Concrete Microscopy Courses

Concrete Microscopy 

Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands:  June 17 - 21, 2013

http://www.cmc.tudelft.nl/?goback=%2Egde_69622_member_140453056

Micro-defect Visualization in Concrete and Geomaterials

CIV1298H - Special Studies in Civil Engineering, Fall Semester 2012, University of Toronto, Instructor: Prof. Karl Peterson

http://www.civil.engineering.utoronto.ca/programs/courses/civ1298h.htm

14th Euroseminar on Microscopy Applied to Building Materials (EMABM 2013)

WHEN:  June 10-14th, 2013

WHERE: near Copenhagen, Denmark 

The Danish Technological Institute will host the seminar and invites all interested in microscopy of building materials to participate in the bi-annual event.  The seminar covers a wide range of topics related to microscopy in building materials as well as new trends in instrumentation and techniques for analysis and assessment.

Deadline for the Submission of Abstract: Sept 15, 2012    

Further inforation can be found at:  http://www.emabm2013.com/

SCP June 26, 2012 Meeting Minutes

Society of Concrete Petrography Meeting

ASTM, San Diego, CA

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

6:30 – 8:30 pm

1) Upcoming elections for new officers:

• Nancy will be putting together a ballot for new officers
• Discussed changing the By-Laws to change the officers term to 3 years
• Mauro suggested staggering of the officers positions

2) Laura reviewed the Secretary’s Report submitted by Nancy Whiting.  The full report is attached.  Some of the discussed items from the report follow.

3) Membership: The Membership Application was updated; new members were acknowledged and have been welcomed with a Welcome letter from our President Laura Powers; the Membership List has been updated.  The SCP roster now stands as: 79 Total Members, 63 Voting, 16 Associate which includes 12 New Members in last 2.5 years.

4) Responsibilities of Officers to be reviewed.

5) The Membership Committee needs Members.

6) Announcement of the 14^thEuroseminar on Microscopy Applied to Building Materials

• Copenhagen, Denmark from June 10th to 14th, 2013
• Hosted by the Danish Technological Institute
• Deadline for submission of abstracts is September 15, 2012

7) SCP has received several inquiries regarding training in concrete petrography.  Susanne Papas suggested SCP consider setting up an internship program between universities and    private industry.  Could provide a potential pool of future employees in addition to providing an education opportunity for students.

8) GSA 2011 Meeting in Minnesota: A Session on "Application of Petrography in Construction Materials" was proposed but Cancelled due to small number of proposed presentations submitted.

9) Consideration of Annual Webinar - would be good for members that can’t make it to the ASTM meetings

10) Mauro suggested broadcasting our meetings to the membership

11) Presentation by Fred Shrimer on “The Role of Petrography in Irish Pyritic Heave Litigation".

Secretary's Semi-Annual Report 2012

Membership Committee Activites

The Memberhsip application now requests that the applicant choose whether applying for Voting status of Associate Membership and to include a resume if applying for Voting Membership.

1)      Four new members have applied and been accepted:

• Robert, S Jenkins –Voting Member,  Consultant
• Callie LaFleur- Voting Member, WR Grace
• David Harro - Associate Member, G3 Group
• ManuelBarrantes - Associate Member, Costa Rican Institute of Electricity

2)      Re-established as Members (2): Doug Bedingfield - Voting Member, Jack B. Person Company and Ulla Jakobson – Voting Member, Teknologisk Institut

3)      An email was sent out last Fall to all SCP members to confirm contact information and Voting Member status before the upcoming elections.  After a couple of reminders a majority of the members replied and contact information was updated as necessary.  Combining this information with the new/renewed members the Membership of SCP as of June 2012 is:  79 Members: 63 Voting  and  16 Associate Members

Over the past 2.5 years under the watch of the current Secretary, as head of the Membership Committee 12 New Members have joined SCP.

The News pageof the SCP website has been maintained with job postings, meeting and conference announcements and SCP meeting minutes.  Besides SCP meeting and minutes information there are currently 2 job postings: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger,  and RJ Lee Group.  And an announcement for the 14^thEuroseminar on Microscopy Applied to Building Materials, June 10-14, 2013.  Abstracts submission date is Sept 15, 2012.

Several astute members notified me that our link to the Concrete Microscopy Library was outdated.  A new link was found and with Jason Cumming’s help re-established on our website

IDEAS for future activities:  Over the past 6 months 3 inquires have been received asking about training in concrete petrography.  As members become aware of training opportunities, workshops and related conferences please forward them to the Secretary for posting on our website.  SCP may want to sponsor a session at a related conference.  With the advances in technology perhaps we might consider an annual webinar to help with the exchange of information that may elevate and bring more uniformity to the practice. This would be especially valuable to newer practitioners and remotely located members.

