Tentative Agenda

9:00 a.m. Registration and Coffee

9:20 Welcome and Introductions

9:30 Why Can’t I Buy the Cement My Grandfather Used? – Jon Mullarky

10:00 Portland cement – Manufacturing & Properties – Oscar Tavares

11:00 Break

11:15 Pozzolans I – Fly Ash -Paul Tikalsky

12:00 Lunch Break

12:45 Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag and other Hydraulic Cements

1:15 Pozzolans II – Silica Fume and others

1:45 Blended Cements, Binary, Ternary, and do it yourself

2:15 Break

2:30 Cement Specifications, Testing & QC – Oscar Tavares

2:50 Influence of Cement on Concrete Performance – Paul Tikalsky

3:15 The Iowa Way – Summary and Closure – Jim Grove

3:30 Adjourn

Why this workshop?

Hydraulic cements have been a basic construction material since Roman times. For centuries, Portland cement, a special form of hydraulic cement, has been the primary ingredient in concrete used for infrastructure construction. New admixtures, energy and environmental policies, and evolution of blended cements have made the technology of cements and concrete more complex. Also de-emphasis of materials related education in engineering schools has left today’s engineers and specification writers unprepared to understand and effectively apply modern cement technology to optimize concrete mixtures.

Attendance at this workshop will extend the practitioner’s knowledge and understanding of the new system of hydraulic cements to:

• Be more conversant with the terminology of hydraulic cements and pozzolans
• Have a better understanding of changes that have occurred in cements in recent years and how these changes impact the performance of concrete
• Have a better understanding of how chemical reactions in cement manufacturing process and in the hydration process impact the performance of concrete
• Have a better understanding of the benefits and drawbacks associated with the use of various cements available in the marketplace
• Be better able to select and specify cements to be used in the production of concrete for highway infrastructure construction
• Be able to interpret Quality Control data, including mill test reports available to the user of hydraulic comets
• Have an appreciation of the energy an environmental issues impacting the production of hydraulic cements

About the presenters:

Paul J. Tikalsky, Ph.D., P.E., FACI

Dr. Paul Tikalsky is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University.  He has a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in structural and materials engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.  He conducts research, teaching and outreach activities in the area of concrete materials and structural engineering.  His work focuses on the high performance concrete, the durability of concrete structures and the evaluation and performance of structures. 

He is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI).  Dr. Tikalsky is the past chairman of ACI Committee 332, Fly Ash and Natural Pozzolans in Concrete; and is the current chairman of the ACI Educational Activities Committee.  He is an active member of ASTM Committee C09 on Concrete and Aggregates, TRB committees on Concrete Durability and Basic Concrete Research, as well as, ACI committees on Concrete Materials, and Concrete Durability

Oscar Tavares

Oscar Tavares is the Regional Sales Specialist (Great Lakes) for Lafarge North America.
He supports regional district sales by market development of “Cementitious” products like silica fume cements, PozzCement blends, and cement kiln dust (CKD) and slag cements. He has over 25 years experience in cement manufacturing and technical services for cement manufacturers. He holds a BS Degree in Chemistry from the University of Texas.

Mr. Tavares is an active participant in many industry organizations including ASTM. ACI, PCA TRB, and ACPA. He is the current Chairman of ACI Committee 225 on Hydraulic cement and serves on NCHRP Panel 18-5, Cement Characteristics and Effects on Durability.

Jon Mullarky, P.E.

Mr. Mullarky is a Senior Project Engineer with Soil and Land Use Technologies, Inc. Currently he is assigned, as a consultant, to the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Pavement Technology as a member of the Concrete Team. This Team is responsible for the Agency’s concrete pavement research and technology transfer activities.

He is a graduate of Iowa State University, with over 30 years of experience in construction and concrete materials. Prior to joining SaLUT, he served on the staff of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. He was a member of the Team that presented NRMCA’s Short Course on Concrete and Aggregates. He is a presenter on several ACI National seminars, and has made presentations on concrete technology before many groups. Mr. Mullarky is a member of many committees and panels of ASTM, ASCE, and NCHRP. He is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute, and a member of many ACI committees including the Education Activities Committee, which he currently chairs. He is a Registered Professional Engineer and served as an officer in the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps.