EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
PDCA was fortunate to have three very interesting and diverse
keynote speakers. First on the agenda was Kurt Nagle, president
and CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities. Nagle
presented information on U.S. and international port infrastructure
development and economic outlook, budgets and funding for
U.S. port development.
Next on the agenda was PDCA’s long-time friend, Silas
Nichols, geotechnical engineer at USDOT, FHWA. Nichols
presented on FHWA’s strategic plan focus areas for funding and
advancement through research, policy support and technical training.
He also discussed the evaluation and reliability of current
design methods used in driven piles, and training development to
support cost-effective construction and oversight.
On Friday morning, Larry Harvey, co-founder and executive
director of science and technology at the Center for Applied Space
Technology, provided an interesting presentation on the historical
perspective of humans leaving the planet and a look forward to
where that journey might lead. Coincidentally, he discussed the
early development of NASA in Coco Beach, Fla., including the
construction of the VAB (Vertical or Vehicle Assembly Building),
which happens to sit atop 4,225 steel pilings driven 164 feet into
bedrock.
As part of the conference technical session program, invited
speakers presented on a variety of ten 30-minute industry relevant
presentations over the course of 1.5 days. Again, professional development
hours were provided to those attending the presentations.
One of PDCA’s conference traditions is the presentation of
the Project of the Year (POY) Awards. This year, PDCA presented
five companies with a POY award, which consist of a chromed
I-beam with the company name, project title and winning category
engraved on a metal plate affixed to the beam. PDCA would like
to thank all of the companies who submitted projects for consideration
in this year’s awards – each was worthy of an award.
Congratulations to the winning companies and their projects. You
can read all about the projects in this edition of PileDriver magazine,
with that section starting on page 82. I want to thank Phil
Conklin and everyone at R.W. Conklin Steel for their generous
support of the POY awards.
Also in this edition, you can read about the recipients of the
PDCA Annual Awards, including Committee Chair of the Year,
12 | ISSUE 4 2017