Welcome to Delaware Valley Geo-Institute!
November Dinner Meeting
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Join the DVGI on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at Valley Forge Casino’s Parkview Ballroom for our November 2025 Dinner Meeting featuring a presentation by speakers Catherine Chia-Calabria, PE of McCormick Taylor and Jason Taylor, PE, PG of Susquehanna Civil. Catherine and Jason will present The Story of Hanging Rock – SR 320 Section M07, Montgomery County, PA.
Click the button below to register by Thursday, November 13, 2025. Meal selection is not guaranteed after 11/10/25.
Abstract
PennDOT District 6 had long considered Hanging Rock a “legacy” project. Due to its complex nature of design, location, and environmental permitting issues this project was with the Department for more than 20 years. After many attempts to advance the project, PennDOT subsequently selected McCormick Taylor and was successful in bringing the project to construction, completing the design in just 3 years. The project team worked through the rigorous environmental clearance process and complexities of the site to achieve a new design that reconstructed the flood prone roadway, raising it above the 100-year flood elevation.
The project installed nearly 1,000 linear feet of retaining wall for support against the fast-moving waters of Gulph Creek during storm events. A 600-foot-long section of the retaining wall features a cantilevered roadway over the creek to move the travel lanes away from the historic Hanging Rock. This simple yet innovative solution allowed for conventional means and methods of construction to achieve the project goals and restore mobility and safety on PA 320. The project was recognized as the ASHE Delaware Valley Section Project of the Year 2022 for projects under $20 million.
About the Speakers
Catherine Chia-Calabria, PE is Senior Manager for Structural Engineering at McCormick Taylor. She is a registered Professional Engineer in six states and has 40 years of experience in the design and construction of transportation structural facilities. Her extensive project experience includes steel and concrete bridges, culverts, retaining walls, noise walls and sign structures. On numerous projects she has been the Project Structural Engineer responsible for developing preliminary through final design drawings, shop drawing reviews, and other construction support services.
Catherine obtained her BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from Drexel University. She is a member of ASCE, ASHE and ACEC-PA. Catherine has been an active participant in Pennsbury School District’s annual K-12 career fair since 2001, where she interacts with students of all ages and especially encourages young girls to believe that they too can aspire to be Civil Engineers.
About the Speakers
Jason Taylor, PE, PG is a licensed Professional Engineer and Professional Geologist with over 24 years of experience in geotechnical engineering and environmental consulting. As Geotechnical Group Manager at Susquehanna Civil, he leads complex infrastructure projects across Pennsylvania, specializing in foundation design, slope stability, retaining walls, and subsurface investigations.
Mr. Taylor holds a Master of Science in Engineering Geology from Portland State University and a Bachelor of Science in Geology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His expertise spans a wide range of geotechnical solutions, including PM/MSE-Walls, slope stability, soil nails, micropiles, and soldier pile walls.
January Dinner Meeting
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Join the DVGI on Tuesday, January 20, 2025 at Valley Forge Casino’s Parkview Ballroom for our January 2026 Dinner Meeting featuring a presentation by speaker George Koerner, PhD, PE, CQA, F.ASCE. George will present Green Wrap Walls. Presentation abstract and registration details to be announced at a later date.
About the Speaker
Dr. George R. Koerner, PhD, PE, CQA, F.ASCE 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 is Director of the Geosynthetic Institute. He is in charge of laboratory accreditation, field certification and continuing education at the Institute. He also manages several research projects and has published over 350 technical papers in his 35‐year association with polymers used in below ground construction. 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.
George has received many awards over the years. The most notable being IFAI’s Environmental Technologies Award of Excellence 1995, ASCE’s DVGI Geotechnical Engineer of the year in 2004, the title of ASTM Fellow in 2013 and GMA’s first Koerner lecture in 2017 and named ASCE Fellow in 2020.
January Ethics Webinar
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Join the DVGI on Wednesday, January 28, 2025 for a lunchtime ethics webinar featuring a presentation by speaker Dr. Mike Toole, PhD, PE, F.ASCE. Mike will present Codes of Ethics in Geotechnical Engineering. Presentation abstract and registration details to be announced at a later date.
