The organisers of PLASTIC PIPES XX are expecting to receive as many as 100 abstracts for their conference and exhibition that takes place in the ‘Pipe’ District of Amsterdam at the Hotel Okura on September 21-23 2020.

The Board of Directors has decided to hold TMS’s October 2020 Annual Meeting virtually to protect attendees, hotel staff, and the local community from COVID-19. Making this decision now allows the Society, Committee Chairs, staff, and attendees to plan and better prepare. The Meetings Committee of TMS will soon be meeting virtually to discuss options related to meetings, educational sessions, the awards program, and other offerings and to make recommendations, at which point additional announcements will be sent. However, the bulk of the meetings will still be held during the original “footprint” of the meetings on October 13-17th.

Watch the website for additional information, or contact TMS with questions or to participate in discussions.

Virtual Meeting Sponsor

Sponsorships for the Virtual Meetings are available. Sponsor logos will be posted to the website with links to the sponsor’s website. Sponsors will be recognized during the Awards Program and during Educational Sessions. Many thanks to Atkinson-Noland & Associates for being our first Virtual Meeting Sponsor.

This year’s convention will be held at the Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh Marriott, and Raleigh Sheraton, Raleigh, NC, USA, October 25-29, 2020, where attendees will collaborate on concrete codes, specifications, and practices. Technical and educational sessions will provide attendees with the latest research, case studies, best practices, and the opportunity to earn Professional Development Hours (PDHs).

Global Water Intelligence (GWI) hosts the Ultrapure Micro (UPM) conference each year in the summer. This year’s edition was slated to take place May 27th-29th in Austin, Texas. However, due to the recent disruption and newly imposed travel restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, Ultrapure Micro 2020 has been postponed and will now take place on November 9th-11th 2020, a time when the peak of the crisis is predicted to have passed.  

GWI have also made the decision to extend the early bird discount rate for delegates registering for the new dates. The $240 discounted rate will now be available until August 25th.  

We are very proud of the event UPM has become over the last 5 years, and we know that the continued success of this event is heavily dependent on the great technical presentations given by our speakers, and the networking opportunities offered by the many industry professionals, all of who join us each year from across the world.  

Although the current situation necessitates a postponement, we will utilize this time to build the best UPM agenda to date.

Ultrapure Micro strives to facilitate productive cooperation between semiconductor manufacturers, vendors and suppliers to increase yields, decrease costs and improve efficiency. In a continuing effort to assist with this, for the first time, the UPM agenda will include sessions on the Tools Environment, and Airborne Molecular Contamination (AMC), as well as Ultrapure Water, Water Management, Liquid Chemicals, and Gases.  

Details about the agenda will be announced in the coming weeks, however the list of accepted abstracts is still available to view on the website, as well as the list of roundtable topics expected at the event.   

Registration is open for DFI-India 2020: Conference on Deep Foundation Technologies for Infrastructure Development being held on November 19-20, 2020, as a virtual conference. Organized by DFI of India (DFII) in collaboration with Indian Geotechnical Society – Chennai Chapter, the event is a precursor to the regional chapter’s 10^th anniversary conference, which has been rescheduled for November 2021.  The event includes 3 to 4 hours each day of live, online presentations from industry experts on contemporary topics in deep foundations, including the following keynote lectures:

• Maurice Bottiau, Franki Foundations Belgium: Presentation title to be announced
• Antonio Marinucci, Ph.D., M.B.A., P.E., V2C Strategists: “Recent Advancements to Enhance Performance and Reduce Risks in Deep Foundations and Ground Improvement”
• Conrad Felice, D., P.E., P.Eng., D. GE., F. ASCE, C. W. Felice, “Overview of the Use of Geotechnical Baseline Reports”
• Harry Poulos, Ph.D., D.Sc. Eng., Coffey Services Australia, and professor emeritus, Sydney University: “Applications of Piling to Infrastructure Development”

Leading up to the virtual conference, DFI of India is hosting three webinars. The first webinar as held on Thursday, August 20, 2020. Amy Cerato, Ph.D., P.E., Rapp Foundation Presidential Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Oklahoma gave a presentation titled, “Dynamic and Cyclic Applications of Grouped Helical Piles.” Two more webinars are scheduled:

• Thursday, September 17, 2020, 4:30 p.m. India Standard Time (IST)

Karsten Beckhaus, Dr.-Ing, Bauer; Christophe Justino, Soletanche; and Peter Faust, Malcolm Drilling: “EFFC-DFI Guides to Tremie Concrete and Support Fluids for Deep Foundations”

• Thursday, October 22, 2020, 4:30 p.m. IST

Nicolas Denies and Noël Huybrechts, Belgian Building Research Institute (BBRI)/TC211 ISSMGE: “Deep Mixing Equipment and Field of Applications of the Deep Mixing Method”

Registration for the conference includes the three webinars or individual event registrations can be purchased to fit anyone’s schedule. There are also sponsorship opportunities still available. For more information on the virtual conference and the preconference webinars visit www.dfi.org/India2020.

Take advantage of speaking at the IECA Annual Conference and Expo in Kansas City, Missouri, February 21-24, 2021 to get recognized as an industry thought leader.