NRMCA Selects Speakers for 2012 International Concrete Sustainability Conference

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Speakers have been selected for the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s 7th annual International Concrete Sustainability Conference to be held May 7-10 in Seattle. Over 60 world-renowned experts will present the latest developments related to design, specifying, manufacturing, testing, construction, maintenance and research of concrete as it relates to sustainability.

Keynote speakers for the plenary sessions include:

  • Denis Hayes, president and CEO of Bullitt Foundation, founder of Earth Day and honorary chairman of the Earth Day Network, will present a comprehensive and visionary view of sustainability coupled with building industry leadership demonstrated by the zero-carbon Cascadia Center in Seattle.
  • 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, will discuss model-based life-cycle assessment for sustainable engineering design.
  • Dr. Michael Lepech, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, will explore “bendable concrete”, a new class of high performance fiber reinforced concrete that exhibits mechanical properties similar to ductile metals.

Examples of topics and speakers presenting during concurrent technical sessions include:

Life Cycle Assessment

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

Low Impact Development

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

Green Concrete

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

Sustainability Initiatives

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

Functional Resilience

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

A complete list of speakers and additional details about the conference is available online at www.concretesustainabilityconference.org. The conference provides learning and networking opportunities on the latest advances, technical knowledge, continuing research, tools and solutions for sustainable concrete manufacturing and construction. This year’s conference will take place at the Seattle Renaissance Hotel and the University of Washington campus.

NRMCA, based in Silver Spring, MD, represents the producers of ready mixed concrete and the companies that provide materials, equipment and support to the industry. It conducts education, training, promotion, research, engineering, safety, environmental, technological, lobbying and regulatory programs.

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