About the Speaker
Dr. Mike Toole, PhD, PE, F.ASCE received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Bucknell University and M.S. in Civil Engineering and Ph.D. in Technology Strategy from M.I.T and is a professional civil engineer (PA). His scholarship has focused on construction innovation, project management, and Prevention through Design, in which designers explicitly consider the safety of construction and maintenance workers. Mike Toole has had a 30-year career as an entrepreneurial and interdisciplinary leader in the military, industry and academia. From 2017-2024, Dr. Toole served as the Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Toledo. His responsibilities included overseeing enrollment of ~2400 undergraduate and ~200 master’s and PhD students, six academic departments offering 23 degree programs, ~70 full-time faculty, ~35 part-time instructors, a dedicated Career Development Center that placed ~1500 full-time co-ops per year, and an industrial testing and research center. Research expenditures averaged $10M per year, including by seven research engineers who work full-time at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Managed a budget of ~$40M and fundraising with individual and corporate donors were important components of his leadership.
Toole previously worked 18 years at Bucknell University, where his positions included Associate Dean of Engineering, Professor of Civil and Env. Engineering, Director of the Grand Challenges Scholars Program, and Director of the Institute for Leadership in Technology and Management. Previous employment includes Vice President with a multidisciplinary engineering firm, Purchasing Manager with a national homebuilder, and five years of active duty as an officer in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps that included serving as a Company Commander in a Seabee Battalion. Past honors include being named the 2024 Engineer of the Year by the Toledo Regional Society of Professional Engineers, elected a Fellow within ASCE, receiving Best Paper awards from an ASCE journal and an ASCE conference, receiving the Bucknell Class of 1956 Teaching Award, and being nominated by Bucknell for the U.S. Professor of the Year award. He is a member of the Order of the Engineer and six national honor societies.
Past Events
K-12 Outreach – GETT Expo – Saturday, November 1, 2025
On Saturday, November 1st, members of the DVGI volunteered their time at the Girls Engineering Tomorrow’s Technology Expo at the Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA. DVGI has participated in the Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s Technology (GETT) Expo every year that it has been held since 2016. GETT is an initiative of the Innovative Technology Action Group (ITAG), a program under the Chester County Economic Development Council. It is hosted by a K-12 school in the greater Delaware Valley. The GETT Expo is an annual day-long event for girls in grades 5 through 10 and their parents to learn about career opportunities in a broad scope of STEM related industries. The day is filled with exciting, enlightening, and experiential workshops led by successful women in STEM fields. This year, the DVGI estimates about 250 young girls participated in DVGI’s activity. This year DVGI prepared a Soil Layers activity for girls to create edible soil profiles in a cup!
Grass = Green Sprinkles/”Jimmies”
Topsoil = Crumbled Oreos Cookies
Subsoil (Clay) = Chocolate Pudding
Bedrock/Weathered Rock = Chocolate Rocks
The girls were also able to top their educational treat with gummy worms!
We would like to thank our members who volunteered time to support this year’s GETT Expo efforts: Amanda Hess (Villanova), Ashley Kellmyer (GTA), Cassidy Niederland (GTA), Elisabetta Iannetti (Pennoni), Grace Hepler (WSP), Kristin Sample-Lord (Villanova), Marissa Ciocco (Princeton Hydro), Melinda Eason (USACE), and Theresa Loux (Aero Aggregates). See www.gettpa.org for more information about the expo!
October Dinner Meeting – Tuesday, October 14, 2025
On Tuesday, October 14th, DVGI gathered for its monthly dinner meeting at the Valley Forge Casino. The meeting featured a Geotechnical Review of Beach Nourishment at Indian River Inlet by speaker Melinda Eason, a Geotechnical Engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District.
