(by Peter Caruso)
On Tuesday, November 19th, the Worcester Chapter of CSI hosted its latest program. This program was titled “Getting the Low Down on Dirt in Wormtown: Hands-on Soil Classification Workshop.” Staying true to one of WCCSI’s goals, this program brought both an educational presentation as well as a hands-on experience. The first part of the program was a presentation at Blue Jean’s Pizza where Zachary Baum, a registered civil engineer and husband of former WCCSI board member Jackie Baum, gave the attendees an overview of the various soil classifications and the properties of each one.
At the conclusion of the presentation, all the attendees were invited over to Yankee Engineering & Testing located nearby where Whitney Parker and Scott Mensen not only supplemented Zachary’s very insightful presentation but also allowed the attendees an opportunity to use their facility to conduct demonstrations of their own. The attendees were provided with several containers of different soils and were asked to classify each one. Yes, there were some dirty hands, but, it was a great experience that Architects nor Contractors typically get to participate in on actual projects as they rely on their Geotechnical Engineer to do the “dirty” work for them.
Overall, the turnout was great and everyone appeared to have enjoyed the program. This is yet another good example of the benefits with being a CSI member.