.br/geossinteticos
Ennio M. Palmeira was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1953, and is currently Professor of the University of Brasilia He studied civil engineering in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1977), Master in Sciences at COPPE, UFRJ (1981) and PhD by the Oxford University (United Kingdom, 1987). Made a postdoctoral degree at the University of British Columbia (Canada, 1995).

José Ale Véliz
José Ale is a civil engineer from the University National Engineering (UNI, Peru), with Masters in Science in Geotechnical Engineering also in UNI, Geological Engineering studies in the National University of San Marcos and Doctorate in Engineering Sciences in the National University of Córdoba, Argentina.

We had 36 teachers from different universities in Peru participating in the EtE. Lima (15), Puno (7) and Piura (4) were the provinces with the greatest participation of teachers in the course. 61% of teachers came from National Universities, 36% from Private Universities. The National University of the Altiplano (Puno) and The Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (Lima) are the 2 largest universities in Peru and we were able to get teachers who are employed there to participate in the course.

We would like to thank the following companies and entities for their sponsorship of the event: College of Engineers of Peru, Maccaferri de Perú SAC, TDM Group, and Pavco.

Read more about the event by clicking here.

Curitiba, Brazil, 04 – 07 October 2018

The 3rd Brazilian edition of Educating the Educators took place between the 4th and 6th of October, in Curitiba, PR.  IGS Brasil is the first Chapter to hold 3 consecutive editions of this program, which is considered one of the most relevant projects on the current agenda of activities of the International Geosynthetics Society.

This edition was held at the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), aimed at serving mainly teachers from schools in the southern region of the country. Twenty-nine (29) professors representing different universities and colleges of civil and environmental engineering, including private and public schools, attended the 16-hour course, which included theoretical classes, case studies, discussion sessions and practical workshops. of application.

Under the pedagogical coordination of Prof. Maria das Graças Gardoni de Almeida, vice president of IGS Brasil, the course program comprised 9 theoretical classes covering the main topics of the teaching of geosynthetics. In addition to Prof. Gardoni, teachers Ennio Palmeira and Delma Vidal acted as instructors for EtE 2018.

This was also a great opportunity for socializing, so the two dinners offered were of particular importance on the event’s agenda. They were very pleasant moments, of relaxation and strengthening of bonds of friendship and engagement with a theme of common interest to all participants: geosynthetics.

As in previous editions, all participants had their accommodation and food expenses paid by IGS Brasil. This was possible thanks to the sponsorship of some companies associated with IGS Brasil and IGS support.

Johannesburg, South Africa, 02 – 06 July 2018

The Geosynthetic Interest Group of South Africa (GIGSA), the South African Chapter of the IGS, hosted a successful Education Week from the 2nd to the 6th July 2018. The week commenced with a very successful “Educate the Educator” (EtE) two day event at Irene Country Lodge in Gauteng. 18 academics from 12 institutions attended. The EtE was well received and lead to lively discussions about testing, funding, collaboration and more. We look forward to reaping the benefits of many more civil engineering students to the use of geosynthetics as a result of this valuable event.

Read more about the event by clicking here.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India, 05 – 06 February 2018

No. of lectures – 10
No. of speakers – 06 + 4 sponsors
No. of participants – 34
No. of sponsored sessions – 04
No. of workshops – 02
Further details about the event will be provided at a later time.
 

Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 04 – 05 December 2017

IGS North America’s Educate the Educators (EtE) event in Kingston, Ontario, Canada was a strong success. Held in early December, EtE provided training and educational materials to 35 engineering professors from across the United States and Canada. The training will enable them to offer state-of-the-practice geosynthetics education to their students, who will then enter the field with some working knowledge of how to utilize these materials in infrastructure. The Kingston gathering was IGS North America’s second EtE event, after a similarly impactful session in Houston in 2015.

Century Park Hotel, Central Jakarta, Indonesia, 02 – 03 October 2017

The Educate the Educators (EtE) event, for the first time, was held in Indonesia and was organized by the Indonesian Chapter of the International Geosynthetics Society (INA-IGS). INA-IGS also cooperates with MY IGS (Malaysian Chapter of International Geosynthetics Society), Krida Wacana Christian University and University of Science Malaysia in organizing the EtE event.

