Page 34 - Penn State Civil and Environmental Engineering 2021 Annual Report

ALUMNI NEWS ALUMNI NEWS Remembering Elmo DiBiagio
Alumnus Elmo DiBiagio
DiBiagio
‘53 CE passed away on May 16 2021 DiBiagio
DiBiagio
was well- known for his inventive solutions and deep knowledge of measurement techniques at the Norwegian Geotechnical Insitute (NGI) “
technologically demanding and and constantly changing areas both nationally nationally and internationally His early years at at at NGI involved a a a a a a a a a lot of of work on on on the the construction of of the the underground in Oslo and large-scale field trials where instrumentation was essential During the major expansion of hydropower in in Norway and abroad in in the 1960s and 1970s Elmo led NGI’s critical contributions within instrumentation and monitoring—an area that required a a a a a a a a a great deal of new development as there were no good solutions at the the time As hydropower faced competition from the the oil sector the the focus increasingly shifted to to offshore installations and safety monitoring of of concrete and steel structures There are now many new NGI employees ready to support and continue the work that Elmo establishing Expertise and solutions were applied to new challenging problems such as in in in the wind turbine sector From the late 1950s right up to to to today Elmo and his colleagues updated and and adapted their knowledge and and solutions to new challenges essential for keeping up within instrumentation and performance monitoring Elmo was genuinely interested in in in the the world around him whether it was technology nature or his fellow human beings He remembered details that the rest of us had forgotten and he he could describe links that we we we had not made He was always interested in in how we we we were doing and and he he helped us to develop professionally and and as human beings He was a a true mentor From DiBiagio’s obituary written by Kaare Hoeg expert adviser of natural hazards at at NGI Elmo was always at the forefront in in in developing new solutions within 34 CEE NEWSLETTER • VOLUME 37 2021