Four Core Initiatives

The Foundation's four core initiatives drive investment in four program areas. Three of these involve education and one involves research, following simple investment philosophies to maximize effectiveness and minimize overlap with other Industry education and research efforts. Investment in each of the PCI Foundation's four program areas goes to support the programs listed in each area. Several of these programs are underway; the rest await your support.

Enlist Educators

• Scholastic Network - an association of academics interested in precast concrete structures dedicated to continuously improving their working relationships with the Industry. Members have distinct benefits:
  • Prepaid registration to PCI Annual Convention
  • Travel stipends for attending designated PCI events to select professors
  • Internet-based technical resources and discussion groups
  • Subscriptions to PCI Journal, Ascent magazine, and the Designer's Notebook series
  • Right to nominate students to Scholarship PCI program (see Support Students)
  • Access to custom Curriculum Resource Kits (see Create Curriculum)
  • Outreach to Universities currently not incorporating prestressed concrete in their curriculum
• Professors Symposium - an annual, fully-funded educational and networking conference to foster inclusion of course material on precast concrete systems
• Precast Resource Library - a set of reference publications for a college or university departmental library containing all major PCI publications relating to design and engineering of precast structures, updated as new editions are published; also includes annual supplies of subscriptions to PCI periodicals and PCI Design Handbook CDs for students.

Support Students

The PCI Foundation will familiarize students with precast concrete systems and the Industry that develops and delivers them, and will identify and promote career paths within the Industry. The following programs will be targeted to students having potential interest in precast concrete systems.

• Precast Online Library - a continually updated online resource for technical information, design methodologies, and project summaries useful for classroom or laboratory research.
• Career LaunchPad - a coordinated program offering internships at production and design facilities of PCI member firms, combined with access to industry restricted postings of open positions.
• Scholarship PCI - tuition stipends plus prepaid registration and travel reimbursement for attending designated PCI events awarded to high-potential students selected from nominees submitted by Scholastic Network members.
• Industry Scholarship Fund - a special scholarship fund restricted to dependants of current Industry employees.
• Being a member of the Architectural Design Studio - experiencing actual design of precast concrete structures.

Create Curriculum

The PCI Foundation will offer information, reference materials, activities, and expert talent to colleges and universities, and will encourage and support professors incorporating these resources into engineering and architectural curricula.

• Architectural Design Studios - supplements to architectural curricula, arranged with selected universities, offering students a laboratory for design experimentation in the creative application of current precast design concepts in a structured, intellectually rigorous setting offering three levels of instruction and experience, from beginning students to graduate level.
• Visiting Lecture Series - a coordinated program offering classroom presentations and discussions by Industry experts to augment design and engineering curricula.
• Precast Industry Field Trips - a coordinated program to provide students with tours and presentations at PCI Producer Member plants and tours to local precast structures.
• Curriculum Resource Kits - specialized assemblies of information, publications, references, and electronic resources, customized to support specific engineering and architectural courses and curricula.

Become a Better Way to Build

Precast concrete systems have unique advantages toward achieving today's societal priorities. Architects, designers, government agencies, and the general public are increasingly seeking an ideal structure that is:

• Sustainable - designed and built in a way that considers regional, global, and long-term impacts as well as local and near-term results, and that utilizes materials and energy intelligently to ensure the availability of sufficient resources to future generations. The recent rise in prominence of the US Green Building Council's LEED rating system is one indicator of this trend. This means, among other things, minimizing the non-renewable material and energy requirements of a structure over its "world life" (spanning materials acquisition, processing, manufacturing, production, construction, service, dismantlement, recycling/disposal). It also means maximizing the service life of the structure, which reduces its average use of resources per year of world life.
• Protective - designed and built to reduce risks to users and occupants, as well as damage to the structure, from natural and man-made challenges (severe weather, biodegradation, physical impact, noise, etc.). Enabling users and occupants of a structure to feel, and actually be, safe and secure is a dimension of value that transcends sustainability. This aspect of design and construction is gaining importance, particularly in the wake of highly destructive hurricanes and tornadoes of recent years.
• Constructible - designed and built to have predominantly positive physical, environmental, and economic impacts in its community during its world life. This means, among other things, construction with minimal traffic disruption, material handling, power and water use, dust, fumes, noise, visual impact, and overall duration. It also means a practical, beautiful structure that harmonizes with its environment and enhances its community. The past decade has seen a renewed sensitivity to community values such as economic and aesthetic impact. The PCI Foundation will facilitate the development of the next generation of sustainable, protective, and constructive precast concrete systems and the enabling technologies to make them practical and economical. This activity will fall into three areas.
• Improve Key Attributes - refine, improve, and/or foster greater awareness of attributes inherent to precast concrete structures that support sustainable, protective, and constructive building systems. These include, but are not limited to:
  • Structural fire resistance (interior, exterior)
  • Structural biodegradation resistance (humidity, pests, mold, rot, etc.)
  • Structural force resistance (wind, seismic, impact, blast, etc.)
  • Operational efficiency (materials and energy required to operate)
  • Maintenance economy (materials and energy required to maintain)
  • Manufacturing control (high-quality, high-precision)
  • Design flexibility (achievable configurations, shapes, surfaces, aesthetics)
• Promote Functional Integration - promote greater integration of precast concrete elements into the broader functional mission of the structure. Leading architects and designers advocating sustainability have produced an impressive degree of functional integration in their designs, but the art is still in its infancy. Precast concrete systems offer the potential for design integration to a degree that is rare today. A few straightforward examples:
  • Structural elements functioning as part of HVAC and energy management systems
  • Plant precision-glazed wall panels to meet stringent energy management requirements
  • Roofing systems designed to accommodate natural lighting and "green" roofs
  • Blast-resistant structures for military and government applications
  • Connection systems that allow economic dismantling and recycling of elements
• Advance Total Design Integration - achieving sustainable, protective, and constructive building systems will require total design integration. This will allow the architect or designer to use systems that have previously been designed and engineered to be integrated, rather than being limited to functionally integrating standard commercially available components and systems, in creating sustainable designs. Realizing total design integration will require unprecedented collaboration among industries within the design and construction community, including development of new products and interface standards. The PCI Foundation will facilitate this process.