Attendees

Nick Scaglione     Fred Shrimer        Laura Powers        Chrisitne Tillema        Derek Cong               Doug Hurcomb     Mauro Scali          Rachael Barbour     Ann Daugherty          Susanne Papas

Petrographer Career Opportunities

Simpson Gumpertz & Heger is seeking to hire an experience Senior  Petrographer for their corporate office located in Waltham, MA. For more information, please visit our website at : https://sgh.tms.hrdepartment.com/jobs/123/Senior-PetrographerWaltham-MA or visit our website at www.sgh.com  (posted 03/09/12)

RJ Lee Group, Inc. is currently seeking an experienced concrete Petrographer. The ideal candidate will have an in-depth understanding of the composition and structure of materials commonly used in building construction, with emphasis on concrete and concrete aggregates, and associated deterioration mechanisms of such materials. Please visit our website for more information at http://www.rjlg.com/about-us/careers.aspx   (posted 04/12/12)

December 6, 2011 Meeting Minutes

Marriot - Tampa, FL

1. The meeting was called to order Laura Powers (President) 6:15pm
2. Welcome and introductions (11 members, 3 visitor).  Everyone shared what was the most exotic or far away specimens examined.  Laura Power won, having examined a lunar sample from NASA.
3. Minute from June 14, 2011 meeting approved – Mark Lukkarila moved the minutes be approved, Gerard seconded, minutes were approved unanimously.
4. Old Business
   1. By-Laws Committee - The last update to the By-laws was 2006. Bob O’Neill, Mauro Scali, Mark Lukkarila and Mengesha Beyene volunteered to form the new By-Laws subcommittee (4 members required).  The President requested that it look at any changes needed such as changing term limits from 2 to 3 years.
   2. Nominating Committee - A new Nominating Committee was formed to prepare a slate for next election: Derek Cong, Patrick Miller, Ted Sabbick, Mark Lukkarila and Mauro Scali (4 members plus past President required). 
   3. Upcoming elections – The term of the existing officers expires the end of 2011, or when new officers are successfully elected.  Existing officers were asked if they wish to continue to serve and run for the next office up.  All agreed and the slate proposed by the nominating committee are: Bob O’Neil for Treasurer, Gerard Moulzolf for Secretary, Nancy Whiting for Vice President, Nick Scaglione for President.
   4. A simple majority of voting members is needed to elect new officers.  There was a problem with getting a simple majority of ballots returned during the last election.  In an attempt to avoid this problem next election Nancy to send out an email to all voting members asking if they are still interested in maintaining their membership as voting members.
   5. Nick will update the webpage and will send out instructions on how to enable automatic notification when News and/or new discussions are posted.
5. Secretary’s Report (Nancy Whiting)
   1. New Members – 8 new member applications have been approved this past year, 5 Voting Members and 3 Associate Members.
   2. The members list on the website will distinguish the members’ status, Voting, Associate or Honorary.  A list of the new associate members will be sent to Nick
   3. Honorary Members: Bryant Mather and Richard Mielenz have been Honorary Members since 2007.  This will be identified on the members list posted.  New Honorary members to consider include: David Stark and James Ray.
   4. Membership Committee - A new Membership Committee needs to be established (2 members + Secretary).  Ann Daugherty volunteered. One more volunteer member will be recruited to join the Secretary and Ann as the new Membership Committee.
   5. Mauro will send all the past minutes to Nancy which will be added to the more recent SCP Meeting Minutes.  It is proposed that the Secretary will maintain a repository of all past and current meeting minutes.
6. News (Laura Powers)
   1. Laura read a Tribute to David Stark that Bernie Erlin had written and had been posted on the SCP website on October after his deat
   2. Bernie Erlin has proposed to write up a summary of some of the works of the ‘greats’ or Fathers of Concrete Petrography.
   3. Employment opportunities for Concrete Petrographers can be posted on the website.  Posting will be kept simple to include Job Title and a link or phone number.  RJ Lee Group has a current posting.
   4. A recnt article is available by Bernie Erlin titled: “Footprints in the Sand” in the November 2011 internet issue of ConcreteConstruction. The article can be found at http://www.concreteconstruction.net/concrete/footprints-in-the-sands-of-time.aspx
   5. The necessary training and academic background that is important to being a Concrete Petrographer was discussed, as was the need to promote this.
   6. The next ICMA meeting (International Society of Cement Microscopy) will be in Halle, Germany, April 1-4, 2012.  More information can be found through the ICMA link found on the SCP website.
   7. An invitation was received to collaborate with the Applied Petrography Group, an affiliate of the Engineering Group of the Geological Society of London (per Derek Brown).  Ideas included sharing published links, working on a Glossary of Terms, joint efforts to publishing the usefulness and value of petrography to a wider global audience, joint meetings, joint/associated memberships, authentication/accreditation of ‘competence’ in applied petrography.  Laura will continue to foster a working relationship with this group and a link will be added to the SCP website.
   8. Mauro showed the proposed certificate for Concrete Petrographers that will be awarded to all members
   9. Motion to adjourn by Mauro Scali and seconded by Mark Lukkarila 8:30pm.

ATTENDEES: Members - Mengnesha Beyene, Derek Cong, Mark Lukkarila, Patrick Miller, Gerard Moulzolf, Laura Powers, Nick Scaglione, Mauro Scali, Bob O’Neill, Ted Sibbick, Nancy Whiting. Visitors - Rachael Barbari, Frank Gay, Bob Jenkins