The Portland Cement Association Education Foundation awarded eight graduate students with the educational fellowships at the association's recent fall meeting in Chicago. The 2007 recipients are (listed by university, student, professor, research title):

• Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., Aleksandra Radlinksa, Professor Jason Weiss, Title: Using Limestone Fillers to Reduce Cracking Potential and Improve Shrinkage Performance of Low w/c Mixtures

• Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, G. Ben Reese, Professor W. Spencer Guthrie, Title: Use of the Heavy Clegg Impact Soil Tester to Assess Rutting of Cement-Treated Base Material under Early Trafficking

• The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Nicholas DeBlasis, Professor John L. Daniels, Title: Optimization of Soil Cement Mixtures for Cold Weather Construction

• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Jaehong Kim, Professor James M. LaFave, Title: Development of Plastic Rotation Capacity Prediction Models for Intermediate Reinforced Concrete (RC) Frames Based on Beam-Column Connections Subjected to Seismic Lateral Loading

• University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind., Adam Knaack, Professor Yahya Kurama, Title: Properties of Reinforced Concrete for Use in Fire-Design of Concrete Structures

• University of Louisville, Kentucky, Giri Venkiteela, Professor Zhihui Sun, Title: Measuring and Modeling the Setting Behavior of Cement Pastes

• University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Lindsay Lashley, Professor R. Douglas Hooton, Title: Prediction of Cementitious Materials-Chemical Admixture Compatibility and Performance

• Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Jun Chen, Professor Kimberly Kurtis, Title: Ultra-Accelerated Assessment of Alkali-Reactivity of Aggregate

The PCA Education Foundation Research Fellowship identifies and rewards outstanding masters and doctoral students in the fields of engineering and physical sciences who are studying areas that advance the science and technology of cement and concrete. PCA's Education Foundation presents the students with $20,000 each for university and study costs.

PCA established the Foundation in 2001 to help finance education programs in nearly every facet of the cement and concrete industries, from university research fellowships to career recruitment and craft training.