The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) has named Garland E. Likins Jr., PE, the recipient of the group’s highest award to an individual, the Distinguished Service Award (DSA). The award will be given at DFI’s 43rd Annual Conference on Deep Foundations in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 24-27, 2018. It honors individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the deep foundations industry.

“Garland’s lifetime work has helped transform the approach, practice and understanding of quality assurance for all types of deep foundations,” says Theresa Engler, executive director of DFI. “His work has helped to create the modern testing industry and advance the practice of deep foundation quality assurance.”

Likins was one of the cofounders of Pile Dynamics Inc. (PDI) in 1972. He is also president from 1977 to 2014. He now works as a principal and senior consultant for PDI, where he has directed the research and development of transducers, real-time processing equipment and software analysis programs for deep foundations.

Likins is widely known for guiding the development of dynamic pile testing as an industry standard in the United States and throughout the world. He has developed and improved products to improve quality insurance. He has taught, lectured and written more than 120 papers.

He belongs to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Deep Foundations Institute (DFI), Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA) and the International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC). He is also and associate editor of the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, and a recipient of the ASCE Robert B. Cummings Distinguished Leadership Award. He has authored and co-authored numerous ASTM deep foundation standards. As a member of DFI, he has been active on several committees and was the editor of the 1997 DFI Inspection Manual for Driven Piles. He also helped edit the AASHTO T15 Driven Pile Design Code and has been active in the PDCA and International Building Code.

Likins has bachelors and master degrees in civil engineering from Case Western Reserve 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.