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

June 14, 2011 Meeting Minutes

Marriott – Anaheim, CA

1)   6:33pm Call to Order by Ms. Laura Powers

2)   A brief memorial to the passing of Richard Mielenz was read.

3)  Introductions by attendees.  15 petrographers and concrete technologists with 3 guests in          attendance.

4)  Introduction of Robert O’Neill of Micro-Chem Laboratories, Murphys, CA, and his presentation                 “Diagnosing Physical Salt Attack vs. Chemical Salt Attack”.  The presentation precipitated       healthy banter from most attendees.

5)  The group held a brief discussion of the upcoming spring ACI session on “Physical Salt attack”.

6)  Adjourn.

SCP December Meeting

The Society of Concrete Petrographers will meet in conjunction with the
ASTM Committee C09 Meeting in Tampa, FL:

DAY: Tuesday, December 6, 2011
TIME: 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm (or whenever)
LOCATION: The room number will be posted on the bulletin board in the
ASTM registration area.

There will be a business meeting in which all members are encouraged to
participate followed by an open discussion.  All attendees are welcome
to bring photos and/or data on a jump drive to share with the group
during this open discussion.  There will be no dinner served but
attendees are welcome to bring their own.

There are many subcommittees that may be of interest to SCP members, but
Members are especially encouraged to participate in ASTM:
C096500 Petrography, Tuesday 1:00-3:00pm in the Grand Ballroom G
C096500 Task Group on Water Cement Ratio, Monday 2:00-3:00 pm Meeting Room 3
C096500 Task Group on C856, Monday 6:00-7:00 pm Meeting Room 3
C096500 Task Group on C457 Tuesday 12:00-1:00 pm Grand Ballroom G

SCP meets in conjunction with ASTM Committee Week C09 Concrete and
Concrete Aggregates that runs from Sunday December 04 2011 - Wednesday
December 07 2011 at the Marriott Waterside; Tampa, FL US

For more information on the ASTM meetings follow the links at:
http://www.astm.org/

David Stark shall be missed but not forgotten

We are saddened to announce the passing of David C. Stark, a leader and innovator in the early-day pursuit and continuing application of concrete petrography to our industry. Through his expertise and perseverance, great strides were made in bringing geology and petrography into the professional arena of engineering from which we all have benefited. Among his accomplishments is research on alkali-silica reactivity that resulted in a number of key publications that include:

"Alkali-Silica Reactivity: An Overview of Research" SHRP C-342, by Helmuth, Stark, Diamond and Moran-Regourd, 1993

"Eliminating or Minimizing Alkali-Silica Reactivity" SHRP-C-343, by Stark, Mor-gan and Okamoto, 1993.

He was co editor of “Petrography Applied to Concrete and Concrete Aggregate” a collection of articles edited by Erlin and Stark and published by ASTM in STP 1061, 1990.

He was especially proud to share credit for the first published account of thaumasite detected in concrete and its relation to ettringite and deterioration, "Identification and Occurrence of Thaumasite in Concrete" by Erlin and Stark, Symposium on Aggressive Fluids, Highway Research Board (now Transportation Research Board), 1965/1966. And somewhere along the way, at one time, in his Northbrook, Illinois home, he had one of the world’s largest collections of beer cans.

From the early 1960’s through opening years of the 2000’s, Dave was a constant contributor to our petrographic science by helping to provide insight into many things from D-cracking to chemical sulfate attack and to physical salt hydration distress. He leaves behind a wonderful heritage.

Career Opportunities

RJ Lee Group, Inc. is currently seeking an experienced concrete Petrographer.  

For more information see http://www.rjlg.com/about-us/careers.aspx