Autumn means time to go back to school for engineering students around the U.S. But are you getting the most out of your college education? If you limit yourself to only course work, then the answer often is “no.” Valuable education, experience, and insights come from groups and clubs that relate to your field of study.

Zachary Brady is one student who participated in his desired career while still in school. Brady graduated in May 2016 from the University of Kansas (KU) with his Master of Science in Civil Engineering. In between classes, Brady made time to invest in his future as a geotechnical engineer by serving as president of a campus engineering club. Brady discusses geotechnical engineering, the KU Geotechnical Society, and non-book learning with Engineering360 contributing editor Robynn Andracsek.

Andracsek: What do geotechnical engineers do?

Zachary Brady earned his Master's degree in Geotechnical Engineering in May 2016.Brady: Geotechnical engineers focus on site investigations for soils and rocks; design of shallow and deep foundations, earth retaining structures, and dams and levees; slope stability analysis; evaluation of roadway materials; and determination of the most economic ground improvement techniques for unstable ground.

We are one of the first on a potential construction site to investigate what there is to work with and to recommend systems that will support the planned construction and facilitate its completion.

Andracsek: Why is geotechnical engineering exciting, rewarding, and challenging?

Brady: Geotechnical engineering projects presents different challenges because no two projects are exactly the same. We often have no idea what soil conditions exist before a suitable site investigation is performed. We often work with an unknown material or collection of materials that must perform just as well as the known and controlled construction materials, which requires more developed problem-solving skills, field experience, and especially engineering judgment.

Since all construction on ground should involve a geotechnical aspect, geotechnical engineering offers the exciting opportunity to work with a variety of professionals in areas including geology, water flow, electricity and corrosion, utilities, emergency management, politics, rail, and infrastructure.

Rewards are both intrinsic and extrinsic: once projects are properly complete, we geotechnical engineers feel satisfied to have improved the safety and functionality of society as well as our own knowledge and experience.

Andracsek: What is the purpose of the Geotechnical Society?

Brady: KU Geotechnical Society (KUGS) provides a fully accessible communication platform among students, faculty, and professionals interested in learning, advancing, and implementing cutting edge geotechnical research and knowledge.

We foster an interest and a consideration for geotechnical engineering, especially in our undergraduate members. One of our main goals is to help students realize their full potential as both KU alumni and well-rounded professional engineers.

KUGS also offers practical opportunities outside of the classroom to help our members visualize and experience the concepts they learn inside the classroom or workplace.

Andracsek: What was your role in the Geotechnology Society?

Brady: As the KUGS president, I helped secure the on-campus and professional sponsorships required for members to attend the competitions and conferences and organized events such as the KU Engineering Expo, lecture series installments, workshop programs, and KUGS social events. I updated and sent sponsorship requests and prepared and gave presentations for both funding requests and KUGS informational benefit.

Brady says that a big challenge is attracting the attention and participation of undergraduate KU students, who tend to deem geotechnical engineering as boring.One of our biggest challenges is attracting the attention and participation of undergraduate KU students, who tend to deem geotechnical engineering as boring. Our approach to diminish this unfortunate and inaccurate stereotype is to show KU students via our different club activities how exciting, challenging, and especially rewarding geotechnical engineering truly is.

Andracsek: What are the activities of the club?

Brady: KUGS members participate in regional and national geotechnical engineering conferences, the industry lecture series, different types of research and networking events, construction site tours, and the annual KU Engineering Expo.

Andracsek: What are the competitions you enter and how do they help students?

Brady: There are four main competitions we are involved in:

1. GeoWall - Design and construct a paper-strip-reinforced soil retaining wall with a paper facing. The paper wall construction must hold back approximately 500 pounds of material and then survive additional surcharge, lateral, and perhaps even earthquake loadings, all with limited deflection.

2. GeoPrediction - Select proper design parameters, perform detailed calculations, and calculate and present estimations of the expected field performance of a foundation or earth structure given specific loading and site conditions.

