3rd Annual Gerald D. Holder Endowed Distinguished Lecture

Please join the Swanson School of Engineering community for the 2026 Gerald D. Holder Endowed Distinguished Lecture on Friday, October 16 at 10:00 a.m. in 229 Benedum Hall. The lecture series, which rotates annually between each of the school’s six departments, is this year presented by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and its Chair, Vikas Khanna.

The 2026 Distinguished Lecturer is Paulo J. M. Monteiro, the Roy W. Carlson Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, who will present 2,000 Years of Concrete Technology: From Roman Concrete to Plasma Cement.

Light refreshments will be served.

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Abstract

The manufacture of cement is responsible for roughly 7% of global CO2 emissions; if the cement industry were a country, it would rank among the four largest emitters in the world. Decarbonizing concrete is therefore one of the major materials challenges of this century. This lecture examines that challenge from two perspectives separated by nearly 2,000 years. Synchrotron-based techniques are revealing how ancient Roman concretes developed long-term durability and continued to evolve over centuries, absorbing atmospheric CO2 and locking it into the binder as stable minerals. These observations point to mechanisms of durability and carbon uptake that can guide the design of modern cementitious materials. The lecture will then present microwave-induced plasma processing as a route to electrified, lower-carbon cement manufacture. Clinker-forming reactions that take hours in a conventional kiln are completed in seconds.

Biography
Paulo J. M. Monteiro is the Roy W. Carlson Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and holds the Ary Torres Chair at the Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, he has received the ACI Wason Medal for Materials Research, the Stephen Brunauer Award (twice), and the Prêmio Ary Torres for his research. He is co-author of the textbook Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials, published in seven languages and cited more than 16,000 times in its English edition alone. His research addresses the two central challenges of the world's most-used building material: improving its long-term durability and reducing its carbon footprint. His group is currently developing plasma-induced microwave processing for cement production. He received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and was a Fulbright scholar at the Politecnico di Milano.

Presented in Honor of Gerald D. Holder, PhD

A gift from Diane P. and Gerald (Jerry) D. Holder established this annual lecture series at the Swanson School in 2023.

For two decades as U. S. Steel Dean of Engineering at the Swanson School of Engineering, Gerald D. Holder led its growth as one of the top 25 public engineering programs.

Dean Emeritus Holder earned his bachelor's in chemistry from Kalamazoo College, and his bachelor's, master's and PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan. His research focus area is the phase behavior of natural gasses & petroleum with emphasis on natural gas hydrates. He joined the chemical engineering faculty at Columbia University in New York City in 1976 and served in that capacity until 1979, when he came to the University of Pittsburgh. He served as Chair of Chemical Engineering from 1987-95 and became Dean of Engineering in 1996. In these leadership roles, Holder fostered the development of programs in bioengineering, polymers, environment and energy, manufacturing, and materials.

At Pitt, he has received awards for his research and teaching, including the School of Engineering Award for Outstanding Research and the Board of Visitors Faculty Award. His regional and national accomplishments include the William Metcalf Award for Lifetime Achievement in Engineering from the Engineering Society of Western Pennsylvania; Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities; and a General Motors Scholar.

To mark his 20th anniversary as Dean of the Swanson School, former Provost Patricia Beeson appointed him as a Distinguished Service Professor, a title that recognizes distinctive contributions and outstanding service (e.g., professional, regional. national, international) to the University community in support of its multifaceted teaching, research, and service mission, as well as performance excellence and national stature in his discipline.