What’s New at ISCP Research News Industry Notes Upcoming Events

Greetings from the President Dan Zollinger President, ISCP I am glad to inform you that the Society's strategic planning meeting that took place this month in South Africa was a very fruitful one. We had twelve of the 17 members of the board - including honorary and regular members (representing 5 different countries) – and we spent nearly 20 hours focusing completely on discussions about the future organization of ISCP. The main topics brought up by the strategic planning group were related to membership issues, global representation and activities of the Society Board, as well as the organization of the Society. The board approved modifications to the structure of the ISCP with regard to the number of committees and the organization and composition of the board of directors. A mission statement modification was approved (pending ratification by the general membership) to emphasize the technology transfer aspects of the Society activities. We believe the general membership will be pleased when these modification are put to a vote. In all, there was a clear consensus that all Society board members need to work towards expanding its relevance on an international level to facilitate the advancement of knowledge and technology related to concrete pavement, and that this goal must be achieved through education, technology transfer and research. On other fronts, the Conference on Concrete Roads in South Africa held this month in conjunction with the working board meeting was a success (see related article), and we all look forward to future ISCP-cosponsored workshops later this year in China and Brazil, where selected members of the Board of Directors (BOD) are attending as invited speakers. This has been great opportunity to bring needed exposure to the Society, and we feel that, in time, this type of activity will be expanded to include general members of the Society (rather than just the BOD) due to the frequency of demand for such events. All in all, it is evident that Society membership provides significant benefits, both professionally and personally. International Conference on Concrete Roads The South African Cement and Concrete Institute (C&CI), in collaboration with the ISCP, organized the International Conference on Concrete Roads 2007. The event was endorsed by the South African National Roads Agency Limited, and attracted more than 200 professionals from the paving industry, roads agencies, as well as consultants and academics. The topic of the presentations ranged from sustainable pavements to long-life strategies, design, thin slabs, conventional and ultra-thin CRCP, and rehabilitation and reconstruction experiences. For more information contact Bryan Perrie at bryan@cnci.org.za. Strategic Planning Meeting Highlights ISCP’s Board of Directors held the Society’s first major Strategic Planning Meeting on August 14-16 in South Africa. The Board and attending general and honorary members worked nearly 20 hours over a three-day period to address organizational issues that have come up repeatedly at previous Society meetings, but which have not previously been addressed adequately (or at all) because the time available during regular business meetings is too short. The minutes of this meeting will soon be available on the ISCP website at www.concretepavements.org. Highlights of actions taken and decisions made at the meeting include the following: · Modified the ISCP Constitutional mission statement (pending ratification by the general membership) to read as follows: The mission of the Society is to facilitate the advancement of knowledge and technology related to concrete pavements through education, technology transfer and research at an international level. The Society will gather and disseminate information for the concrete pavement community. The Society’s efforts will promote technological advancements and competence of its members, leading to improved concrete pavement performance. · Set goals of increasing Society membership by 2011 to include 400 general members and 25 corporate or organizational members/sponsors (up from current levels of 200 and 8). · Refined the definition of eligibility for student membership (i.e., full-time undergrad or graduate student as identified by the student’s school) and reduced student membership fees to zero effective January 1, 2008. · Redefined terms of eligibility for election and continuation of board members to require more active involvement (current dues-paying or honorary member, attend at least one board meeting each year in person or by teleconference, participate in at least one standing committee). Also limited to five (5) the number of Directors that can be residents of the same country to ensure more international representation and to prevent any one country from being represented by a majority of the Board seats. · Added Standing Committees on Membership (to promote and sustain all forms of Society Membership) and Technology Transfer (to determine the ways and means of achieving Society goals related to performing technology transfer tasks). · Discussed options for establishing an online repository of technical documents and publications related to concrete pavement technology from around the world. · Discussed options for hiring administrative assistance for the Society, with detailed options to be presented at the next Board meeting. · Adopted the concept of “Local/Regional ISCP Coordinators” who will serve as local ISCP representatives in various countries and regions of the world and will coordinate ISCP-sponsored activities. These positions could serve as the fore-runners of eventual ISCP chapters. · Resolved to continue to have mid-year Board and/or Strategic Planning meetings in conjunction with an ISCP co-sponsored conference (as was done in South Africa) on an annual basis except during ISCP International Conference years. · Resolved to reciprocate support for the international conferences and activities of other organizations with similar goals and objectives to those of ISCP. The implementation of these actions and the follow-up work that is planned will help to raise the level of service that the Society provides its members and will help to move the organization to be a truly international organization in terms of both membership and function. Registration to Open for 9th International Conference View from 39^th Floor of SF Marriott Registration materials for the 9th International Conference on Concrete Pavements are being prepared for mailing to all current ISCP members and many previous attendees in early September. Registration forms will also be available on the ISCP website at www.concretepavements.org. Registration fees are being discounted by $100US for current ISCP members who renew their membership for 2008. Additional discounts are available for government employees. The 9th Conference, which will be held at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco, California, USA on August 17-21, 2008, is expected to attract more than 500 attendees. Current plans call for approximately 70 paper presentations, an exhibition hall, a student poster board competition, and several workshops, including: · Concrete Pavement Preservation (offered twice) · 100-Year Concrete Pavements (offered twice) · CRCP · MEPDG Concrete Design Implementation · Alkali-Aggregate Issues · Innovative Methods and Materials · Concrete Pavement Technology Forum on Precast Slabs · Latest Research on Airport Concrete Pavements For more information, contact Kathleen Hall (Conference Chair) at kthall64@comcast.net. Fundamental Workshop on Concrete Pavements Planned to Precede 9th ICCP From August 13-15, 2008, a workshop on “Advanced Characterization, Modeling, and Design of Concrete Pavements” will be held at the University of California-Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station in Richmond, California. Following the format of the CROW workshops which are traditionally held a few days before the European Symposiums on Concrete Roads, this workshop will precede the 9^th International Conference on Concrete Pavements in San Francisco. Emphasis will be placed on discussion of issues relating to fundamental properties of concrete pavements and brainstorming processes and solutions to these problems. This independent workshop will be sponsored by ISCP, the Illinois Center for Transportation at the University of Illinois, the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute, and the Pavement Research Institute at the University of Minnesota. An announcement brochure and call for participation in this workshop can be downloaded at: http://www.concretepavements.org/9thiccp/workshop_brochure.pdf More information can also be found by contacting either of the workshop organizers (Jeff Roesler at jroesler@uiuc.edu or Lev Khazanovich at khaza001@umn.edu). Open Research Positions at the University of Illinois and VTRC The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is seeking qualified candidates for two positions: Research Engineer at the Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory (ATREL) and Technical Administrator for the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT), located at the ATREL facilities in nearby Rantoul, Illinois. The Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC) recently announcement their intention to fill a pavement research scientist position as well. More information on these positions can be found at: http://www.concretepavements.org/help.htm Recent concrete pavement articles in the IJPE The latest published issue (vol. 8, issue 4, 2007) of the International Journal of Pavement Engineering contains the following articles related to concrete pavements: Laboratory study of larger sized aggregate in Portland cement concrete by Jeff C. Mills; Anastasios M. Ioannides (ISCP member) Durability of stabilized base courses subjected to wet-dry cycles by N. Khoury; M. M. Zaman