3. GeoVideo - Create and present a short video to explain an interesting concept or aspect of geotechnical engineering within the subject criteria.

4. GeoPoster – Create a poster about a research project or activity and then present it to geotechnical professionals and judges.

These competitions help students to apply the knowledge gained from classes and to improve their teamwork and communications skills. They also provide professional networking opportunities and are valuable for future career success.

Andracsek: Tell me about industry lecture series and the annual KU Geotechnical Conference.

Brady: The KUGS Industry Lecture Series is designed to promote curiosity among students in geotechnical concepts using interesting and thought-provoking presentations from working professionals. Speakers offer presentations that shed light on aspects of geotechnical engineering that force a reconsideration of what geotechnical engineering really is and perhaps more importantly, what it can offer.

The annual KU Geotechnical Conference is held at the University of Kansas Memorial Union to serve the professionals and students in this region; its 48^th installment is scheduled for November 10^th, 2016 at the University of Kansas Memorial Union. The Conference offers professional development hours, technical lectures in a variety of topics, and networking opportunities for both KU students and working professionals.

Andracsek: What are touring sites of geotechnical interest? Which have you been to?

Brady: Geotechnical touring sites typically consist of student-research-related construction sites. I have observed a full-scale plastic culvert pipe installation and load test, geogrid-reinforced road subgrade static and cyclic load tests, a quarry blast and the resulting particle size separation mechanics, a soldier pile and lagging wall installation, a geosynthetic-reinforced retaining wall installation, and a series of pavement corings and subsequent borings beneath a parking lot with demonstrations of in situ test methods, such as the Standard and Cone Penetration Tests (SPT and CPT) and the Vane Shear Test (VST).

Andracsek: What type of research do you and the professors do?

Brady: Geotechnical engineering is a relatively young and continually evolving field, and so our research focuses on new methods and technologies related to ground improvement to strengthen the soil or to reduce differential and settlements.

Ground improvement research includes molded and extruded plastic products (geosynthetics) to reinforce or supplement soil or geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS), stone columns, pile-supported embankments, and road subgrade stabilization.

Other research includes performance of steel-spiral-reinforced plastic culvert pipes, permeability and strength of fouled railroad ballast, asphalt pavement degradation, soil arching effects, and retaining wall pressure and deflection distributions under both foundations and lateral and group pile loads.

My research focuses on laboratory electrical resistivity tests of retaining wall aggregate backfill to characterize its corrosion potential concerning galvanized metal reinforcement.

Andracsek: What are you doing now that you have graduated and how has participation with the Geotechnical Society helped you?

Brady: My involvement in KUGS has provided me a brilliant group of friends and colleagues back in Lawrence. I have begun my professional career as a geotechnical engineer with Terracon in Wichita, Kansas. Most practically, my colleagues researching and teaching at KU have provided us access to testing equipment to expand our possible field testing workscope, and by extension, our client base. This access continues to reinforce the positive relationships among Terracon, our clients, and my colleagues at KU, and benefits all involved.

More personally, my involvement in KUGS has improved my public communication skills and has helped me to become a more motivated and effective engineer. I am now more able to work productively with a subsurface exploration crew in the field and also with the project review team in the office. With great support from KUGS members and others, I have prepared research papers for potential publishing. And when I am back at KU collecting or returning various equipment, it is nice to catch up with the KUGS fellows and to see their continued researching and teaching excellence.

Andracsek: What do you want people to know about geotechnical engineering?

Brady: Geotechnical engineering is the literal foundation upon which our society is built, and is thus quite important. It is a critical branch of civil engineering that would benefit from the development of empirical solutions and databases to characterize common situations. Everyone may benefit from a basic understanding of and an appreciation for the geotechnical concepts governing our daily lives.

With new technologies and materials being introduced and tested daily, geotechnical engineering is providing the foundations for a brighter, more resilient future.

A common expression rings true in the industry: you never see our best work!