ACI Foundation Celebrates New Trustees and Re-Election of an Existing Trustee

The ACI Foundation announced new Trustees and the re-election of an existing Trustee to its Board. The Trustees re-elected Keith E. Kesner and elected new Trustee David A. Lange. New ACI Vice President, Scott M. Anderson, also joins the Trustees as part of his new role. The ACI Foundation is honored to have these outstanding individuals continue the work of the ACI Foundation. They join Khaled Awad, Jeffrey Coleman (Chair), Robert Frosch, Frederick Grubbe, Maria Juenger, Brett McMahon, and William Rushing Jr. on the ACI Foundation Board of Trustees.

Keith E. Kesner, FACI, is a Project Director with Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, New York, NY, USA. He is currently leading project teams in the evaluation of existing structures and also leading Simpson Gumpertz & Heger’s new location in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Kesner is a structural engineer with over 25 years of professional experience. His specialties include evaluation of existing structures, nondestructive testing, corrosion evaluation, and repair/rehabilitation design. Kesner has received numerous awards for his contribution to the engineering profession, including the 2023 ACI Henry C. Turner Medal, the 2021 ACI Henry L. Kennedy Award, and the 2020 ACI Delmar L. Bloem Distinguished Service Award for contributions to the development of building codes for existing structures. He was previously awarded the ACI Young Member Award for Professional Achievement and co-awarded the ACI Construction Practice Award.

An active participant in industry organizations, Kesner is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI). He has authored/co-authored over 125 publications and presentations on a variety of structural engineering topics. He is a licensed professional engineer and structural engineer in several states. He received his BSE from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA, and his MS and PhD from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

David A. Lange, FACI, is Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Urbana, IL, USA. He also holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA. He joined the faculty at UIUC in 1992 and served as Associate Department Head for CEE from 2004 to 2010.

He was Director of the Center of Excellence for Airport Technology for 15 years and developed an effective partnership with the Chicago Department of Aviation and the O’Hare International Airport. Lange is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society. He received a J. William Fulbright Scholar Award in 2013, which supported a 6-month collaboration at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

A long-time ACI member, Lange served as ACI President in 2018-2019. Other past positions at ACI include Chair of the ACI Technical Activities Committee, the Publications Committee, and the Board Outlook 2030 Task Group. He is a member of the ACI Concrete International Award Committee and ACI Committees 209, Creep and Shrinkage in Concrete; 236, Material Science of Concrete; 237, Self-Consolidating Concrete; 241, Nanotechnology of Concrete; 544, Fiber Reinforced Concrete; and 549, Thin Reinforced Cementitious Products and Ferrocement. Lange received the ACI Wason Medal for Most Meritorious Paper in 2003, 2018, and 2020. Lange received his BSCE from Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, USA; his MBA from Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, USA; and his PhD from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, in 1981, 1984, and 1991, respectively.

Scott M. Anderson, FACI, is Vice President and General Manager of Keystone Structural Concrete (Keystone), a concrete contractor in Houston, TX, USA. Keystone is a division of the Stewart Holdings Group, a family of companies that performs all types of concrete construction in the Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, TX, markets. At Keystone, he has overseen elevated formed concrete construction since 1999.

Anderson is the second Vice President of the ACI Board of Direction and incoming Chair of the ACI Financial Advisory Committee. He serves on ACI Committees E703, Concrete Construction Practices, and 134, Concrete Constructability, and Joint ACI-ASCC Committee 117, Tolerances. He previously served on the ACI Construction Liaison Committee (CLC).

Anderson has been active in the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC) since 2003. He has served on its Board of Directors since 2007 and was elected President for 2015-2016. He was also Chair of the ASCC Education and Training Committee from 2011-2014. During his tenure as Chair, the committee produced a video detailing the basics of concrete finishing that has been widely used by ASCC members. He continues to be active in ASCC as a Past President.

Anderson currently serves on the ASCC Finance Committee and Company Certification Committee and is President of the ASCC Education, Research, and Development Foundation. Concrete Construction named him one of 2018’s “Most Influential People in Concrete Construction” in part for his leadership at ASCC.

He received his BSCE from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA, and his MS for graduate studies researching properties of concrete at The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. Anderson is a licensed professional engineer in Texas.

For more information, visit ACIFoundation.org.

