GSI is delighted to show its facilities to members and nonmembers interested in, and involved with, all aspects of geosynthetics. We are about 4 miles (6 km) from the Philadelphia International Airport as shown below. Please visit us at your convenience, but do contact us beforehand.

That said, Bob Koerner, George Koerner and Grace Hsuan, make regular visits to members, visit universities, and attend many conferences and meetings. So as to gain a glimpse as to these outreach activities we present our major activities in addition to the regular course of events.

June, 2009

June 1^st Bob Koerner presented a seminar in Ohio to the Mannik & Smith Group. June 10^th Bob and George Koerner gave an in-house course on QA/QC of Geosynthetics. June 11^th Prof. F. Tatsuoka, President of IGS, visited GSI and gave a lecture at U. of Delaware the following day. June 24^th Bob lectured at DuPont in Delaware on solar panels on exposed geomembranes at landfills. June 27^th GAI-LAP exams were given at GSI.

July, 2009

July 2^nd John Guglielmetti of DuPont aided George and Bob with Pillow Testing of various sludges. July 13^th Bob Koerner gave a course to PaDER on pond liner design for brackhish liquids. July 15^th Pillow testing continued at GSI with John Guglielmetti of DuPont. July 16^th John Henderson of TC Geosynthetics visited us at GSI. July 20^th Joe Cavanaugh of Tensar Intl. visited us at GSI. July 22^nd Bob Koerner gave two lectures to the Corps of Engineers Infrastructure Conference in Cleveland. July 23^rd Bob visited CETCO’s new facilities in Chicago.

August, 2009

August 12^th Wayne Hsieh of NPUST and GSI-Taiwan visited us at GSI. August 20^th CETCO and CETCO Contracting paid us a visit at GSI. August 25^th Bob inspected a 100 ft high reinforced slope in Pittsburgh on behalf of URS.

September, 2009

September 2^nd we had visits from Archie Filshill and Tim Rafter (CETCO Contracting and CETCO Inc.). On September 7-8-9, Bob presented at Tensar/Netlon’s Jubilee Conference in London at the Institution of Canal Engineers Building. September 23^rd we had a visit from Tony Eith of Waste Management Inc. On September 24^th we had visits in the morning with Mario Paredes of Florida DOT and in the afternoon with Pascal Saunier and Bill Ragen of Afitex-Texel. September 30^th Dave Suits of NAGS visited with us on his way to ASTM Headquarters in nearby West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

October, 2009

October 1^st we had a visit by Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting. October 6^th Bob attended an IRS Workshop for 501(c)(3) organizations like GSI. October 22^nd Bob Sabanas of NTH visited discussing retaining walls. On October 23^rd Kent von Maubeuge of NAUE visited us discussing geogrids, GCLs and geomembranes.

November, 2009

The Central PA-ASCE Conference on Nov. 3-4 was very impressive (400 participants) and Bob gave a sand drain/wick drain presentation. Helmut Zanzinger of SKZ in Germany visited us on the 5^th. Bob went to a surface impoundment which had “hippos” in San Juan, Texas on Nov. 9-10. Bob & Paula celebrated their 50^th Anniversary in NYC on Nov. 13-16. Geo and Bob visited a wall failure on the 20^th. The family had Thanksgiving in Chicago at Pauline and Doug’s home.

December, 2009

We started off the month with a visit from Willie Lieu and Doug Brown of Tensar on December 1^st and then went to a splendid dinner hosted by Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting on December 5^th. Our in-house landfill design and QA/QC courses were on December 7 and 8, 2010 followed by the certification exams. Tim Rafter of CETCO and Archie Filshill visited us on December 10^th. Bob went to visit Carlisle Geosynthetics on December 16^th and was very impressed by their efforts in developing solar energy. The month ended with a week in Florida and we just made it ahead of the cold weather. In all, a good year and we wish you a super 2010!

