Preface-Paper

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The 43rd Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Annual Conference, held in Anaheim, California, brought together attendees, exhibitors, speakers, and industry professionals to explore advances in deep foundation engineering. Under the theme “Mastering the Challenge: Engineering for Complex Loading Conditions,” the program emphasized performance-based design that goes beyond code requirements and addresses increasingly complex projects and sites.<br /><br />Presentations covered deep foundations, ground improvement, earth retention, seismic design, soil-structure interaction, instrumentation, risk mitigation, extreme events, and mega-projects. Highlights included work on California High-Speed Rail and the Los Angeles Metro Extension, as well as foundation value engineering for major stadiums. A keynote panel examined the current state and future direction of performance-based geotechnical design. The Hal Hunt Lecture on Communications featured Olympic champion Carl Lewis, who spoke about discipline, success, and overcoming challenges.<br /><br />Alongside technical sessions, the conference offered opportunities for networking, professional development, and learning about new products and innovations. The organizers thanked the conference participants, sponsors, exhibitors, DFI staff, and local committee for making the event possible.

Keywords

Deep Foundations Institute

DFI Annual Conference

deep foundation engineering

performance-based design

geotechnical design

ground improvement

earth retention

seismic design

soil-structure interaction

California High-Speed Rail