Guest Speaker:  Charles K. Nmai, PhD, PE, M.ASCE, FACI
Head of Engineering, Master Builders Solutions Admixtures US LLC
2022-2023 President, American Concrete Institute

On January 10, the Northern California and Western Nevada Chapter hosted Dr. Charles K. Nmai, the 2022-2023 President of ACI, aboard the historic Delta King paddle wheeler moored in Old Town Sacramento. The event was the annual Joint Meeting of the Structural Engineers Association of Central California (SEAOCC) and the Chapter.

The Delta King provided a “destination” location for the event, which was attended in person by Chapter and SEAOCC members and three virtual attendees that SEAOCC hosted via Zoom. The Delta King is located amid varied lodging and parking, and is a good compromise meeting location for the large geographic region that our Chapter represents.  

Socializing was enjoyable and energetic on the Delta King. Dr. Nmai’s presentation followed dinner and he was gracious in his opening comments as ACI President visiting our region.

Dr. Nmai’s timely topic was “The Quest for Low-Carbon Concrete: It’s a Collaborative Effort!”  His unique background of academic research and being on staff at Master Builders Solutions gives him an understanding of both sides of the challenges of carbon-neutral concrete. His presentation focused on the roles and options available to design professionals and concrete producers in the quest for sustainable concrete construction and carbon neutrality in the concrete industry by the target date of 2050. Initiatives being undertaken by ACI were also discussed.

After the interesting presentation, Dr. Nmai addressed questions and engaged the audience to be forward thinking in what our industry would be able to do in reducing carbon and increasing sustainability throughout the construction process.

For more of Dr. Nmai’s insights on industry topics, visit the President’s Memo section the ACI website, https://www.concrete.org/news.aspx?m=PresidentsMemoNews.

Thanks go to Dr. Charles K. Nmai for his informative and compelling appearance, to our colleagues at SEAOCC, and to the event attendees from both groups.