Through discussions in the event, it was discovered that only a small number of campuses have made some kind of introduction regarding geosynthetics and an even smaller number of them have a subject on geosynthetics. The common problem was that the subjects were electives and due to the general interest being low, its impact is very limited. The general consensus was that geosynthetics needs to be included in subjects such as soil improvement, thus ensuring every Civil Engineering graduates knows that geosynthetics is an available alternative instead of just some special product that manufacturers are trying to sell.

The event took place on October 2nd 2017 at Hotel Century Senayan, Jakarta. The EtE event was then continued with a geosynthetics international seminar with the theme “Quality in Construction Using Geosynthetics” on October 3rd 2017 at the same place.

National Engineering Center, University of the Philippines, 27 – 28 April 2017

Through the efforts of Dr. Dennes Bergado, IGS Philippines President Engr. Mark Morales contacted Dr. Rajagopal Karpurapu, chairman, IGS-Asian Activities Committee (IGS-AAC), who gave the IGS-Philippines full support which started the ball rolling for the preparation of the first ever EtE program in Southeast Asia.

There were 42 participants (22 from the academe and 20 representing the industry). Apart from the necessary knowledge and tools to help educators integrate geosynthetic topics into their courses, the program also provided the opportunity to establish contacts with IGS institutional members from industry for future collaborations such as student on the job training (OJT) programs and faculty industry immersion. A total of twelve (12) academic institutions were represented while five (5) other universities expressed their desire to participate but were not able to attend.

Belo Horizonte, Brasil, 27 – 29 July 2016

More than 40 Teachers, Geotechnical Engineers from different regions in Brazil, were gathered in Belo Horizonte-MG at the end of July/2016 to participate in the IGS Educando Educadores event.

The Educators Educators Program, Brazil / 2016 edition, is carried out by the Brazilian Geosynthetics Association (IGS Brasil) with the support of the International Society of Geosynthetics (IGS), under the Educate the Educators program, and a group of companies that sponsored the project: Maccaferri, Braskem, Geo Soluções, Huesker, TDM, Engepol, Inovageo.

The general objective of the course is to train and motivate teachers to introduce the teaching of Geosynthetics in Brazilian universities within the disciplines they teach or as an isolated discipline in the Civil Engineering program, sensitizing them to the relevance of this class of materials and training them regarding the minimum knowledge in the theme: types of materials, functions that exert relevant properties, and typical applications. The application characteristics and methodologies for these materials are discussed in the context of dam works, landfill construction in troubled lands, slopes and retaining walls, transport infrastructure, water bodies management, recovery of degraded and contaminated areas, etc.

Participated as instructors: Maria das Graças Gardoni (UFMG), Delma Vidal (ITA), Ennio Palmeira (UnB), Jorge Zornberg (UT-Texas) and Maria de Lourdes Coelho, pedagogue (UFMG). There were 3 intense days of learning, with classes and workshops.

Currently, a great majority of Brazilian universities do not have a strong teaching on geosynthetics, either in compulsory subjects, as elective subjects or even on the subject.

The success of the IGS Educating Educators event, organized by the directors of IGS Brasil Prof. PhD. Maria das Graças Gardoni and André Estevão, demonstrates that both academy and industry are committed to changing a current situation.

Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China, 18 – 19 August 2016

With the great support of IGS, the IGS China Chapter and the China Techncial Association for Geosynthetics and IGS council members, the Educate the Educators (ETE) program was held on 18th – 19th August, 2016 in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China. This program was first of its kind in China. Prof. Chungsik Yoo, Vice President of IGS, delivered a speech in the opening ceremony to introduce the objectives of IGS and this program. Over 70 people attended the training program, who were from more than 30 colleges and institutes of China. Through this event, Chinese Chapter recruited more than 30 new members of IGS.

ETE is a program developed by the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS). It is a geosynthetics education program specific to supporting educators. It provide core geosynthetic content, background information, and materials for use in the classroom so that participants may include geosynthetics in their engineering curricula.

Lectures were provided by Prof. Chiwan Wayne Hsieh (National Pingtung University of Science and Technology), Prof. Chungsik Yoo (Sungkyunkwan University), Prof. Guangxin Li (Tsinghua University), Prof. Chao Xu (Tongji University), Prof. Guangqing Yang (Shijiazhuang Railway University), Mr. Boyd Ramsey (GSE Lining Technology Inc.) and Mr. Pietro Rimoldi (World Tech Engineering/Maccaferri), five (5) of whom are IGS council members.

