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Annual Center for Innovative Grouting Materials & Technology Conference Coming Up
Cumaraswamy Vipulanandan, professor of civil engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, is the director of CIGMAT and a leading expert in the field of smart materials.
Cumaraswamy Vipulanandan, professor of civil engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, is the director of CIGMAT and a leading expert in the field of smart materials.

The Center for Innovative Grouting Materials & Technology (CIGMAT) will hold its 24th annual conference this Friday, March 1 at the UH Hilton. The theme of this year’s conference will be “Infrastructures, Energy, Geotechnical, Flooding and Sustainability Issues Related to Houston & Other Major Cities.”

Leading industry professionals, researchers and government policymakers from across the country will come together at the conference to discuss the most pressing challenges facing the construction, maintenance and sustainability of various civil infrastructures in the Houston region and beyond. Energy production and related issues will also be discussed.

The one-day conference will also include presentations on current projects and proposed projects that specifically address challenges for the region’s infrastructure and energy production needs.

Bill Brudnick, director of planning at TxDOT, will be the conference’s keynote speaker. Other speakers and panelists include Liana Alvarez, advisor for sustainable procurement with Exxon Mobil; Russell Poppe, director of the Harris County Flood Control District; Ivan Langford, director of the Gulf Coast Water Authority; Jeffrey Haby, vice president of the San Antonio Water System (SAWS); Erika Mancha with the Texas Water Development Board; and Roberto Trevino, executive vice president of the Planning, Engineering and Construction-METRO among others.

Cumaraswamy “Vipu” Vipulanandan, professor of civil engineering at the UH Cullen College of Engineering, is the director of CIGMAT and a leading expert in the field of smart materials. Vipu and his colleagues at CIGMAT have received more than $3 million in funding from the non-profit Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, (RPSEA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and oil field services firm Baker Hughes to develop new types of cementing and drilling materials for use in oil rig operations. Such materials could also be used to increase the resilience and sustainability of aging infrastructures.

Registration and attendance will be limited to the first 250 applicants. Conference costs are $165 for the general public and $75 for students. Attendees can earn up to five professional development hours at the conference.

To view the brochure for the 2019 CIGMAT conference, please visit: https://cigmat.cive.uh.edu/sites/cigmat/files/files/conference/CIGMAT-2019-Conference-Brochure-1-03-2019.pdf

For more information and to register for the 2019 CIGMAT conference, please visit: https://cigmat.cive.uh.edu/events/cigmat-2019-conference-brochure

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