Berkeley Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) Assistant Professor Franco Zunino has received a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award for his project, “CAREER: Revealing the Initial Chemical Reactions in Blended Cements to Strengthen Domestic Cement Supply Chains.”Funded through the NSF’s Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (ECI) program, part of the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), the five-year award was secured on his very first submission. This milestone follows his prestigious Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Starting Grant awarded in 2024, establishing an exceptional early-career track record on both sides of the Atlantic.
Professor Zunino’s project tackles a vital environmental and economic bottleneck: while the cement industry accounts for roughly 8% of global manmade CO2 emissions, domestic U.S. production cannot keep pace with demand, forcing a heavy reliance on foreign imports. His research focuses fundamentally on the first 24 hours of cement hydration, the critical window where the material transitions from a fluid suspension to a solid and dictates its long-term durability. To solve engineering hurdles like sudden flowability loss in alternative binders, Zunino’s team will deploy groundbreaking analytical methods using advanced high-field solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (ssNMR). By synthesizing custom raw materials enriched with non-radioactive isotopes like silicon-29, calcium-43, and sulfur-33, they will track individual atomic reactions in an unaltered state for the first time in cement science, providing the foundational insights required to confidently scale sustainable, locally sourced infrastructure materials
The award also features a comprehensive education and mentoring plan, including updates to Berkeley’s undergraduate materials curriculum, an expanded advanced characterization module for graduate students, and the launch of a biennial summer doctoral school to engage with regional cement startups. Zunino will also produce short animated tech videos to introduce cement chemistry and isotope tracking in ssNMR measurements to high-school students and the general public. For more details, view the official NSF Award Announcement (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award?AWD_ID=2540556)
Congratulations to Professor Zunino on this outstanding achievement!