Frequently Asked Questions

• Didn't your Dad start Geo-Slope? Is he still involved with Geo-Slope?

Didn't your Dad start Geo-Slope? Is he still involved with Geo-Slope?

I would like to attempt to respond to this question that I am so often asked.

Del Fredlund is my father. He and his brother Lorne started Geo-Slope in 1977. Lorne was trained as a "Computer Systems Analyst" and Del taught geotechnical engineering and conducted research at the University of Saskatchewan. Del's primary area of research involved unsaturated soil mechanics. Del realized that solving unsaturated soils problems would involve the solution of highly nonlinear partial differential equations that defined the physical processes in the unsaturated soils. These solutions required the capabilities of a digital computer and appropriate software packages. This realization became the motivation for starting the Geo-Slope software company. Research work from various countries of the world made it very clear that special computational techniques would be required for the solution of unsaturated soils problems.

Del Fredlund was directly involved with the original development of the PC-Seep (which later became Seep/W) and the Slope-II (PC-SLOPE, later known as Slope/W) software packages, starting in 1977.

Through mutual understanding, Del and Lorne sold their shares in Geo-Slope during the 1990s. It was in the late 1990s that I decided that there was a 'niche' for a company that concentrated on the solution of unsaturated soils problems with saturated soils problems being a simpler, special case. I had obtained my M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in unsaturated soil mechanics under the supervision of Professor Ward Wilson who undertaken extensive research on "cover design" as an unsaturated soil mechanics problem. Professor Wilson now teaches at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

As of 2007, Del Fredlund has become a part of the Advisory Board of SoilVision Systems Ltd. However, he has no financial involvement in SoilVision Systems Ltd.

I trust that this brief explanation answers the questions that I am commonly asked.

Murray D. Fredlund, President,
SoilVision Systems Ltd.
Saskatoon, SK., Canada