The Indian River Inlet in Delaware is a vital access point to the Delaware Inland Bays, supporting commercial, recreational, and U.S. Coast Guard navigation. Initially authorized by Congress in 1937 and modified in 1945, the project includes parallel jetties spaced 500 feet apart, a 200-foot-wide channel dredged to a depth of 15 feet extending 7,000 feet into the bay, and additional dredging of a 9-foot-deep channel through the bay and river.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District received funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for maintenance repairs, including design and construction of jetty restoration, repair of a failed bulkhead on the interior north shore, and beachfill nourishment to reduce erosion. Melinda’s presentation highlighted the importance of coastal resilience and the impact USACE’s projects have in protecting our coastlines and communities. Thank you for sharing your project with us!
September Dinner Meeting – Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Please join us in congratulating the 2024-2025 DVGI Geotechnical Project of the Year Award recipient, Peirce Engineering, Inc. for Roberts Children’s Health at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The campus expansion project in University City will include an inpatient tower building connected to the flagship hospital. Peirce Engineering collaborated to provide geo-structural services required to jumpstart the project.
On Tuesday, September 16th, DVGI was joined by speaker Jennifer Brandt, P.E. of Peirce Engineering, Inc. for a presentation discussing the project. Jen detailed the project’s challenges (the congested city location surrounded by medical buildings, the unknown geotechnical conditions, and adjacent research buildings and potential noise and vibration impacts) and a variety of geotechnical solutions including soil nailing, underpinning, rock bolting, soldier beams and lagging, tieback anchors, and drilled shafts.
The DVGI presented the team with their award at the conclusion of the presentation. Thank you for sharing your project with us!
DVGI Annual Golf Outing – Thursday, June 19, 2025
On Thursday, June 19th, 2025, 81 DVGI members and friends participated in the annual DVGI Golf Outing at Kimberton Golf Club in Phoenixville. Engineers, contractors, and suppliers took time out of their busy schedules to support the DVGI scholarship fund. The weather was perfect, and the refreshments were cold for the 9 a.m. start at the beautiful venue. The outing was a scramble format inviting all levels of golf skill.
The Keystone-Foundation team posted the best team score overall, while the ECS/Peak Utility Locators team had the dubious honor of the worst or “most honest” team score. After the round of golf, participants gathered for lunch and drinks on the patio. Michael Derr, P.E. (Geo-Technology Associates, Inc. (GTA)) won the longest drive hole while Michael Shedlosky (MENARD USA) won the closest to the pin prize, and Andrew Crivelli (GeoConstructors Inc.) mastered the Shortest Driver.
The event was a great chance for DVGI members and friends to socialize in a more casual setting. Shout-out to DVGI Director, Conrad Cho, P.E., LEED AP (Langan Engineering & Environmental Services) for staffing the registration table and roaming the course with refreshments. And a big THANK YOU to DVGI Director, Lei Gu, PE, PMP, ENV SP (Michael Baker International) for his continued efforts as our Golf Outing Chair!
Special thanks to our 21 sponsors which made the event a huge success and provided over $7,000 for the DVGI Scholarship Fund. The money will be distributed to students during DVGI’s annual Student Night dinner meeting next March. Thank you for helping us make this a record-setting year! We hope to see you all again, at next year’s outing.
DVGI May Dinner Meeting – Tuesday, May 20, 2025
DVGI concluded its successful run of 2024-25 dinner meetings on Tuesday, May 20th at the Valley Forge Casino. Attendees were in for a real treat as the ASCE Geo-Institute’s 2024-2025 Cross-USA Lecturer, Prof. Richard Bathurst, Ph.D., P.Eng., of the Royal Military College of Canada, presented “From measurement to LRFD calibration of MSE walls.” Prof. Bathurst reviewed how measurements from instrumented full-scale field and laboratory tests of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls have been used to calibrate load and resistance factors in the AASHTO load and resistance factor design (LRFD) procedure for tensile strength and pullout failure modes of these walls. Such calibrations have improved the accuracy of the MSE wall design process, allowing for more reliable predictions of wall safety and performance as well as value engineering of these structures. Moreover, Prof. Bathurst explained how a simple closed-form solution – easily calculated in a spreadsheet – may be used to incorporate these advances in the LFRD model for MSE walls, negating the need for complex probabilistic simulations for these designs.
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