The National Concrete Masonry Association has promoted Dominick Dowds, staff engineer, to Research and Development Lab manager. He replaces Nick Lang, who becomes director of Research and Development. Additionally, NCMA administrative assistant Mahsheed Ferdowsyan has been promoted to staff accountant.
The American Concrete Institute presented its Distinguished Achievement Award to the Maryland Ready Mix Concrete Association (MRMCA), which represents producers in the areas of market development, government relations and technical support. The award recognizes nonmember organizations or individuals who have made notable contributions to the advancement of the concrete industry.
Separately, ACI and the ACI Foundation Concrete Research Council awarded the follwoing during the 2014 Fall Convention in Washington, D.C.:
- Robert Frosch, FACI, received the Arthur J. Boase Award for “significant research work on shear, bond and cracking behavior of reinforced and prestressed concrete systems, and for his service on ACI technical committees;”
- Edward J. Garboczi, FACI, Applied Chemicals and Materials Division Fellow in the National Institute of Standards and Technology, received the Robert E. Philleo Award, recognizing his work in the “development, application, and propagation of the computational materials science of concrete;”
- Peter Emmons, founder and CEO of Structural Group, received the Jean-Claude Roumain Innovation in Concrete Award “for his far-sighted and continuing leadership in the concrete repair industry, and outstanding dedication to facilitating implementation of new research and development initiatives in the field, advancing the science and standards in concrete repair;”
- Terence Holland, Auburn Township, Ohio-based concrete materials consultant, received the Concrete Sustainability Award “in recognition for his clear vision to introduce and lead the initial concrete sustainability direction of the Institute;” and,
- Ezgi Yurdakul, concrete scientist at Verifi LLC/W.R. Grace, received the ACI Young Professional Essay Contest Award, presented to the candidate best addressing the question, “How do you apply sustainability principles on a daily basis in your job to improve the sustainability of concrete structures, bridges, or pavements?”
The Post-Tensioning Institute has elected 2015-16 officers and directors. Elected to two-year terms are President Rober Sward, VSL vice president; Vice President David Martin, Dywidag Systems International USA business unit manager; and, Secretary Guy Cloutier, Harris Post Tensioning manager.
Joining the officers on the PTI Executive Committee are Post-Tensioning Company Representative Todd Stevens of Gerdau–SFS Post-Tension Division; Professional Member Representative Cary Kopczynski; Associate Representative Paul Hohensee of Precision Hayes International; and, Prestressing Steel Manufacturer Representative Joseph Napoli of Insteel Wire Products.
Appointed or reappointed to serve on the 2015-16 PTI Board of Directors are Cary Kopczynski, James Cagley, and Merril Walstead, representing Professional Members; Joseph Napoli reappointed Prestressing Steel Member representative; Don Kline, TAB Chair; and, Larry Krauser, CAB Chair; Paul Hohensee and Steve Ross, Associate Member representatives; Doug Schlegel, Member at Large; and, Jonathan Hirsch, Affiliate Member representative.
To prepare for the professional challenges and opportunities of an increasingly evidence-based marketplace, the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute Foundation for Education and Research finds, landscape architecture students need awareness, skills, and resources to be able to design for, evaluate, and communicate project performance. Yet measurement of landscape performance—using metrics to convey the environmental, economic, and social value of excellent design—is not yet an established part of the educational curriculum.
To accelerate the adoption of landscape performance in design education, the ICPI Foundation provided the Landscape Architecture Foundation the opportunity to offer 10 $2,500 mini-grants to select university faculty for spring 2014. Participating faculty from the first five university recipients tested models for integrating performance into standard landscape architecture course offerings, such as research and methods, site planning and analysis, design studios, and other lecture or seminar courses.
Five more grants are to be awarded by year-end. Course materials developed through the Landscape Performance Education Grants form the basis of a new “Resources for Educators” section on the LA Foundation website, which includes assignments, syllabi and other resources to help bring landscape performance into the classroom to better prepare the next generation of design professionals. Most of the universities used models to assess landscape performance that included interlocking or permeable interlocking concrete pavement. These models present a resource for ICPI members in improving the positioning of their paving systems to landscape architects, who in turn must inform project owners of conventional interlocking or permeable paver benefits.
The projects hold potential to impact educators in developing learning tools for teaching landscape architecture students how to measure segmental concrete pavement performance, the ICPI Foundation notes, adding that landscape architects’ clients are demanding such measurement and counting on universities to train students accordingly.
During its annual meeting, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers board elected 2015 officers: Chairman, John Patterson, chairman of JCB USA Group; Vice Chair, Leif Magnusson, president, CLAAS of America; Treasurer, Göran Lindgren, president, Americas Sales Region, Volvo Construction Equipment; Construction Equipment Sector Chairman, Michael Haberman, president, Gradall Industries Inc.; and, Secretary, Dennis Slater, AEM staff president.