Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Presents Honors at Fall Conference

The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute honored many industry leaders who have made significant contributions to the precast, prestressed concrete industry at its 2022 PCI Committee Days Conference in Rosemont, Illinois, September 20-24. Members were happy and thankful this was the first PCI Committee Days held totally in person since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020.

“The awards presented each year at PCI Committee Days exemplify PCI as an institute, honoring excellence in engineering practice, and commitment to our quality programs,” said PCI President and CEO Bob Risser, P.E. “The PCI Awards also look to the future of PCI and the precast concrete industry by acknowledging emerging leaders and recognizing PCI’s commitment to the next generations. The Sidney Freedman Award honors the master craftsmanship which represents all that’s possible in precast concrete.”

Awards were presented to the deserving honorees at the PCI Membership Awards Luncheon on September 21.

Click here to see videos of the winners on PCI’s YouTube channel.

• The Irwin P. Speyer Young Professional Engineer Award was presented to Charles Pizzano for his passion for engineering and commitment to PCI and the precast, prestressed concrete industry. After working for the engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, he started his own firm, Pizzano Consulting Engineers, in 2014. Pizzano has actively served on many committees since joining PCI in 2010.
• Dennis Fink was honored with the T. Henry Clark Award, recognizing a person, group, or firm that has delivered a resource that improves or enhances the quality of precast concrete products or processes. Fink was honored for his dedication and contributions to the fabrication of quality precast concrete components. He is president of Northeast Prestressed Products in Cressona, Pa. Fink became involved with PCI in 2010 as a graduate of the Leadership PCI program and is the current past chair of the PCI Board of Directors.
• There were three recipients of the Leslie D. Martin Certificate of Merit Award, recognizing a PCI-published document judged to be technically outstanding and worthy of special commendation.
• “Structural Grouting for Load-Bearing Precast Concrete Elements: Issues and Solutions,” published in the January-February 2022 issue of PCI Journal. The Erectors Committee task group members for the paper were Craig Durgarian, PE; Brandon Farley; Ashley Fortenberry; Carl Harris; Bo Kusznir; Helmuth Wilden, PE, FPCI; and Gary Wildung, FPCI.

• PCI Architectural Certification Program. Architectural Certification Subcommittee members were Dusty Andrews, PE, FPCI; John Arehart; Collin Bender; Dave Bourgault; Joe Bunkers; Jay Cariveau; Jimmy Crawford; Todd Culp, PE; Scott Davis; J. Matt DeVoss; Matt Graf; Leon Grant, PE; Mark Greiner; Carl Harris; Marvin Hartsfield, PE; Cathy Higgins; Les Kempers, PE; Stephen Kenepp; Steve Kloos; Edward Knowles, PE, FPCI; Jim Lewis; Joe Lombard; Lance Lorah; James Miller; Monty Oehrlein; Monty Overstreet; Michael Paris, PE, FPCI; Scott Robinson, Steve Schweitzer; Keith Wallis Jr., FPCI; Gary Wildung, FPCI; and Bradley Williams, PE.

• Manual for Quality Control for Plants and Production of Structural Precast Concrete Products, 5th Edition (MNL 116-21). The Plant Certification Committee and Quality Control Fast Team members were Patrick Carlin, PE; Dean Frank, PE; Ronald Marmon, Cathy Higgins; Venkatesh Iyer, PhD, PE; David Jablonsky; Daniel Kennedy; Edward Knowles; David Malaer, Edwin McDougle, PE, FPCI (deceased); James Miller; Michael Paris, PE, FPCI; Paul Ramsburg; Ralph Schwarzer; Joel Sheets; Timothy Skiba; Jason Tucker, PE; Colin Van Kampen, PE; Keith Wallis Jr., FPCI; Gary Wildung, FPCI; and Mike Wolff.

• The Martin P. Korn Award honors the best design or research paper appearing related to buildings and other structures in PCI Journal during a single year. This year’s award is presented to Scott Asperheim and Benjamin Dymond for their paper, “Factors Affecting Web-Shear Capacity of Hollow-Core Slabs with Filled Cores,” published in the July-August 2021 PCI Journal.

• The Charles C. Zollman Award honors an author or authors for the best design, research, or state-ofthe-art paper on precast concrete related to transportation infrastructure appearing in PCI Journal during a single year. This year’s award is presented to Jӧrn Remitz and Martin Empelmann for their paper, “High-Cycle Fatigue Tests of Pretentioned Concrete Beams,” published in the January-February 2022 PCI Journal.

• The Robert J. Lyman Award recognizes papers dealing with construction, production, and/or erection of precast concrete. The award is presented to Rongxuan Wang, Yinan Wanf, Sonam Devadiga, Isaac Perkins, Zhenyu (James) Kong, and Xiaowei Yue for their paper, “Structured-Light Three-Dimmensional Scanning for Process Monitoring and Quality Control in Precast Concrete Production,” published in the November-December 2021 PCI Journal.

• The George D. Nasser Award is presented to a young author or authors for the best design, research, or state-of-the-art paper on precast concrete appearing in the PCI Journal in a single year. This year’s award is presented to Anwer Al-Kaimakchi for “Mechanical and Bond Properties of Grade 2205 Duplex High-Strength Stainless Steel Strand,” published in the July-August 2021 PCI Journal. Michelle Rambo-Roddenberry co-authored the paper.
• The T.Y. Lin Award is presented annually by the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The 2022 award goes to Chungwook Sim, Maher Tadros, David Gee, and Michael Asaad for their paper, “Flexural Design of Precast, Prestressed Ultra-High-Performance Concrete Members,” published in the November-December 2022 PCI Journal.

University of Alabama (Team B) won the won the 2022 Engineering Student Design (Big Beam) Competition. Students work with a PCI producer member to build a 20-foot-long precast prestressed concrete beam which is then tested. Team members are Monica Amaral, Bipul Poudel, Anrew Rogers, and Revanth Naidu Vasireddy. Faculty advisor is Siram Aaleti, PhD, and the PCI producer member is GATE Precast.

• The Keith Kaufmann Award for Best Report goes to Iowa State University, whose team members are Bharath Melugiri, Shankaramurthy, Nayana Sreekumar, and Danny Vieceli. Faculty advisor is Hartanto Wibowo, and the PCI producer member is Forterra.
• The Best Video Award goes to Lehigh University, whose team members are Tucker Bayda, Riley Conklin, Thomas Szewczyk, and Jillian Tamarazzo. Faculty advisor is Clay Naito, PhD PE, and the PCI producer member is Northeast Prestressed Products. Watch the video.