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Home > News and Events > News > News Detail
4/10/2025
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New chairs have been announced for the ACI Foundation’s Concrete Innovation Council, Concrete Research Council, and Scholarship Council. Lesley S.C. Ko, chair of the Concrete Innovation Council. Ko serves as the Director for Cementitious and Sustainable Materials at Structural Technologies LLC, a part of Structural Group Inc. that is the largest concrete repair and maintenance provider in the US. Previously, she held a manager position for Product Development at Master Builders Solutions Admixture US, LLC, and worked as the head of Novel Cements and Binders at Holcim Technology Ltd., Switzerland. Ko has over 25 years’ experience in leading innovation, product development and commercialization of construction materials; implementing strategic and innovative solutions to minimize environmental impacts and promoting preservation and service life extension in concrete construction. She is an author/co-author of multiple patents and publications for non-Portland Cement and Concrete development and applications. Ko serves as a member of ACI 242, alternative cements, ACI 564, 3-D Printing with Cementitious Materials; ASTM C09.23, Chemical Admixtures; and C01.14, Non-hydraulic Cements. Jacob Henschen, chair of the Concrete Research Council. Henschen is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, he was an Assistant Professor at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a focus on beneficial uses of recycled concrete as an aggregate. Henschen maintains active involvement in several ACI committees as well as advising the University of Illinois student competition teams. He is the chair of ACI Committee 123: Research and Current Developments, and the co-chair for S-802: Teaching Methods and Materials. He is an active member of ACI 444: Structural Health Monitoring and ACI 555: Recycled Materials. His research interests have expanded to include rheology and performance of 3D printed concrete and developing smart technologies for precast concrete members. He incorporates his research in the classroom through a design competition where students design, and test 3D print concrete structures. He developed a course covering engineering instrumentation and experimental design to support new graduate student researchers, and he oversees the first-year project-based introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering courses where students study and propose engineering solutions to challenges on campus. In support of his teaching, Henschen has worked to develop Virtual Reality modules that reinforce spatial reasoning in structural analysis courses. He has also developed a near-peer mentoring framework that has shown to improve sense of belonging and identity as an engineer for both the mentees and mentors. Heather J. Brown, FACI, chair of the Scholarship Council. Brown is the Vice President of Quality for Irving Materials, Inc. (IMI) which operates in IN, OH, IL, KY, and TN with divisions in ready mix concrete, aggregates, asphalt, soil stabilization and heavy civil construction. She is charged with incorporating current technology and emerging materials into quality control testing and providing optimized mix designs for durable and sustainable infrastructure. Prior to IMI, Brown spent 20 years as a Professor in the School of Concrete and Construction Management at Middle Tennessee State University. She directed a one-of-a-kind degree in Concrete Industry Management, which is the flagship program of only five in the country located in TN, NJ, CA, TX, and SD. She is a Fellow of ACI and has served on committees since 1999. She was inducted into the Tennessee Concrete Hall of Fame in 2019 and was a past recipient of the ACI Walter P. Moore Award, ACI Joe W. Kelly Award and Concrete Construction Most Influential Person. Visit acifoundation.org to learn more. ### For more information, contact: stacey.mccann@acifoundation.org Marketing Manager p +1.248.848.3758 ACI Foundation | Building the Future acifoundation.org The ACI Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports a wide range of research and educational initiatives that contribute to keeping the concrete industry at the forefront of technological advances in material composition, design, and construction. We engage with industry partners, invest in students and research, share knowledge, and provide programs to encourage innovation and new technology. The American Concrete Institute established the ACI Foundation in 1989 to promote progress, innovation, and collaboration in the industry. ###
New chairs have been announced for the ACI Foundation’s Concrete Innovation Council, Concrete Research Council, and Scholarship Council.
Lesley S.C. Ko, chair of the Concrete Innovation Council. Ko serves as the Director for Cementitious and Sustainable Materials at Structural Technologies LLC, a part of Structural Group Inc. that is the largest concrete repair and maintenance provider in the US. Previously, she held a manager position for Product Development at Master Builders Solutions Admixture US, LLC, and worked as the head of Novel Cements and Binders at Holcim Technology Ltd., Switzerland.
Ko has over 25 years’ experience in leading innovation, product development and commercialization of construction materials; implementing strategic and innovative solutions to minimize environmental impacts and promoting preservation and service life extension in concrete construction.
She is an author/co-author of multiple patents and publications for non-Portland Cement and Concrete development and applications. Ko serves as a member of ACI 242, alternative cements, ACI 564, 3-D Printing with Cementitious Materials; ASTM C09.23, Chemical Admixtures; and C01.14, Non-hydraulic Cements.
Jacob Henschen, chair of the Concrete Research Council. Henschen is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, he was an Assistant Professor at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a focus on beneficial uses of recycled concrete as an aggregate.
Henschen maintains active involvement in several ACI committees as well as advising the University of Illinois student competition teams. He is the chair of ACI Committee 123: Research and Current Developments, and the co-chair for S-802: Teaching Methods and Materials. He is an active member of ACI 444: Structural Health Monitoring and ACI 555: Recycled Materials.
His research interests have expanded to include rheology and performance of 3D printed concrete and developing smart technologies for precast concrete members. He incorporates his research in the classroom through a design competition where students design, and test 3D print concrete structures. He developed a course covering engineering instrumentation and experimental design to support new graduate student researchers, and he oversees the first-year project-based introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering courses where students study and propose engineering solutions to challenges on campus.
In support of his teaching, Henschen has worked to develop Virtual Reality modules that reinforce spatial reasoning in structural analysis courses. He has also developed a near-peer mentoring framework that has shown to improve sense of belonging and identity as an engineer for both the mentees and mentors.
Heather J. Brown, FACI, chair of the Scholarship Council. Brown is the Vice President of Quality for Irving Materials, Inc. (IMI) which operates in IN, OH, IL, KY, and TN with divisions in ready mix concrete, aggregates, asphalt, soil stabilization and heavy civil construction. She is charged with incorporating current technology and emerging materials into quality control testing and providing optimized mix designs for durable and sustainable infrastructure.
Prior to IMI, Brown spent 20 years as a Professor in the School of Concrete and Construction Management at Middle Tennessee State University. She directed a one-of-a-kind degree in Concrete Industry Management, which is the flagship program of only five in the country located in TN, NJ, CA, TX, and SD.
She is a Fellow of ACI and has served on committees since 1999. She was inducted into the Tennessee Concrete Hall of Fame in 2019 and was a past recipient of the ACI Walter P. Moore Award, ACI Joe W. Kelly Award and Concrete Construction Most Influential Person.
Visit acifoundation.org to learn more.
###
For more information, contact:
stacey.mccann@acifoundation.org Marketing Manager p +1.248.848.3758 ACI Foundation | Building the Future acifoundation.org
The ACI Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports a wide range of research and educational initiatives that contribute to keeping the concrete industry at the forefront of technological advances in material composition, design, and construction. We engage with industry partners, invest in students and research, share knowledge, and provide programs to encourage innovation and new technology. The American Concrete Institute established the ACI Foundation in 1989 to promote progress, innovation, and collaboration in the industry.
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