L. David Suits established LDS Geosynthetic Consultant Services in 2016, where he currently excels as an independent consultant and owner. Located in Albany, New York, Mr. Suits’ consultancy specializes in the field of geosynthetics and soils and provides several key services in areas such as soil and geosynthetic training, testing setup, test standards, specification development, and end-user geosynthetic quality assurance program setup. Drawing upon over five decades of professional experience, Mr. Suits is recognized as a prolific and accomplished civil engineer.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Suits served with the Geotechnical Engineer Bureau with the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) as a soil engineering laboratory supervisor for over 35 years. Among his many responsibilities, he oversaw the soil foundation testing for a myriad of NYSDOT projects, as well as all testing and approvals of the geosynthetics used on such projects. As his career progressed, Mr. Suits served as the chair of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the National Transportation Product Evaluation Program’s geotextile panel, where he managed the testing of all geotextiles. Likewise, he served as the executive director of the North American Geosynthetics Society from 2005 to 2016 and twice served as an adjunct professor at Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute.
Alongside his primary endeavors, Mr. Suits has contributed his expertise to the written word. Authoring over 30 articles and papers on such topics as geosynthetics and geotechnical engineering, he also contributed to the fourth edition of “Kirk-Othmer Concise Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology” and has served as an associate editor of the Transportation Research Record since 2019. Moreover, Mr. Suits is a past co-editor of the ASTM International Geotechnical Testing Journal. Additionally, he has been a founding member of ASTM International’s committee D35 on geosynthetics since 1983.
To prepare for his career, Mr. Suits earned an undergraduate degree from Clarkson University in 1967. He continued his studies at his alma mater, receiving a Master of Engineering in civil engineering in 1969. He also holds certification as a PDH provider via the Registered Continued Education Provider Program. As a testament to his success, Mr. Suits was honored with an Award of Merit from ASTM International and was named Engineer of the Year by the NYSDOT.