IUCRC Planning Grant: The University of Texas at Arlington: Center for Concrete Technology: Concrete Advancement Network (CAN)

The Concrete Advancement Network (CAN) is a consortium of academic and industrial researchers engaged in bringing cutting-edge technologies to the cement and concrete materials industries, improving the built environment. Cement and concrete represent ubiquitous human-made materials and continue to be widely utilized in construction. Despite a universal utilization, most modern cement and concrete applications are based on relatively dated technology, requiring massive inputs of raw materials.

This IUCRC will allow researchers to collaborate on the latest advancements in nanotechnology, bottom-up engineering, recyclability, improved structural design with machine learning, and emergent technologies relating to the improvement of concrete in its use throughout the nation’s buildings and infrastructure. This award supports the planning phase of the CAN IUCRC to enable the team and participating leaders from industry to explore unmet needs, identify promising research trends, and formally establish the 5-year research plan for the proposed Center.

The Planning Workshop will allow members and industry partners to establish the research agenda, select the first pool of research projects for the four member sites, and foster collaborative activities. CAN will be led by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with Arizona State University, Oregon State University, and the University of Texas at Arlington as partners.

CAN’s members will facilitate the translation of novel concepts and ideas into scalable and implementable solutions with impact. Industry partners will steer CAN’s research direction and priorities to realization by providing testbeds and promoting CAN’s value proposition and research results to cement and concrete businesses.

CAN’s mission is to enhance the resilience and sustainability of concrete materials and structures through innovations in materials and processing by leveraging use-inspired research and collaborations between academia and related industrial partners. CAN will plan to develop new techniques and methods that will usher the next generation of concrete that is energy-efficient, rapidly deployable, labor efficient, economical, and less dependent on natural resources than existing concrete.

The collaborative teams research capabilities will couple scientific advances in concrete materials and design with multi-scale modeling, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and, ultimately digital manufacturing, towards cutting-edge concepts in this critical and massive-scale industrial sector. At the planning workshop and during the 12-month planning grant period, CAN industry and academic leaders will discuss current limitations, barriers, and obstacles to identify immediate solutions for industry/academic research and dissemination, engineering student education and job-preparedness, and broadening the participation of students underrepresented in STEM.

CAN seeks to provide long-term solutions for the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure and meet the demand for future transportation, infrastructure, buildings, and housing.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.