On May 9, NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Frank Mruk attended the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub Spring Advisory meeting (seen here) along with his colleague Brian Killingsworth and representatives from ACPA, CEMEX, the Concrete Advancement Foundation, Heidelberg, Holcim, Sika, Summit Materials and others. Randy Kirchain, Hessam AzariJafari and Andrew Laurent hosted the meeting which reviewed and discussed strategies for realizing lower-carbon concrete at scale; designing sustainable structures and climate friendly communities; concrete as an enabler of low carbon technology; building world-class infrastructure with finite resources and creating cities that are resilient to the impacts of extreme heat and natural hazards.
Highlights included MIT professor Caitlin Mueller from the school of architecture who showcased her research on optimizing low cost, low carbon concrete structures; MIT professor Franz Josef Ulm who showcased his work using carbon black cement as an energy storage device (battery) and Randy Kirchain who presented new carbon uptake acceleration strategies. The day ended with a poster reception showcasing student research.
The MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) is a dedicated interdisciplinary team of researchers from several departments across MIT working on concrete and infrastructure science, engineering and economics since 2009. The Hub brings together leaders from academia, industry and government to develop breakthroughs using a holistic approach that works to achieve durable and sustainable homes, buildings and infrastructure in ever more demanding environments.
The Build With Strength program is a leader in supporting innovators discovering new pathways for high-performance concrete. For more information, contact Frank Mruk at fmruk@nrmca.org.
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association