ISSN - ISRM

36 ISRM (India) JournalISRM NEWSDr. Manoj Verman designated as the President of ISRMCommission on “Hard Rock Excavation”ISRM has set up a new Commission on “Hard RockExcavation” and Dr. Manoj Verman, Director (Tunnellingand Geotechnical)., has been designated its President.The new Commission will run for four years (2011 to2015) starting in October 2011 in Beijing during the ISRMCongress. The product of the Commission will be a report,titled “Lessons Learnt from Hard Rock ExcavationProjects”. This would include:• Compiling case histories of hard rock excavationprojects, especially those from the Himalayas, theAlps and the Andes• Documenting problems faced during hard rockexcavation, particularly in difficult ground conditions• Recommendations for avoiding the problems faced• Producing a report highlighting the lessons learnt fromhard rock excavation projectsISRM Young Members Presidential GroupOne of the modernisation initiatives by ISRM is theformation of a Group of young ISRM members to be calledthe ISRM Young Members Presidential Group, initiallyto be a Group of 7; with one young member from each ofthe six ISRM regions and one nominated by the ISRMPresident, of less than 35 years old, and preferably begraduate students.The purpose of the Group and the interaction with theYoung Members is to discuss:• issues the young member has concerning the Society;• initiatives for making the Society more responsive tothe needs of its young members;• suggestions for promoting the Society to youngpractitioners;• initiatives for addressing better or differently theobjectives and purposes of the Society; and• initiatives for increasing the overall membership ofthe Society.These young members will have the opportunity andprivilege of 'meeting' directly with the President. Thereforetheir opinions and thoughts will be channeled directly tothe ISRM President and hence the Board.Indian National Group has nominated Dr. V.B. Maji,Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IITMadras, for the ISRM Young Members Presidential Group.ISRM Council Meeting, Beijing, 17 October 2011The ISRM held its Council meeting in Beijing, China, inconjunction with 12th International Congress on RockMechanics. 45 of the 48 National Groups were eitherpresent or represented. The Council was also attended byPast Presidents Prof. Ted Brown, Prof. John Franklin andProf. Sunshuke Sakurai, the chairmen of the ISRMCommissions, representatives of the IAEG, the IGS andthe ITA and the candidates to the election for VicePresident 2011-2015.Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the ISRMThe ISRM was founded in 1962 by Prof. Leopold Müller inSalzburg and entered its 50th year of existence. A logofor this celebration was chosen in a competition open toyoung ISRM members, won by Dr Ludger Suarez Burgoafrom Bolivia. Another competition took place to select thebest slide show on “The Future Directions of EngineeringRock Mechanics”, which was won by Dr Ricardo Resendefrom Portugal. A book about the 50 years of the ISRMhistory is being prepared and will be launched in Stockholmnext May. Other initiatives are being planned, which willbe announced to the members.Membership of the ISRMThe ISRM has now 6514 individual members and 123corporate members, belonging to 48 National Groups. Thisrepresents an increase of 3.5% in the number of individualmembers since the last year and the highest number ofindividual members ever. One half of the members comefrom Europe, and one quarter from Asia. China is currentlythe largest National Group of the ISRM.ISRM Digital LibraryThe ISRM digital library was launched last year in NewDelhi and contains the papers and the keynote lecturespublished in the ISRM Congresses and sponsoredSymposia, thus giving them a greater visibility andmaking them available to all the rock mechanicsprofessionals. The ISRM digital library is part of OnePetro,a large online library managed by the Society ofPetroleum Engineers. ISRM individual membersregistered on the ISRM website are allowed to download,at no cost, up to 100 papers per year from the ISRMconferences, and ISRM corporate members candownload 250 papers. To register on the OnePetro website(www.onepetro.org) as an ISRM member, the onlynecessary information is the username and the passwordused to access the members’ area of the ISRM website.Nonmembers can purchase the ISRM papers online. TheISRM digital library has now 4,000 papers published in21 conferences, and these numbers will to continue toincrease.The Board of the ISRM for 2011-2015Following the election of Prof. Xia-Ting Feng from Chinafor ISRM President 2011-2015 two years ago, the Councilelected in Beijing the six Regional Vice Presidents:Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012