The drive to get geosynthetics into higher education curricula will gain a wider arena this week as education champion Dr. Jorge Zornberg talks at GEE2025.
Dr. Zornberg's attendance at the 6th Geotechnical Engineering Education 2025 (GEE2025) conference in France, is a unique opportunity for the IGS to speak to audiences less familiar with the value of integrating geosynthetics into undergraduate curricula.
Organized by Technical Committee 306 of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), the conference from July 2-4 is focused on learning, education and supporting teaching in the geotechnical field.
Dr. Zornberg's lecture, 'Geosynthetics in the classroom: educating future engineers and their instructors', will focus on the value of embedding geosynthetics content at the undergraduate level, plugging the gap in undergraduate teaching, and suggested approaches to better integration in teaching programs. The talk will also highlight the IGS's popular Educate the Educators (EtE) initiative, which offers educators a basic introduction to geosynthetics.
Dr. Zornberg said: "I'm grateful for this significant opportunity to share the IGS's mission to widen the understanding and use of geosynthetics from the very start of a young engineer's journey. My goal is to emphasize the importance of introducing students to geosynthetics through a teaching approach similar to how we, as educators, teach about soils. That's why I'll focus on targeted strategies that present geosynthetics in a way that strengthens fundamental engineering principles while emphasizing their crucial role in modern infrastructure."
GEE2025 takes place from July 2-4 at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Géologie in Nancy, France. Dr. Zornberg's keynote will run on the morning of July 2.
Organizers say presentations will be recorded and available online in due course.
Learn more about the IGS Educate the Educators program by visiting here, whereChapters can get a taster of EtE content, view past events, and request a workshop.
