BIO4:00 PM (1.0 PDH)
Professional Practice Update/Ethics
Presented by Mr. Michael Sims with Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
ABSTRACT: Mr. Sims will discuss updates on engineering and surveying ethics and code of conduct. Also discussed will be TBPELS activities, rule and statutory changes, and general updates on board initiatives.
BIO: Michael Sims currently serves as the Director of Compliance and Enforcement with the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. He has been with the Board since June 2018. Michael previously was the Special Projects Manager and Manager of
Environmental Permits within the Oil & Gas Division of the Railroad Commission of Texas and worked in Air Permits at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. He holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and has been a licensed professional engineer since 2010.
5:00 PM (1.0 PDH)
Horizontal Directional Drilling and Its Applications
Presented by Mr. James Namekar, Ph.D., P.E. with Geotech Engineering and Testing
ABSTRACT: Improvements and new infrastructure often require the construction of underground utilities such as natural gas lines, oil lines, or product pipelines. The new lines or replacement lines can be constructed under streams, rivers, lakes, marshes, wetlands, beaches, estuaries, highways, railways, runways, sand dunes, protected habitats, and other sensitive areas. Construction for new pipes can be accomplished a number of ways but Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) offers a more unique, cost-effective approach. HDD is a trenchless installation technique, minimizing disruption to the environment and area around the construction site. The trenchless option of Horizontal Directional Drilling can install new lines that span thousands of feet with piping varying in diameter size from small to large. Since horizontal directional drilling can be accomplished with minimal impact below an array of landscapes and cityscapes, it has become the go-to technique to install new or replacement lines.
BIO: Dr. James Namekar, P.E. is a Chief Engineer in geotechnical engineering at DAE & Associates, Ltd, dba Geotech Engineering and Testing (GET) with the responsibility for the daily operations of geotechnical and environmental engineering, data analyses and the preparation of report recommendations. He has 23 years of experience in the fields of geotechnical, environmental, materials and geoforensic engineering. His experience is in public infrastructure, including water, wastewater, roads, bridges, freeways, retaining walls, embankments, commercial and high-rise buildings, rail, parks, underground utilities, airports, ports, flood control channel, and subdivisions. His other experience includes planning and supervising geotechnical explorations, subsurface investigations, coordinate laboratory testing and analyze results, date review, report preparation and post-design services. His other experience includes research and development in the field of deep foundations, slope-stability, retaining walls, unsaturated soil mechanics. Mr. Namekar’s geotechnical experience has been in landslide investigations, static and seismic slope stability analysis for embankments, cut slopes, ground improvements, jet grouting, shallow and deep foundation design and special inspection, horizontal directional drilling, settlement, lateral earth pressure, rigid pavement design. He has a lot of experience with design of foundations on expansive soils. He has also been involved in conducting many environmental site assessment studies, including Phase I and II environmental site assessment studies.