News Detail

ACI's New Honorary Members

3/13/2023

ACI will bestow its highest honor – ACI Honorary Membership – on the following individuals at the ACI Concrete Convention April 2-6, 2023:

• Claude Bédard
• Ramón L. Carrasquillo
• David W. Johnston
• Zongjin Li
• Jack P. Moehle
• Sharon L. Wood

According to ACI’s Bylaws, “An Honorary Member shall be a person of eminence in the field of the Institute's interest or one who has performed extraordinary meritorious service to the Institute.” 

ACI is grateful to all its Honorary Members for their extraordinary contributions. Their dedication, leadership, and service to the Institute provide the backbone for continuous advancement within ACI and throughout the greater concrete community.

Claude Bédard

Claude Bédard receives Honorary Membership “for his impact as a dynamic ACI ambassador, his dedication and commitment to improving relations between industry and academic researchers, and for his central role in the chairing and success of the Strategic Development Council”

Claude Bédard, FACI, retired from The Euclid Chemical Company, Cleveland, OH, USA, where he served as President of Euclid Admixture Canada Inc., Saint-Hubert, QC, Canada, from 1995 to 2021, and as the Global Admixtures Business Development and Marketing Vice President from 2016 to 2021. He has been active in the concrete industry for more than 40 years and currently is Strategic Consultant for The Euclid Chemical Company and an Ambassador for the Centre for Research on Concrete Infrastructures (CRIB), the Québec, Canada-based academic network. 

He is a former Trustee and Chair of the ACI Foundation, past Chair of the ACI Foundation Strategic Development Council (SDC), and a two-time Past President of the ACI Québec and Eastern Ontario Chapter. Bédard is a member of ACI Committee 237, Self-Consolidating Concrete, the ACI Foundation Concrete Innovation Council (CIC) and Concrete Research Council (CRC), and past Chair and a member of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Group technical committee TC A23.1/A23.2, Concrete Specification. He served as a member of the Board of Direction of ACI, CSA Group, and the Standards Council of Canada. He is also a past member of ACI Committees 212, Chemical Admixtures; 225, Hydraulic Cements; and 363, High-Strength Concrete.

Bédard received the 2021 ACI Foundation Concrete Innovation Council Jean-Claude Roumain Innovation in Concrete Award “for life-long contributions to innovations in concrete applications as an early adopter and implementation facilitator”; the 2015 ACI Henry C. Turner Medal “for notable leadership as Chair and Board Member of the Strategic Development Council and Chair of the ACI Foundation, and for outstanding leadership to the concrete industry”; the 2014 ACI Québec and Eastern Ontario Chapter ACI Chapter Recognition Award “for life-long services to the Chapter”; the 2012 ACI Henry L. Kennedy Award and the ACI 10th International Conference on Superplasticizers and Other Chemical Admixtures in Concrete Award; the 2010 Québec RD-Mix Ambassador Award; and the 2002 CSA Award of Merit. He was elected a Fellow of ACI in 2008.

His research interests include chemical admixtures and fibers and their use in high-performance concrete applications.

Ramón L. Carrasquillo

Ramón L. Carrasquillo receives Honorary Membership “for his outstanding contributions to the concrete industry, his impact on ACI as an international ambassador, and his enthusiastic sharing of knowledge in technical committees”

Ramón L. Carrasquillo, FACI, is the Founder and President of Carrasquillo Associates (CA). He is recognized worldwide for his expertise in concrete materials, construction, and structural engineering. He has completed more than 500 consulting assignments ranging from product developments, materials, and production of concrete to durability, specifications, structural design, construction practices, failure analyses, and repair and rehabilitation of existing structures. He is also the President of Carrasquillo Engineering Services Group, PSC, in Puerto Rico, and Carrasquillo Engineering and Structural Repair Services, LLC, in Panamá.

