ACI bestows national award on CCNY engineer Ardavan Yazdanbakhsh

A focus of civil engineer Ardavan Yazdanbakhsh’s research at The City College of New York is the development of sustainable concrete -- key to modern construction. His research on concrete sustainability and his expertise in sharing his knowledge with middle school and college students in Harlem has earned him the American Concrete Institute’s Walter P. Moore, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award.

Assistant professor in CCNY’s Grove School of Engineering, Yazdanbakhsh, will receive the honor on March 24 at ACI’s spring 2019 convention in Quebec City, Canada.

The award recognizes junior faculty members for excellence and innovation in the teaching of concrete design, materials, or construction. It’s given out in memory of Walter P. Moore, Jr., ACI Fellow, former ACI Board member, and a structural engineer and educator in Texas.

The honor from the ACI Board of Direction is specifically for Yazdanbakhsh’s “innovative and broad-reaching ways of educating students from middle school through college about environmentally-conscious concrete design," said Ronald G. Burg, ACI executive vice president.

In June 2017, Yazdanbakhsh led a workshop at the Grove School for students from nearby Hamilton Grange Middle School. The young engineers got hands-on, in-depth exposure to the many qualities of concrete. They also learned why it is among the world’s leading choice material for building construction.

“Part of concrete’s attractiveness is the availability of the raw materials and the low-cost of production,” said Yazdanbakhsh, adding “environmental considerations must be taken into account when using concrete as it is one of the largest emitters of CO₂ during the production of its components.”

The program was in partnership with the New York City Department of Design and Construction, the NYC Department of Education and the After-School All- Stars Program.

About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its role at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. More than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight professional schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself.  View CCNY Media Kit.