The University of Missouri-Rolla was more than successful at this fall’s annual American Concrete Institute conference, held Nov. 7-9 in Kansas City, Mo. In addition to receiving numerous awards, UMR helped reorganize the national conference, which was relocated from New Orleans to Kansas City after the damage from Hurricane Katrina.
Dr. Abdeldjelil Belarbi, Curators’ Teaching Professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering, and Dr. Antonio Nanni, the Vernon and Maralee Jones Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, were honored with Outstanding Chapter Activities awards. Dr. John Myers, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering, was elected to receive the Walter P. Moore Jr. Faculty Achievement Award. All three awards will be presented at the ACI spring conference March 26, 2006, in Charlotte, N.C.
The ACI award committee gave the Walter P. Moore Jr. Faculty Achievement Award to Myers for his “dedication to excellence and innovation in education in the field of concrete design, materials and construction,” according to William R. Tolley, executive vice president of ACI.
The award honors the late Walter P. Moore Jr., an ACI Fellow, former ACI board member, and structural engineer and educator in Texas. The award recipient must have taught an undergraduate level course related to concrete structural design, concrete materials, or concrete construction; served as a faculty member for seven years or less; be a member of ACI, and show evidence of technical competence, high character and integrity.
“This is a splendid recognition for Dr. Myers,” says UMR alum and Myers’ former student Dr. Mahmut Ekenel, a senior evaluation specialist with International Code Council. “While UMR students and alumni have been a leading group at ACI conventions in recent years, Kansas City’s conference was especially outstanding, with at least one UMR student or alum represented at almost every committee meeting and session.”
The success of the conference’s committee meetings and sessions were partially due to planning by Dr. Dave Richardson, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering. “My involvement with the convention centered on planning and execution,” Richardson says. “The biggest impression I had was how seamless the transition from New Orleans appeared. Usually, the local chapter has four years to plan and organize a national convention. When the hurricane hit New Orleans, Kansas City was chosen as the replacement, with only nine weeks until the conference was scheduled. The chapter board and members worked hard to make it happen, and as usual, the opening reception, concrete mixer and exhibitor area went well. Everybody did an outstanding job.”