SDC Planning Meeting & Session #24 – Register and Reserve Your Hotel Room Today!
Mark your calendars! Registration is now open for the upcoming SDC planning session and meeting this fall, Oct. 8-10, 2008, at one of the premier golf resorts in the U.S., the Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club, located in Palm Harbor, Florida. 

From noon on Oct. 8 until noon on Oct. 9, the time will be devoted to a strategic planning session to discuss and evaluate the direction, priorities, and governance of SDC. Session #24 will begin at noon on Oct. 9 and will adjourn at noon on Oct. 10. Topics will include Building Information Modeling (BIM) and sustainability. In addition, a near-final report on the major research effort of SCC Formwork Pressure will be featured. To register for the meeting, visit http://www.concretesdc.org/meetings/session24/meeting_registration.htm, or call Vicki Rogers at 248-848-3798.

SDC has negotiated a special room rate with the Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club, and you must reserve your room by Sep. 1 to get the special rate. For online reservations, visit https://reservations.ihotelier.com/crs/g_reservation.cfm?groupID=145281&hotelID=13416 or call directly at 1-800-456-2000 and refer to the Strategic Development Council to get the special rate.

Sustainability Vision & Roadmap Update
Draft 7 of the Concrete Sustainability Vision & Roadmap developed by SDC is now available and was recently presented to CAMRA (Concrete and Masonry Related-Associations).  SDC is currently evaluating its feedback and issues on which to prioritize efforts.

ACI Foundation Growing
Many positive changes and additions are contributing to the growing success of the ACI Foundation, of which SDC is a council. Earlier this year, ACI voted to approve a $3 million endowment to the Foundation, which will help all councils and programs of the Foundation, including SDC, the Scholarship Council (SC), and the Concrete Research Council (CRC). The Innovative Concrete Education (ICE) program has been established under the Foundation to support educational programs that focus high school and college students on potential careers in the concrete industry. In addition, the Foundation has created a new program, the Concrete Legacy Society, in which ACI members and those interested in concrete can name ACI and the ACI Foundation in their Wills and/or Trusts, for distribution into the programs and/or initiatives specified by the donor.

During the ACI Spring 2008 Convention in Los Angeles, the ACI Foundation and the Charles Pankow Foundation signed a three-year agreement that would allow the ACI Foundation, its Concrete Research Council, and SDC to identify an increased number of research projects for funding through the Charles Pankow Foundation. This is an exciting development for the ACI Foundation, with the potential to be able to fund more research projects in the near future. 

The ACI Foundation has recently launched a new Web site to give further information on all these new programs and initiatives and to assist those interested in making donations to the Foundation. Please visit the new Web site at www.ACIFoundation.org to find out more.

SDC Member Profile

University of Sherbrooke
The University of Sherbrooke, located in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, has proven itself to be a leading educational institution in innovation. SDC has worked closely with the University of Sherbooke’s Civil Engineering Department, thus proving the importance of the academic link with the corporate world. SDC helps provide the link between the academic and corporate worlds to assure the technology transfer necessary for the corporate world to innovate. One example of this synergy is the current research on SCC Formwork Pressure being led by the University of Sherbrooke and funded in part by SDC corporate members. SDC looks forward to its continued partnership with the University of Sherbrooke. 
For more information on the University of Sherbrooke, please visit its Web site at www.usherbrooke.ca.