Carol Shield, American Concrete Institute Honorary Member

Carol Kittredge Shield, Professor Emerita in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering, has been elected an Honorary Member of the American Concrete Institute (ACI).

This recognition is one of the highest honors conferred within the field. The bylaws of ACI state the recognition is given to “a person of eminence in the field of the Institute's interest or one who has performed extraordinary meritorious service to the Institute.” Shield’s contributions to the concrete industry clearly meet these criteria. 

At the University of Minnesota, Shield was a College of Science and Engineering Distinguished Professor. Her primary research areas were the use of fiber-reinforced polymers in infrastructure and the behavior of prestressed concrete girders. She was involved in establishing the Multi-Axial Subassembly Testing (MAST) Laboratory, which she directed for 10 years.

Shield finds her service work with ACI rewarding. She has been involved in committee activities for the American Concrete Institute (ACI) since 1997 and has received multiple honors, including an Outstanding Service Award and selection as an ACI Fellow. She had a leadership role on ACI’s largest committee, ACI Committee 440 Fiber Reinforced Polymer Reinforcement, between 2003 and 2015, first as secretary and then as chair. Stepping down from her duties as Chair, Shield took on the task of preparing the ACI standards and codes dealing with the use of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement for the internal reinforcement of concrete. 

Shield was also honored by the Center for Transportation Studies for her outstanding leadership in transportation research and innovation, receiving the Richard P. Braun Distinguished Service Award. Shield has been involved with more than 30 transportation related research projects funded by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), and the US Corp of Engineers.

ACI Honorary Members are selected in the spring and awards are presented to awardees at the ACI Convention the following spring. Carol Shield recently received her award at the 2024 ACI Spring Convention held in New Orleans.