Earth Day founder to keynote International Concrete Sustainability Conference

Speakers have been announced for the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s 7th annual International Concrete Sustainability Conference, May 7–10 in Seattle. Headlining is Denis Hayes, president and CEO of Bullitt Foundation, founder of Earth Day and honorary chairman of the Earth Day Network. He will present a comprehensive and visionary view of sustainability coupled with building industry leadership demonstrated by the zero-carbon Cascadia Center in Seattle.

Joining Hayes as plenary session keynote presenters are Dr. Franz-Josef Ulm, PhD, George Macomber Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, who will discuss model-based life-cycle assessment for sustainable engineering design; and, Dr. Michael Lepech, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, who will explore “bendable concrete,” a new class of high-performance, fiber-reinforced concrete that exhibits mechanical properties similar to ductile metals. In addition, more than 60 world-renowned experts will address a range of topics under five main tracks:

Life Cycle Assessment. Frances Yang, structures and materials sustainability specialist, Arup, San Francisco office, “Infrastructure and Embodied Carbon;” Margaret Wildnauer, research assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, “Incorporating Uncertainty into the Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete Structures;” and, Amlan Mukherjee, associate professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan Technological University, “Project Emissions Estimator (PE-2): A Project Based Approach to Assess Pavement Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions.”

Low Impact Development. Liv Haselbach, associate professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Washington State University, “Stoichiometric Carbon Absorption Benefits of Concrete Pavement Surfaces;” Alexandra Ramsden, leader of Rushing’s sustainability studio, “Biomimicry: Learning from Nature for Sustainable Design and Construction Innovation;” and, Alexandra Akkari, concrete research project engineer, Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Materials and Road Research, “Evaluation of Environmental and Hydrologic Sustainability of Pervious Concrete Pavements.”

Green Concrete. Sidney Mindess, professor emeritus, University of British Columbia, “Sustainability of Concrete Structures;” Noritaka Morohashi, professor, Department of Architecture, College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University, “Drying Shrinkage Properties of Beams with Medium-quality Recycled Coarse Aggregate;” and, Ahmad Ardani, manager of Federal Highway Administration’s concrete laboratories, “Evaluation of High-Volume Fly Ash Concrete Mixtures Using Dynamic Shear Rheometer and Isothermal Calorimeter.”

Sustainability Initiatives. Kathrina Simonen, assistant professor, Department of Architecture at the University of Washington, “Concrete Product Category Rules: Technical Details and Industry Implementation;” Nicholas Santaro, senior consultant, PE International, “Creating Value from Sustainability: The Role of Environmental Product Declarations”; Mie Vold, research engineer, Ostfold Research, “Tool for Generation of Environmental Product Declarations in the Norwegian Concrete Industry.”

Functional Resilience. Donald Davies, senior vice president, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, “Embodied Carbon and the Case for Longevity;” Dennis Schrader, American Society of Civil Engineers, “Advancing Concepts of Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure;” and, Mohamed A. Mahgoub, assistant professor, Department of Engineering Technology at New Jersey Institute of Technology, “Strategies for Sustainable Buildings: Design and Construction.”

This year’s conference will take place at the Seattle Renaissance Hotel and the University of Washington campus; a complete list of speakers and additional details is available at www.concretesustainabilityconference.org.