Presented by: Dr. Maria Juenger Professor of Civil Engineering The University of Texas at Austin
The concrete industry is under increasing pressure to reduce the energy used in production of portland cement and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. There are several possible ways to address this challenge, but the most straightforward is to minimize the amount of portland cement used by substituting other materials to make concrete binders. We can learn a lot from the Romans, who made strong, durable concrete without any portland cement at all (though not without greenhouse gas emissions!). We are entering a natural pozzolan renaissance, where the industry is searching far and wide for alternative cementitious materials, including those that mimic the Roman pozzolana. This presentation will address current research on alternative concrete binders, including the characteristics and performance of North American natural pozzolans.
Bio: Dr. Maria Juenger is Professor and John A. Focht Centennial Teaching Fellow in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where she has been since 2002. She is a fellow of the American Ceramic Society and the American Concrete Institute. Dr. Juenger received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from Duke University and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University. After completing her Ph.D., she was a postdoctoral researcher in Civil Engineering at the University at California, Berkeley. Dr. Juenger’s teaching and research focus on materials used in civil engineering applications. She primarily examines chemical issues in cement-based materials; these include phase formation in cement clinkering, hydration chemistry of portland cement, calcium sulfoaluminate cement, and supplementary cementitious materials, and chemical deterioration processes in concrete. In 2005 she received a Faculty Early CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. She has received several awards from the American Concrete Institute for her research, teaching, and service, including the Walter P. Moore, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award in 2009, the Young Member Award for Professional Achievement in 2010, the Wason Medal for Materials Research in 2011. She is currently chair of American Concrete Institute committee 236 - Material Science of Concrete and is a member of the RILEM technical committee on supplementary cementitious materials
