News Detail

Planting Seeds for the Best Harvest

6/1/2005

I've just returned from the ACI Convention in New York City. It was a well-run affair with lots of fun and plenty of opportunities to learn. Our convention staff, which is augmented by other ACI staff at every convention, did a superb job. I have attended most of the conventions for the last 32 years and always learn something new at each one. It is a great way to stay abreast of what is happening not only at ACI, but also in the whole design and construction industry. We had an attendance of over 1400 industry professionals and their guests, including many from other countries.

One of my goals is to expand ACI's Student Fellowship Program, which was started under Past President Dan Baker's leadership. ACI chose to "soft pedal" the fund-raising for this program for the last 24 months so that potential donors would not be confused by fund-raising activities for ACI's Centennial Celebration. Now that the Centennial Celebration, which was very successful, is behind us, we need to refocus on the continuing funding requirements of this program.

The fellowships are very meaningful to students and include a $10,000 grant annually, plus other benefits including expenses associated with convention attendance for two ACI conventions. Many of you are aware that investment returns in recent years for conservative portfolios such as a fund like this have not been strong. Consequently, if we are to continue to offer these fellowships, we must "prime the pump."

This year in New York, three new ACI Student Fellowships for the 2005-2006 year were awarded. The awardees are Lisa Feldman from the University of Western Ontario, Mathew Tyler Ley from The University of Texas at Austin, and Jeffrey Volz from The Pennsylvania State University (click here for more information on the recipients). As Dan Baker says, these are three of the "best and the brightest," and we congratulate them.

These three "winners" were selected from seven interviewees who were all in New York. The seven finalists were selected from a list of 32 candidates. The number of qualified candidates has increased each year since the program's inception. Of interest to many of you would be that by no means are all of the candidates PhD students. Many of them intend to enter the workforce either in consulting engineering or contracting.

Many ACI members have already contributed to the Cornerstone for Leadership Campaign. Those of us who have are proud of the accomplishments of the program to date. We have contributions from our chapters, corporate members, and individuals.

Every month, there is a page in CI devoted to a listing of those who have given to the Campaign. Generally speaking, these are the leaders in ACI. Don't you think that you should be included?

If you have already contributed and are pleased with the results to date, perhaps you can give some more. The future of ACI depends on the 'best and the brightest' entering the field of concrete. We will be successful in the future if we keep the young folks such as the awardees in our industry. If you want a fellowship in your name or your company's name, it is possible. Education is a major part of ACI's mission. If we, as members, don't take advantage of the opportunity, it is our fault. In addition to the scholarships and fellowships, ACI has a major seminar program and a large number of technical sessions at each convention. This, of course, is all in addition to the Journals and CI. Our Manual of Concrete Practice(MCP) has grown to six volumes and contains, on an annual basis, essentially all of the current technical publications of the Institute.

In closing, I would like to remind all of you that we never stop learning. For our industry and ACI to remain viable, we need to maintain an abundant supply of the "best and the brightest" in all sectors of the business of designing and constructing concrete structures. Obviously, that also includes the best teachers and researchers.

One way to assure ourselves that we have done our part is to support ACI's Student Fellowship program as a way to keep young people interested in the Institute. This will help to give us the experts for the future who will be the leaders when this generation no longer provides that expertise.

James R. Cagley, President
American Concrete Institute
jim@cagley.com

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