Carrasquillo is a member of ACI Committees 201, Durability of Concrete; 211, Proportioning Concrete Mixtures; 232, Fly Ash and Bottom Ash in Concrete; 301, Specifications for Concrete Construction; 318, Structural Concrete Building Code; and ACI Subcommittee 318-S, Spanish Translation. He received the 2017 ACI Education Award, the 2014 ACI Henry C. Turner Medal, and the 2015 ACI Foundation Concrete Research Council (CRC) Robert E. Philleo Award. He has also been a member of ASTM Committee C09, Concrete and Concrete Aggregates, and is a member of the Puerto Rico Academy of Engineering.

He was a Professor and Researcher at The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA, for 22 years. From 1980 to 2002, he was the Associate Director of the International Center for Aggregates Research. In addition, he was the Founder and President of Rainbow Materials, Inc., a ready mixed concrete company that operated in the central Texas market from 1994 until 2004. He has authored more than 100 academic publications and reports and has given over 400 technical presentations.

Carrasquillo received his BS in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1975, and his MS and PhD in structural engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA, in 1978 and 1980, respectively.

David W. Johnston

David W. Johnston receives Honorary Membership “for his dedication to students of concrete construction, his commitment to ACI committee work related to reinforcement detailing and design loads, and his contribution to the 2014 edition of ACI SP-4 Formwork for Concrete”

David W. Johnston, FACI, is the Edward I. Weisiger Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Construction Engineering at North Carolina State University (NC State), Raleigh, NC, USA. He was an engineer and partner in consulting firms in the Connecticut/New York area for 7 years prior to joining the NC State faculty in 1977. He retired in 2011, however, he has remained active in professional organization service and as a consultant.

His teaching and research focused on design for construction processes and maintenance management of civil structures. Among his diverse contributions to knowledge have been maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement decision support systems for large inventories of bridges and buildings; lateral pressure of concrete on formwork; design of temporary structures for construction; bond of epoxy-coated reinforcement; and the linear scheduling method.

He is the past Chair of ACI Committee 215, Fatigue of Concrete, and the ACI Technical Activities Committee (TAC) Specifications Committee, and Past President of the ACI Carolinas Chapter. He is a member and past Chair of ACI Committee 347, Formwork for Concrete, and a member of Joint ACI-CRSI Committee 315, Details of Concrete Reinforcement. He served on the ACI TAC from 2003 until 2009.

Johnston is the author of the eighth edition of ACI SP-4, Formwork for Concrete, building on the earlier editions by Mary K. Hurd. The eighth edition of ACI SP-4 received a World of Concrete Most Innovative Product Award.

He received the 2003 ACI Delmar L. Bloem Distinguished Service Award and the 1994 ACI Construction Practice Award. He was named a Fellow of ACI and an American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Fellow, both in 1983. He received the 2013 ASCE Roebling Award, the 2019 National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) Distinguished Examination Service Award, and was inducted into the National Academy of Construction in 2015.

Johnston received his BS in civil engineering construction option in 1966, his MS in civil engineering in 1968, and his PhD in civil engineering in 1972, all from NC State. He has been a licensed professional engineer since 1973.

Zongjin Li

Zongjin Li receives Honorary Membership “for his leadership and contributions to the founding of the ACI China Chapter, his pioneering research of noncontact test methods for cement-based materials, and other innovations in research for over 30 years”

Zongjin Li, FACI, is a Chair Professor in the Faculty of Innovation Engineering at Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), Taipa, Macau, China. He served about 6 years at the University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, as a Chair Professor before joining MUST. He also worked at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, for 22.5 years. He is a world-renowned educator and researcher with a strong impact on the concrete community and is respected for strengthening United States-China relationships over many years. He is a Fellow of ACI, Founding President of the ACI China Chapter, and Chair of the China National Group of the International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures (RILEM).

He is also a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) technical committee ISO/TC 71, Concrete, Reinforced Concrete and Pre-stressed Concrete; the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (2007 to present); the State Key Advanced Civil Engineering Materials Laboratory (2009 to present); and the State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials in China (2011 to present). Li was also a member of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Materials Division (1998 to 2005); the Academic Committee of the State Key Concrete Laboratory in China (2001 to 2004); the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib) Working Group for Fire Design of Concrete Structures (2002 to 2010); the Hong Kong Standing Committee on Concrete Technology (2004 to 2010); the State Key Green Building Materials Laboratory (2007 to 2010); and the Hong Kong SAR (HKSAR) Buildings Appeal Tribunal Panel (2009 to 2016).