January, 2010

The year started with a Retaining Wall Course on January 6^th, a visit by Mike Monteleone and Michael Ayres on Agru’s “Closure Turk” on January 13^th, and a lecture to ASCE – Hydraulics Group on January 14^th. Bob lectured to the Lehigh Valley Section of ASCE in Bethlehem on the 20^th. This was followed by ASTM/GRI-23 Conference/GSI Annual and BoD Meetings and several Focus Group Meetings in San Antonio, Texas on January 27-30. Please don’t ask about the weather-delayed trip home in which George and Bob finally took a train back from Washington, DC!

February, 2010

Bob lectured in Irvin, California, on behalf of AES and Kris Khilanani, to a large group of regulators and engineers on January 3^rd. Wayne Hsieh of GSI-Taiwan visited us on the 8^th as did John Guglielmetti of DuPont on the 17^th. We met with Joe Sebza of Delaware County Waste on the 26^th. That said, a good part of the month was spent on shoveling snow since we set all records for snowfall this winter.

March, 2010

Bob lectured at Grace’s geosynthetics class on March 1^st and then Bob gave his first ASCE Webinar on the 2^nd. Twenty-five companies signed up (~ 200 people) and the reviews were good. (The next one will be in November). Bob lectured to PaDNR on the 18^th regarding geosynthetics spanning over Karst sinkholes. George and Bob gave three in-house courses on March 22, 23 and 31 which were all fully booked and were received nicely. We had a visit from BASF (formerly Ciba-Geigy) on March 16, 2010.

April, 2010

A major retaining wall failure working group at GSI was well attended by twenty GSI members. Robert Armstrong of Kuraray and his colleagues visited us on the 6^th and Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting on the 9^th. Bob presented ten-lectures to the Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville, Florida on April 13-14. Dennis Zeveney was the host. Bob visited CETCO Contracting on the 27^th and concluded the month presenting at the CETCO 25^th Year Celebration Conference in Chicago on April 30, 2010.

May, 2010

Don diGullio of In-Line Plastics visited up on May 4^th, followed by PRS Mediterranean on the following day. TenCate demonstrated its deformation monitoring systems on May 11^th. Bob (along with wife Paula) drove about 1000 miles to a conference in upstate New York (lectures on New Horizons and Solar Caps in Landfills), then lectures to NY-DOT, GEI Consultants and GeoComp/Geotesting Express in the Boston area. We had a visit by Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting on May 26^th and Bob drove to Pittsburgh for a site visit on May 27^th.

June, 2010

The month opened on the 3^rd with a leadoff presentation for a GSE seminar in Houston. ADS visited us on the 8^th and Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting on the 10^th. On the 17^th a leadoff presentation for CETCO was given in their Centerville, Georgia plant. Doug Brown of Tensar visited us on the 22^nd, followed by Archie Filshill on the 23^rd and then Tim Rafter of CETCO on the 25^th.

July, 2010

We gave a PaDEP presentation on the 2^nd. Bob opened up another GSE seminar, this time in Walnut Creek, California, on the 22^nd. We visited with Tony Eith of Waste Management at the GROWS landfill on the 29^th.

August, 2010

Geo did several audits in the Carolinas on the 10^th to 12^th and then went to Ecuador for a Tensar seminar on the 23^rd to 25^th. John Guglielmetti of DuPont visited us on the 26^th followed by a possible new member, a potential fabricator, on the 27^th. Bob lectured in-house to AECOM on MSE wall failures on the 31^st.

September, 2010

Prof. Wayne Hsieh (GSI-Taiwan) visited us on September 3^rd to discuss the upcoming GSI-Asia Conference. Tim Rafter of CETCO and Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting visited us on September 13^th. Bob lectured on wall failures to NTH in Detroit on the 17^th followed by the same presentation to Mannik & Smith on the 20^th. George and Bob went to WMI’s GROWS landfill on the 23^rd. September 29^th Bob lectured to PA-DER in Harrisburg on Marcellus Shale operations involving geosynthetics on behalf of GSE. Bob and George presented geosynthetics to Delco PSPE at a GSI open house on the 30^th.

