News Detail

Expediting Technology Acceptance

5/3/2022

I’m truly honored and blessed to be the next ACI President—and for history buffs, the 99th and the first from the continent of Africa and, specifically, Ghana. I sincerely appreciate the trust that has been placed in me by the membership, and I humbly pledge to continue and build upon the excellent leadership provided by my immediate predecessors, Past Presidents Cary Kopczynski and Jeff Coleman, the “COVID-19-era Presidents.” With the rapidly diminishing number of new cases, hopefully, I’ll be the last in this era.

I studied civil engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, and came to the United States in 1981 for my MS and PhD degrees, also in civil engineering, from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA, and Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA, respectively. My ACI journey started in September 1983 when I attended the Fall ACI Concrete Convention in Kansas City, MO, USA, my first, courtesy of Past President David Darwin, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for giving me the opportunity to study in the United States on a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. I joined Master Builders Solutions, then Master Builders, Inc., as a research engineer in early 1987 after receiving my PhD, and became an ACI member shortly thereafter.

I’ve been with the Admixtures division of Master Builders Solutions for over 30 years, and one of my current responsibilities is providing technical leadership and strategic guidance in the marketing of admixtures and high-performance concrete technologies. As a result, I’m actively involved in technology transfer activities for innovative products and concrete technologies offered by the company.

As exciting as it is to present new technologies to the industry through various events, including ACI convention technical sessions, local ACI chapter meetings, lunch-and-learns for design professionals, and whole-day seminars and conferences, I’ve also experienced firsthand the challenges of trying to expedite the acceptance of new technologies in the concrete industry. For example, new chemical admixtures that fall outside the established classifications of water reducers, retarders, accelerators, and air entrainers become a “concept sell.” The construction industry is conservative and slow to adopt new technologies, sometimes for good reason. Is the new technology proven, and has it been properly evaluated not only by the manufacturer but by independent accredited third-party laboratories? Anyone who’s been in the industry long enough can probably attest to technologies that didn’t live up to claims made by their manufacturers! These experiences shouldn’t disadvantage innovative technologies that truly provide benefit in concrete construction, however, and it shouldn’t take decades before such technologies gain widespread acceptance and use.

ACI is respected globally for its documents because they are developed through a consensus process. Traditionally, apart from ACI 318, which must meet International Code Council (ICC) code development cycle deadlines, and committees with dynamic leadership and enthusiastic volunteers, this process has not lent itself to the timely development of documents. This relatively slow process is not unique to ACI; it also exists within other organizations that develop consensus-based documents. With the growing focus on reducing the carbon footprint of all human activities, however, we have entered an era where owners and design professionals are urgently seeking such solutions for their concrete projects.

Because many potential solutions are either not yet written in the documents or fully proven, expediting the acceptance and use of qualified new technologies for the built environment is one of the primary objectives of my presidency. Note that I’ve placed a strong emphasis on “qualified,” and although I’ve alluded to new “products” and “technologies,” those terms can also refer to things such as analysis techniques, design procedures, or construction methods. This objective dovetails very nicely with recent initiatives undertaken by the Institute—the reorganization of the ACI Foundation Strategic Development Council (SDC) into the new Concrete Innovation Council (CIC); the appointment of Rex Donahey, a fellow Kansas grad, as the Director of Innovative Concrete Technology; and the two ACI Centers of Excellence for Nonmetallic Building Materials (NEx) and Carbon Neutral Concrete (NEU).

Through a collaborative effort, ACI will build upon its leadership as the premier source for concrete knowledge by taking the lead to facilitate the use of qualified technologies, existing or emerging, for the concrete industry. ACI is embarking on a bold new direction, and I’m truly honored to be President of the Institute at this juncture. Stay tuned!

Charles K. Nmai