3Q: Seeking concrete solutions to an environmental issue
Concrete is all around us, from buildings and sidewalks to bridges and roads, but graduate student Steven Palkovic sees it as more than just the most-used human-made material in the world; he sees it as an environmental problem. The production of concrete contributes up to 10 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide, and Palkovic hopes to reduce this environmental impact through his research of cement paste, the matrix of concrete materials that binds everything together. Palkvoic studies cement paste at multiple scales, spanning from atoms to millimeters in length. His computational framework, developed with Professor Oral Buyukozturk of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), promises to have a wide impact on the influence of changes in structure and properties caused by additives at multiple length scales for concrete mixes. These additives can be used as replacement for Portland cement, the largest contributor to carbon dioxide emissions during concrete productions. Palkovic is an...