Coffee, collaboration and competition kept the next generation of engineers busy at the 12th International Conference on Geosynthetics in Rome.
An active program for IGS Young Members during the conference, which ran from September 17-21, included a delicious networking dinner, supporting friends and colleagues in the IGS Young Member Contest, and for some, benefiting from attendance scholarships thanks to the IGS Foundation.
Members got to know each other better with a group meal at Ristorante il Vignola, which was near the conference venue. Here they enjoyed delights including focaccia, mozzarella, focaccia, ham, aubergines, an entrée of rigatoni all’amatriciana, followed by millefoglie cake and plenty of coffee and wine.
But the young engineers couldn’t relax for too long as the conference also included the exciting finals of the IGS Young Member Contest. More than 40 papers received from 19 different countries were filtered down to just 10 finalists, who presented their work live in a special session chaired by IGS Young Members Committee chair Dawie Marx and Dr Fernanda Ferreira. Judges Boyd Ramsey, Amir Shahkolahi, and Professors Richard Bathurst, Maria das Graças Gardoni, and Nicola Moraci, assessed the finalists on style and content.
The winner was Subramanian Sankaranarayanan, also known as Subu, whose paper explored pavement stability using geogrids. He received a $1,000 prize while runners up Viviana Mangraviti and Matheus Pena da Silva were presented with $600 and $300, respectively. Subu also had the chance to present his technical paper to the full audience.
IGS Young Members Committee chair Dawie Marx said: “We had great success at the 12th ICG and we are looking forward to building on the friendships formed and professional connections made during the conference.”
Interested in joining as an IGS Young Member? Click here.
