News Detail

Following the ACI Tradition

5/1/2008

First, I want to thank all of you for electing me ACI President. This reaffirms the "International" in "ACI International" because for the first time ACI's President is not an American or Canadian citizen. We've had several Presidents who were born overseas and later became U.S. or Canadian citizens, a distinguished list that includes Emery Farkas, Ignacio Martín, Peter Smith, and Paul Zia. It's an honor for me to follow Ignacio Martín and Pepe Izquierdo as ACI Presidents with ties to Latin America.

I first heard of ACI from my father, a civil engineer who graduated in 1936 and was trained in reinforced concrete using the "Joint Committee" requirements, the forerunner of ACI 318. My father's interest in reinforced concrete design and construction had a great influence on me and my brother Jorge, who is also a civil engineer. My first formal introduction to reinforced concrete was at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, during a very thorough 5-year civil engineering program. The "law of the land" presented by Professor Alberto Sarria in my first undergraduate reinforced concrete course was ACI 318-63. It was a "love at first sight affair" that has lasted 40 years. My impression of excellence linked with the American Concrete Institute has never changed.

The love affair took me to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for graduate studies in the spring of 1971. How fortunate for me because ACI 318-71 had just been published. The 1971 code was a total overhaul of ACI 318, and it was discussed in courses by Chet Siess, Mete Sözen, and Bill Gamble. They certainly deepened my interest in concrete that spring, but the most important message transcribed from their lectures was that the Code is just a tool to keep the "rascals and incompetent at bay," as Chet used to say, and engineering judgment was what made engineers great. At the insistence of Chet Siess, I joined ACI. I have never regretted it.

After returning to Colombia, developing my career as a designer and teacher, the lessons on judgment from my peers at the University of Illinois were always there. That, along with the values of ACI, helped me in leading the Colombian engineering community to have the Colombian government adopt the first national mandatory building code in 1984. The Colombian code-developing group has a committee structure and consensus procedures that are a reflection of ACI procedures.

When Jack Breen made me a member of two ACI Committee 318 subcommittees in 1983, and later a full voting member of the Committee in 1985, my view of the ACI Code and of ACI as a whole broadened. I felt my responsibility was to be a facilitator of technology transfer to help bridge concerns when standards developed for one environment are used elsewhere. I have tried to stay true to that duty. It has been a privilege to fulfill that responsibility by working on ACI document IPS-1, "Essential Requirements for Reinforced Concrete Buildings," and the official Spanish translations of the 2005 and 2008 ACI 318.

Many avenues of opportunity exist for ACI to advance its goals. The Institute is in a very secure financial situation. There will not be any concerns as we keep on doing what we know best: furthering concrete knowledge. The road ahead will be charted from previous decisions that have brought the Institute to where it is now. The Strategic Plan was recently updated to adjust our near-future goals. Prominent among these objectives is ACI's support of efforts to use concrete in sustainable ways. An in-depth reorganization of ACI 318 was started at the ACI 2008 Spring Convention in Los Angeles. This will take several years and we will be seeing the results of this project in the 2014 edition of the ACI Code.

On the international front, we need to increase interaction with international members to encourage membership on appropriate ACI committees, cooperate with code-writing bodies worldwide to generate feedback regarding use of ACI standards, and continue ACI's involvement in concrete standards development worldwide. The success of the official translation of ACI 318 into Spanish in 2005 will be reflected in the publication of ACI 318S-08 this month. An official Spanish translation of ACI 301-05 will be sent to the printer soon. ACI has signed agreements in several Latin American countries for the local printing of these documents.

To conclude, let me again express my gratitude for the great honor you have conferred on me. I will be counting on your continuous efforts to take ACI to new heights. I'm sure this will be a very exciting year!

Luis E. García
American Concrete Institute

Back to Memo List