Seong-Hoon Kee with Nestor Chonillo of James Instruments, and Dr. Jinying Zhu
Seong-Hoon Kee, a doctoral student in the structural engineering program, is the winner of the ACI-James Instruments Student Award for Research on NDT of Concrete.
The award is to recognize meritorious and innovative research in concrete and concrete materials using NDT methods, and to publicize the field of NDT and the work of ACI Committee 228. The original paper must be authored by the student and address innovative approaches or concepts applied to nondestructive testing of concrete.
The selection committee is composed of engineering practitioners, researchers and educators in ACI committee 228 who make the selection based on the originality of the research, potential impact on application of NDT on concrete structures.
The title of Seong-Hoon's paper was: "Low cost piezoceramic sensors for health monitoring of concrete structures." Piezoceramic discs were used as a low cost 
and consistent source and receiver in ultrasonic testing of concrete structures, which can replace the conventional ultrasonic transducers and be used in hard to access areas. The findings in the paper provided a low cost solution to NDT and health monitoring of concrete structures in field.
The award includes an engraved certificate provided by ACI Headquarters, and a cash prize of $ 800. The funding for the award is sponsored by James Instruments, Inc., a Chicago-based manufacturer and distributor of NDT systems, and it was given by ACI Committee 228, Nondestructive Testing, at the ACI Spring 2011 convention in Tampa, Florida.
Seong-Hoon will complete his doctoral degree in May, 2011 under the supervision of Dr. Jinying Zhu. He has accepted a post-doc position at Rutgers University.