Lectures include types, function and properties of geosynthetics, reinforcement, application of geosynthetics in roadway and railway systems, hydraulic and erosion control, environmental protection, etc. It is expected that EtE program will promote the development of geosynthetics in China and tight the relationship between IGS and her Chinese Chapter.

The program was sponsored by Maccaferri (China), GSE Environmental, Hongxiang New Material, Hock Technology and Taian Modern Plastics. All of them are IGS corporate members. Each of sponsors provided showcase of their products in various project applications during the training program.

Besides knowledge of geosynthetics, attendees also had educational discussions on geosynthetics courses for undergraduates and postgraduates. A sample book including 33 types of geosynthetics was provided to attendees for their educational usage upon returning to their institutions.

Sponsor certificates were issued to sponsors, and Prof. Chao Xu, Chair of Chinese Chapter, extended thanks to IGS, respected lecturers, the sponsors and all attendees in the closing ceremony.

The CCIGS has received very promising feedback on this event. We are now looking forward to more activities in the future.

For questions or comments on the ETE Program, contact the IGS Secretariat: IGSsec@GeosyntheticsSociety.org.

Austin, Texas, USA, 28 – 29 July 2015

The most recent ETE course held in the United States took place in Austin, Texas, 28 – 29 July 2015. The workshop was organized by the North American Chapter of the IGS under the auspices of the International Geosynthetics Society. Major technical and financial support was provided by the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI), the Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA), and Tencate. Other sponsors included the Erosion Control Technology Council (ECTC), GSE Environmental, HUESKER inc., Presto Geosystems, ThraceLinq, and TRI Environmental.

Approximately 40 seats were available for professors taking part in this educational opportunity and participants were provided with a hotel room, meals, and transportation in Austin. Attending professors only needed to fund their travel to and from Austin, as all other event expenses were taken care of by the IGS and event sponsors.

The lectures covered different applications of geosynthetics in geotechnical, transportation, hydraulic, and environmental engineering. The course consisted of several lectures, led by three experts in geosynthetics engineering:

• Prof. Richard Brachman, Queen’s University
• Dr. Barry Christopher, National Highway Institute Engineering Instructor
• Prof. Jorge Zornberg, The University of Texas at Austin

For more information on the ETE program that took place in Texas, read more here or contact Prof. Jorge Zornberg: zornberg@mail.utexas.edu.

Lisbon, Portugal, 29 – 30 June 2015

This European ETE program took place in Lisbon 29 – 30 June 2015. The workshop was organized by the Portuguese Chapter of the IGS and held under the auspices of the International Geosynthetics Society and in cooperation with the Portuguese Geotechnical Society (SPG).

The event was prepared for 35 attendees representing national universities and polytechnic schools of engineering. In addition to the financial support provided by the IGS, six sponsors (Atarfil, Bianchini, Huesker, Quinimar, NAUE, and Renolit) helped sponsor the event.

The lectures covered different applications of geosynthetics in geotechnical, transportation, hydraulic, and environmental engineering. The course consisted of several lectures given by three experts in geosynthetics engineering:

• Prof. Jorge Zornberg, The University of Texas at Austin
• Prof. Erol Güler, Boğaziҫi University
• Dr.-Ing. Michael Heibaum

For more information on the ETE program that took place in Portugal, contact Castorina Silva Vieira, Secretary of IGS-Portugal: cvieira@fe.up.pt

Cieszyn, Poland, 23 – 24 June 2014

• Organized by IGS-Poland, in cooperation the chapters from Czech Republic and Slovakia
• Took place in Cieszyn, Poland
• Delivered in English
• Prepared with only three months of lead time
• Instructors: Prof. Guler, Dr. Barroso, Prof. Zornberg
• Involved 40 professors from 20 universities
• Event sponsorship: Inora, NAUE, Huesker, Tensar
• Sessions went from 8:00 am to 7:30pm each day

Córdoba, Argentina, 27 – 28 May 2013

• Organized by IGS-Argentina
• Took place in Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba, Argentina
• Delivered in Spanish
• Instructors: Prof. Palmeira, Mr. Pimentel, Prof. Zornberg
• Involved over 40 professors from 18 universities
• Event sponsorship: Coripa SA, Huesker, GSE, Maccaferri, and Mexichem Bidim
• Average age of participants: 47 years
• Average teaching expertise: 15 years
• Supported by the Council for Higher Education