Li was Chief Scientist leading a China Key National Basic Research Program project (973 Program) titled “Basic Study on Environmentally Friendly Contemporary Concrete” that promoted concrete research in China to a world-class level. He led the reestablishment of the Gordon Research Conference on “Advanced Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure Development” in 2014. He is an author of five technical books, including Advanced Concrete Technology. Li has published more than 400 papers and has a Google Scholar citation of 22811 with an h-index of 84. He was one of the 150 most-cited researchers in civil engineering in the world in 2016 (“The Most Cited Researchers: Developed for Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2016” by Elsevier).

He received the 2017 ACI Arthur R. Anderson Medal and the 2014 Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering. Li has received four second-class Awards of Natural Science at the provincial level, including the study on the design theory, processing technique, and forming mechanism of geopolymer structural materials, and the second-class Award of Natural Science from the Ministry of Education of China in 2010. 

He received his BE in structural engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, in 1982, and his MS and PhD in structural engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA, in 1990 and 1993, respectively. He is a licensed professional engineer in Hong Kong, China.

Jack P. Moehle

Jack P. Moehle receives Honorary Membership “for his tireless efforts and extraordinary leadership on behalf of ACI, and for his vision of expanding the outreach of ACI through chapter and international activities”

Jack P. Moehle, FACI, is a Professor in the Graduate School in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA, where he has taught since 1980.

Moehle has served on the ACI Board of Direction and is a member of ACI Committee 318, Structural Concrete Building Code; Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 352, Joints and Connections in Monolithic Concrete Structures; and ACI Subcommittees 318-E, Section and Member Strength; 318-H, Seismic Provisions; and 318-R, Resolution of Anchorage and Development Provisions.

He is a Fellow of ACI and received the 2019 ACI Joe W. Kelly Award, the 2008 ACI Foundation Concrete Research Council Arthur J. Boase Award, the 2007 ACI Chester Paul Siess Award for Excellence in Structural Research, the 2001 ACI Delmar L. Bloem Distinguished Service Award, and the 1998 ACI Alfred E. Lindau Award.

His research interests include structural engineering, with an emphasis on reinforced concrete and earthquake engineering. A licensed civil engineer in California, Moehle works regularly as a consulting engineer, offering advice and expert peer review on building, transportation, and infrastructure projects.

Sharon L. Wood

Sharon L. Wood receives Honorary Membership “for her leadership as ACI President in 2015, her technical expertise in service to ACI committees, and her advocacy for diversity in ACI and in civil engineering education around the world”

Sharon L. Wood, FACI, is the Executive Vice President and Provost at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), Austin, TX, USA. As the university’s chief academic officer, she oversees academic programs across 18 schools and colleges. Her previous administrative roles at UT Austin include Dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering; Chair of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering; and Director of the Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory. She joined the faculty at UT Austin in 1996 and holds the Cockrell Family Chair in Engineering #14. As a researcher, she has been internationally recognized for her work on improving the earthquake response of reinforced concrete buildings, design and evaluation of bridges, and development of passive sensors for infrastructure systems.

Wood is an ACI Past President, past Chair of the ACI Technical Activities Committee (TAC), and a former member of ACI Committee 318, Structural Concrete Building Code. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, an Honorary Member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Fellow. 
She received the 2006 ACI Henry L. Kennedy Award, the 2002 ACI Joe W. Kelly Award, and the 1998 ACI Foundation Concrete Research Council Arthur J. Boase Award. Wood was recognized with an Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA, in 2020; the Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA, and the Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Award in Education from ASCE in 2018; and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia in 2015. She previously served on federal advisory committees for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Wood began her academic career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she served on the faculty for 10 years. She received her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Virginia and her master’s degree and doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

View all ACI Honorary Members.

Learn more about ACI’s Honors and Awards.