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Ideas expressed by a South ��ֱ���� State University sophomore for advancing sustainable practices within the concrete industry has earned him a $2,000 scholarship from an industry partner.

Jakob Burckhard, a concrete industry management major from Brookings, was one of five essay winners selected by CarbonCure, a Canadian-based carbon solutions technology firm for concrete.

Tim Hostettler, who directs the SDSU concrete industry management program, said, “CarbonCure is one of the industry leaders in the sustainable concrete movement. Jakob’s enthusiasm about sustainable development using concrete resonates with them. He wrote an excellent essay on the topic, which was recognized by the CarbonCure panel among the dozens of other essays they received as being one of the best they have seen. 

“Jakob is just the second SDSU concrete industry management student to receive this honor — 2024 alumna Emma Roth won it in 2023 and 2024. We are very proud of Jakob and excited to see what he will accomplish in the future.”

In his essay, Burckhard wrote, “I would like to help with finding new sources of supplemental cementitious materials (currently primarily fly ash, slag and silica fume) and figuring out the best ways to utilize them in the concrete industry. This would be a continuation of some of the work I am doing this semester in my advanced concrete materials course. 

“In that course, we are currently learning how to develop low-carbon mixes and how to write environmental product declarations to go with them. This is something that I found to be quite enjoyable. I find myself looking forward to spending time in the lab making and testing mix designs, trying to tweak the design a bit to achieve better results.”

He added that concrete structures already “are safer by being more resilient to adverse conditions and more sustainable by requiring less upkeep and maintenance while having a long life cycle. I do not know of a perfect building material, but I do know that concrete is the closest to being just that.”

The SDSU program was formed through the support of the Concrete Industry Management National Steering Committee and its North Central Region patrons. SDSU is the fifth U.S. university to offer the program and the first one in the 12-state, Upper Midwest region. 

The groups will provide SDSU $1.5 million over five years to develop the degree program and assist in employing a program director, recruiter and laboratory manager.

The program had its first graduate in May 2024 with two more in December and one slated for this May.