Impact Through Research

The ACI Foundation funds or co-funds needed concrete research to inform ACI technical committee work and documents, provide data to close the gap for the use of new technology, lay the groundwork for potential code change proposals, and help develop young researchers as they produce knowledge for our industry. The following research reports were issued in late 2023 and early 2024 and are available on the ACI Foundation website and the ACI International Abstract Portal:

• “Development of FRP Retrofit Guidelines for Deficient Reinforced Concrete Horizontal Lateral Force Resisting Systems”—Eric Jacques, PI; Matthew R. Eatherton, Co-PI; Pratiksha Dhakal and Hunter G. Hutton, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Graduate Research Assistants. Supported by the ACI Foundation, Simpson Strong-Tie, Structural Technologies, Fyfe, and GeoTree Solutions. In-kind funding was provided by Simpson Strong-Tie, Structural Technologies, Fyfe, and Banker Steel. This research is also based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. CMMI-2050030. Endorsed by ACI Committee 440, Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Reinforcement;

• “Durability of Anchorage Pour-backs: Evaluating the Link Between Surface Preparation and Bond”—Natassia Brenkus, PI; Anthony Addai Boateng, Graduate Research Assistant, The Ohio State University. Supplemental support was provided by the Ohio Department of Transportation. Endorsed by ACI Subcommittee 301-I, Post-Tensioned Concrete;

• “Seismic Behavior of Precast Columns with High-Strength Steel Coiled Strip Reinforcement”—Ashley Thrall, PI; Yahya C. Kurama, Co-PI; Steven M. Barbachyn, Shane Oh, Lily Polster, and Brad D. Weldon, Graduate Research Assistants, University of Notre Dame. Endorsed by Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 550, Precast Concrete Structures;

• “Core Compressive Strength and Elastic Modulus Measurements of High-Strength Concrete”—Matthew R. Sherman, PI, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. Endorsed by ACI Committee 363, High-Strength Concrete;

• “Stress-Strain Analysis of Belite Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cement Concrete for Structural Applications”—Cameron Murray, PI; Gabriel Johnson, Graduate Student; Elizabeth Poblete, PhD Student, University of Arkansas. Concrete materials were provided by CTS Cement Manufacturing Corporation. Endorsed by ACI Committee 242, Alternative Cements;

• “Structural Nanomodified Concrete: An Investigation of Critical Properties”—David Corr, PI, Northwestern University; Surendra P. Shah and Maria Konsta-Gdoutos, Co-PIs, The University of Texas at Arlington. Endorsed by ACI Committee 241, Nanotechnology of Concrete;

• “Optimization of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Using Data Mining”—Emilio Garcia-Taengua, PI, University of Leeds. Endorsed by ACI Committee 544, Fiber Reinforced Concrete;

• “Damage Classification of Reinforced Concrete Structures for Fire: Rebar Temperature”—Negar Elhami-Khorasani, PI; Ravi Ranade and Anthony Tessari, Co-PIs; Nima Tajik Hesaramir and Kalyani Sudam Koli, Graduate Students, University at Buffalo. Endorsed by Joint ACI-TMS Committee 216, Fire Resistance and Fire Protection of Structures;

• “Alternative Supplementary Cementitious Materials from Local Agricultural Products”—Lisa Burris, PI, The Ohio State University; Contributions from Jarron Mihoci, Bridge Engineer, Michael Baker International. Endorsed by ACI Committee 240, Pozzolans;

• “A Collaborative Study to Determine the Critical Chloride Threshold Test, OCcrit, Variability due to Material Sources”—Ceki Halmen, PI, University of Missouri – Kansas City. This research is the result of a collaborative effort between multiple laboratories and researchers, which included Oregon State University (David Trejo and Erick Moreno Rangel), CTLGroup (Pavan Vaddey), Colorado State University (Mahmoud Shakouri and Mohammad Teymouri), and Wiss, Janey, Elstner Associates (Marwa Abdelrahman and Elizabeth Wagner). Endorsed by ACI Committee 222, Corrosion of Metals in Concrete;

• “Shear Behavior of Macro-Synthetic Fiber-Reinforced Concrete”—Travis Thonstad, PI; Paolo M. Calvi, Co-PI; John Paul Gaston, Research Assistant, University of Washington. In-kind contributions provided by GCP Applied Technologies, CalPortland, and Lafarge North America. Endorsed by ACI Committee 544, Fiber Reinforced Concrete; and

• “How Much Consolidation Energy is Really Required to Create Concrete Specimens?”—Dimitri Feys, PI; Paige Toebben and Alexander Zarate, Research Assistants, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Kyle Riding, Co-PI, University of Florida. Contributions by Ahmed Abd El Fattah, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. In-kind contributions provided by Minnich Manufacturing, Holcim Ste-Genevieve, and GCP Applied Technologies. Endorsed by ACI Committees 238, Workability of Fresh Concrete, and 309, Consolidation of Concrete

For more information, visit www.acifoundation.org/ research/researchprojects.aspx.