October, 2010

Bob attended the NAE Conference in Washington, DC on October 2^nd. George and Bob drove to central Pennsylvania to visit a shale gas extraction operation on the 7^th. The horizontal drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale is simple awesome. Kristo Gonzalez of Carlisle visited us on the 8^th. Wayne Kundenhah of Turner Constructed visited us on the 12^th. A WMI commenced (Greg Cekander/Tony Eith) review of a Geosyntec/Golder MSE Berm manual was held at GSI on the 26^th.

November, 2010

Guntar Niedermoscer of AGRU visited us on the 4^th. George and Bob visited WMI on the 8^th. Jim Olsta of CETCO and Jeff Fisher of Tensar visited us on the 10^th. Bob and Paula drove to Albany, NY and back (~ 700 miles) on the 11^th to present a conference paper for the ASCE. Tim Rafter of CETCO and Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting visited us on the 12^th. Bob presented his second ASCE Webinar (on hydraulic applications) on the 22^nd. It looks like many more to come.

December, 2010

Bob and George presented three in-house day long courses; Wall failures and remediation on the 3^rd, Solid waste facility design on the 8^th, QA/QC in geosynthetics on the 9^th

(these three will be repeated in February, 2011). Rennie DeLorentus and John Henry of ACF, along with Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting visited us on the 9^th. Joe Mullen of Drexel visited on the 21^st.

January, 2011

Frank Hallowell of Fiberweb visited us on January 4^th to discuss his DefenseCell product. Chris Quirk and his U.S. NAUE colleagues visited us on January 26^th and Betsy Kulamer of ASCE visited us on January 31^st.

February, 2011

Wayne Hsieh updated us on GSI-Taiwan on February 4^th followed by a landfill visit on February 10^th and 11^th. An ASCE webinar was given on February 14^th and the GSI in-house courses on the 16^th and 17^th.

March, 2011

Tony Eith of Waste Management visited us on March 3^rd and then Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting on the 4^th. An ASCE webinar was given on the 7^th. Archie gave us a follow-up visit on the 9^th. February 14-17, 2011 saw George and Bob go to Dallas for the GeoFrontiers Conference which included GRI-24, GSI Annual Meeting, our BoD Meeting and three GSI Focus Group Meetings. We (unfortunately) had an IRS visit on the 24^th and ended the busy month with a presentation on “GT Filter Failures” at the ASCE/PennDOT Conference in Hershey on the 31^st.

April, 2011

Robert Armstrong of Kuraray visited us on the 4^th. Bob conducted a slope inspection and meeting in Pittsburgh on the 6^th and 7^th. Jay McKelvey of Earth Reinforcement visited us on the 11^th while George went to the ESD Conference in Lansing, MI on the 11^th and 12^th. IRS paid us another visit on the 18^th. We had a “doubleheader” on the 29^th with John Guglielmetti of DuPont and Archie Filshill of CETCO Contracting. John Wilkes of CARPI visited us on the 22^nd and Bob Sabanas of NTH likewise on the 27^th.

May, 2011

May 1 to 4 saw us at the annual N.Y. Federation Conference at Lake George where we organized and gave two presentations. Dov Leshchinsky of the University of Delaware visited us on the 6^th. We had a GSI-BoD teleconference call on the 9^th. Archie Filshill visited us on the 13^th. Kevin Wier and Randy Kuhlman of Milliken & Co. visited on the 18^th.

June, 2011

Mike Ayres of ClosureTurf Inc. visited us on the 1^st. An ASCE webinar was given on the 7^th and we held a QA/QC course at GSI on the 8^th. Bob went to Pittsburgh on the 12^th-13^th and George went to Anaheim, CA for ASTM on the 15^th to 18^th. George went to Propex on the 20^th-21^st and the GROWS landfill on the 23^rd. He does this on a monthly basis. Robert Armstrong of Kuraray visited on the 30^th.

July, 2011

Joe Salas of the IRS visited again on the 1^st with Archie Filshill coming on the 7^th. Dave Daniel of University of Texas at Dallas visited on the 7^th and 8^th. Bob lectured to AECOM on the 12^th and Tim Rafter of CETCO came on the 14^th. Archie Filshill visited on the 20^th and George presented a QA/QC course to URS in Akron, Ohio on the 28^th-29^th.

