The Deep Foundations Institute has announced the recipient of its highest award to an individual — George K. Burke, PE, D.GE, of Hayward Baker (HBI). The Distinguished Service Award (DSA) honors those who have made valuable contributions to the advancement of the deep foundations industry.

"George's significant efforts in the development and adoption of soil mixing and jet grouting have contributed greatly to the advancement of the deep foundations industry," says Theresa Engler, DFI executive director. "He has also generously shared his knowledge through active participation in technical committees and educational seminars. On behalf of DFI, I am pleased to see George receive this honor at our Annual Conference."

The award will be presented at the Awards Banquet during DFI’s 42nd Annual Conference on Deep Foundations in New Orleans, Oct. 24-27.

Burke is widely recognized for his contributions to the development, design and application of jet grouting and mechanical soil mixing in North America. He has been on the forefront of the research and development of jet grouting and soil mixing for geotechnical applications, including complex advancements in hydraulic, mechanical and geotechnical engineering.

Burke is semi-retired from HBI and works part-time as the senior risk manager. Prior to semi-retiring in 2015, he worked for HBI in the corporate office in Odenton and Hanover, Maryland, for 30 years. He was the senior vice president for 20 of those years, and before that he was vice president of HBI Environmental, manager of the jet grouting division and project engineer for special projects.

Burke is a longstime member of DFI, ASCE and ADSC. He was an active member on DFI’s Soil Mixing Committee. He remains an active participant on the ASCE Grouting Committee and was a member of the Jet Grouting Subcommittee that developed the 1st edition of the Jet Grouting Guidelines.

In 2009, he was confirmed as a Diplomate of the Academy of Geo-Professionals. In 2010 he was presented with the Wallace Hayward Baker Award from the Geo-Institute of ASCE for the development of jet grouting and soil mixing technologies. In 2012, Burke delivered a keynote presentation at the DFI-ICOG 2012 International Conference on Grouting and Deep Mixing Conference.

Burke received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil (geotechnical) engineering from Drexel University.

The DFI is an international association of contractors, engineers, academics and suppliers in the deep foundations industry with more than 3,300 members worldwide. For more information about the Deep Foundations Institute, visit www.dfi.org.