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2020 Developing Industry Leaders Announce Research Topics

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Each year, the Developing Industry Leaders (DIL) groups research a committee-related industry challenge, look for solutions and present their work to the relevant NRMCA committee. This year’s cohort of 20 will delve into the following:

Government Affairs: Green vs. Gray Infrastructure. This DIL group will explore and research natural infrastructure. Specifically, it will define what a natural infrastructure is, how it can supplant concrete, where else it might be a threat to the industry, and whether concrete and natural infrastructure can work together. The group will work with Andrew Tyrrell, executive vice president government and political affairs, and Taylor Drzewicki, director of government and political affairs.

Promotion/Build With Strength: Concrete Promotion through Design Assistance. The DIL team will explore projects in its local markets that present an opportunity to discuss with engineers and developers the benefits of utilizing concrete as the primary building material over wood or steel. To coordinate with the NRMCA Build With Strength Design Center, the group will work with Douglas O’Neill, LEED AP, senior director, building innovations.

Promotion/Pave Ahead: From Promotion to Pocket - Utilizing Social Media to Pave Ahead. The group will assess Pave Ahead's social media presence and offer suggestions how to build upon its existing platforms. It will provide case studies that model its approach and illustrate strategies that could be successful. The group will work with Phil Kresge, senior vice president, local paving, and Luke McHugh, P.E., senior director, local paving.

Promotion/Sustainability: Green Concrete – How to Reduce Carbon Footprint of a Building. The group will help demonstrate ways to reduce embodied carbon in various concrete mixes in a low-mid rise building project. The team is specifically comparing NRMCA industry-wide EPD baseline mixes in the Great Lakes Region to reduced carbon mixes on a whole building basis using two different embodied carbon calculation tools. The group will work with James Bogdan, LEED AP, QEP, senior director, sustainability initiatives.

Research Engineering & Standards: Sustainability in Concrete: Reducing Environmental Impact through Benchmarking and Alternatives. The team will research the future of sustainability in concrete using CO2, SCM's, Eco Cem's and admixtures as tools to reduce the ready mixed concrete industry’s environmental impact while still delivering quality concrete. Challenges on this topic are producing consistent mixes that customers feel comfortable using as well as being able to source and manage an increased number of materials for different applications. It will attempt to determine a baseline environmental impact of our standard mixes and quantify the lesser environmental impact of designing mixes using the aforementioned sustainable options. The group will work under the guidance of Colin Lobo, Ph.D., P.E., executive vice president, engineering.

Safety, Enviromental, & Operations: Techworld in Concrete: How Electronic Communications are Evolving in Ready Mix. This DIL group will follow the customer and producer experience when ordering, dispatching, placing and billing a load of concrete as impacted by new technology in the process, It will also look at future developments and their possible impact. The group will work with Gary Mullings, executive vice president, compliance and operations, and Kevin Walgenbach, senior vice president, compliance and regulatory affairs.

For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org.

 

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