August, 2011

Bob lectured for NAGS with Dave Suits on the 11^th and 12^th. Randy Kohlman of Milliken visited us on the 18^th. George presented to Propex on the 23^rd and Archie Filshill visited us on the 26^th. Wayne Hsieh of GSI-Taiwan visited on the 30^th and Tim Rafter of CETCO on the 31^st.

September, 2011

Don Diguilio and Clark West of AGRU visited on the 13^th. TRI Environmental audited us on the 14^th and we presented the first MSE Wall, Berm and Slope Inspection course at GSI on the 15^th. Tensar (Doug Brown and Willie Liew) visited us on the 16^th. An ASCE webinar was given on the 19^th and another one on the 21^st. George went to GROWS on the 22^nd. Bob lectured to the Dam Safety Conference in Washington, DC on the 28^th.

October, 2011

Massimo Carlos and Pietro Rimoldi of Maccaferri visited us on the 5^th. Bob lectured in Pittsburgh for GSE on the 12^th-13^th. Bob and Paula went to the NAE Conference in Washington, DC on the 16^th-18^th. Tony Eith of WMI visited on the 19^th. Craig Calabria visited us on the 21^st.

November, 2011

Bob spoke at a GSE Seminar in Charlotte on the 3^rd and Alberto Scuero of CARPI visited us on the 4^th. Bob spoke to Pa-DER in Harrisburg on the 8^th. Bob spoke at Northwestern on the 28^th and George and Bob hosted a short course on MSE wall failures at GSI on the 30^th.

December, 2011

We had our first wall certification course at GSI on the 1^st and Randy Kohlman of Milliken visited us on the 2^nd. George and Bob had GSI courses on the 6^th and 7^th. Bob gave an ASCE webinar on the 16^th and we cruised into the holidays after a successful 2011 year thereafter.

January, 2012

Bob did an ASCE Webinar on January 10^th and an in-house presentation to AECOM on the 13^th. Bob and George presented Shale Gas Opportunities to DVGI on the 17^th where over a hundred attended (their best ever!). We met with Maccaferri (Massimo and Pietro) on the 22^nd. Another webinar was on the 25^th and we had dinner with Andrew Aho and Todd Lindemann on the 25^th. Wayne Hsieh of GRI-Taiwan and Doug Brown of Tensar were here on the 27^th and Boyd Ramsey of GSE was here on the 30^th.

February, 2012

George attended ASTM D-35 on February 1-3 with many meetings including one on TRM’s. Bob presented landfill failures to Golder on the 7^th and a ASCE webinar on the 8^th. Archie Filshill visited with us on the 10^th. Bob spoke at the Dam Safety Conference of US-COLD on filter failures in Emmitsburg, MD on the 22^nd.

March, 2012

Joe Fay and Ralph Maier of BASF met with us on the 8^th. We had GSI courses on the 13^th and 14^th and Archie Filshill visited us on the 15^th. A GSI-BoD conference call was on the 16^th. Another GSI course was given on the 21^st.

April, 2012

Boyd Ramsey of GSE and Chris Athanassopoulos of CETCO visited (separately) on the 2^nd. Tim Rafter and Bob spent two days in Washington, DC with a very successful CETCO Seminar. Art Mohr and Ron Sturgeon of Carlisle visited on the 13^th and Mengjia Li of GSE on the 26^th.

May, 2012

Bob presented at the VA-Geo Conference in Williamsburg on the 1^st followed by two days of courses to the VA-DEQ in Richmond on the 2^nd and 3^rd. Bob spoke to Dov Leshchinsky of U-Delaware class on the 7^th and George had a high school student here on the 11^th. Joe Hughes (the new dean of engineering at Drexel) visited on the 14^th and Geo and I went to hear Dov and Ben Leshchinsky at DVGI on the 15^th. Bob and Paula attended and presented at the Sagamore conference on the 21^st, then to GeoComp in Acton, MA on the 22^nd, then to WPI on the 23^rd. Doug Brown and Willie Lieu of Tensar visited on the 30^th.