DFI announces new chair of Seepage Control Working Group

Hawthorne, N.J. — Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) announced that Michael Kynett, P.E., levee safety program manager for the Engineering Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Sacramento District, is the new chair of the DFI Seepage Control Working Group (SCWG). He succeeds David Paul, special assistant on dam safety for USACE, who transitioned to the DFI Board of Trustees in January 2017. The SCWG is a group of government engineers and construction representatives and DFI members who network to advance the state of the practice of seepage control design, construction and quality assurance.

At the USACE Sacramento District, Kynett is responsible for coordinating, assigning, scheduling and overseeing teamwork to achieve the levee safety program and the inspection of completed works program.  He is currently a member of the engineering flood response team and the infrastructure assessment planning and response team (IA-PRT). He was deployed for emergency operations to the Corps’ headquarters for Superstorm Sandy response and relief efforts. He is also a California Office of Emergency Services Safety Assessment Program (SAP) coordinator. Kynett earned a B.S. in civil engineering from Sacramento State University, and has authored and co-authored several published technical papers on levee evaluations and seepage cutoff wall design and construction.

To learn more about the Seepage Control Working Group, visit www.dfi.org/commhome.asp?SCWG.