About Us
Early in 1972, leaders from about a dozen Texas construction materials testing and geotechnical engineering firms met in Austin at a meeting called by Grover Williams, P.E. of Trinity Engineering Testing Corporation. The purpose was to consider forming a Texas Council of Engineering Laboratories.
Initially four firms were involved Trinity Engineering, (Grover Williams) Raba-Kistner (Carl Raba), Southwest Laboratories (Joe Jeans) and Shilstone (Dan Hanna).
The idea of a Texas State organization whose goals would be to foster and maintain excellence and professionalism in the construction materials and geotechnical engineering disciplines was not entirely new. Most of the people at the Austin meeting were members of American Council of Independent Laboratories' Southern division, and had discussed this subject for several years. Their joint conclusion has been that such an organization not only would be a service to the construction industry and to the public, but to its member firms as well. The meeting produced a unanimous agreement. TCEL came into being that very day.
TCEL was formed to:
- Raise the bar of the Materials Testing Industry
- Address some concerns with performance brought forward by the City of Houston
- Address Materials Testing for acceptance by the Owner or Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) as an engineering function. Texas Board of Professional Engineers did not recognize this initially.
Initial meetings were in Houston and Austin to discuss strategy, create a charter and bylaws for the organization and address several of the above issues. Within a short time, four firms grew to eight firms, and they established a lobby to advocate for Materials Testing services as a professional service to the TBPE. TCEL often presented the argument to the TBPE board, made presentation to Architects and Engineers, Universities, Cities etc. on why Materials testing is an engineering function.
To help with consistency within firms and raising the bar in Materials Testing, the group created and published a Manual of Practice along with a short brochure on how to select materials testing firms.
The organization continued to grow from there. The idea of a Texas State organization whose goals would be to foster and maintain excellence and professionalism in the construction materials and geotechnical engineering disciplines was not entirely new. Most of the people at the Austin meeting were members of American Council of Independent Laboratories' Southern division and had discussed this subject for several years. Their joint conclusion has been that such an organization not only would be a service to the construction industry and to the public, but to its member firms as well. The meeting produced a unanimous agreement. To create TCEL.
TCEL's Purpose
In keeping with Article IV of TCEL's Constitution, the goals of this non-profit organization are several fold: To foster, encourage, promote and maintain the profession and practice of geoprofessional services at the state and local level.
-
Encourage legislative and administrative policy decisions favorable to the geoprofessional practice.
-
To advance knowledge and learning in the science and practice of geoprofessional services through education and training.
-
To collaborate with other professional organizations to advance the practice of geoprofessional services.
-
To develop standards of performance in the practice of geoprofessional services.
Award of Excellence Winners
- Kemp Akeman: 2025
- Bryan Sy: 2025
- Telfryn John: 2024
- Eric Cleveland: 2024
- Terry Smith, Sr.: 2021
- Russell Gibson: 2020
- Jeffrey C. Roberts: 2019
- Woodward Vogt: 2019
- Lyndon Cox: 2018
- Bill Ciggelakis: 2018
- Carl Raba: 2016
- Joseph Cibor: 2015
- David L. Pickett: 2012
Award of Excellence
|
Blake Wright presents Kemp Akeman with the 2025 Award of Excellence. |
Blake Wright presents Bryan Sy with the 2025 Award of Excellence |
