The Masonry Society (TMS) is planning a series of 9 webinars on Special Inspection of Structural Masonry, helpful for anyone who is or plans to become a Structural Masonry Special Inspector (SMSI), or who is otherwise involved with special inspection and testing of masonry. Webinars on the following topics will be presented at 1 pm ET on each Thursday in September and October, by the speakers listed:

• Introduction to Special Inspection, the 2018 IBC, and TMS 402/602, September 5, Phillip Samblanet
• Introduction to Masonry Units, September 12, John Chrysler
• Mortar and Mortar Mixing, September 19, Jamie Farny
• Grout, September 26, Jamie Farny
• Reinforcement and Connectors, October 3, Phillip Samblanet
• Basic Masonry Construction, October 10, John Chrysler
• Reinforcing and Grouting, October 17, Phillip Samblanet
• Hot and Cold Weather Construction, October 24, Jamie Farny
• Testing, October 31, John Chrysler

A 10th webinar on Basic Plan Reading will be considered in November depending on the interest of attendees. Click here for additional information and to register.. 

The 13th North American Masonry Conference (NAMC)  was a tremendous success drawing more than 220 attendees from over 20 countries to hear over 150 technical presentations, 2 excellent keynote presentations, and 17 Innovative Technology presentations. Dr.  Fonseca, Conference Chair, and TMS President Darrell McMillian started the conference with messages to encourage attendees to learn and to get to know one another better. Their frien dly natures set an excellent, positive atmosphere that continued throughout the conference. Click here for a longer report on this effective and enjoyable event. TMS expresses its since thanks  to the Conference Chairs for their excellent leadership,  t o Brigham Young University for hosting the Conference, to the  sponsors and exhibitors for their generous financial support, to authors and presenters for their technical content, and to all attendees, volunteers, and contributors for helping to make the conference a success! 

  

The Masonry Society presented the following awards at the Spring 2019 Meetings and during the 13th North American Masonry Conference. Click on the links to find out more about these awards:

• TMS 2019 Service Award: Julie McMillian
   
• 2018 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Awards
• Ala' Taleb Mufleh Obaidat at Concordia University for "Compressive Behaviour of C-shaped Confined Masonry Boundary Elements"
• Savvas Saloustros at Technical University of Catalonia for "Tracking of Localized Cracks in the Computational Analysis of Masonry Structures" 
• 2018 Outstanding Master's Thesis
• Hannah Keelson at Carleton University for her work "Fire Resistance Quantification of Non-Load Bearing Masonry Walls - Numerical Study"

• James L. Noland Student Scholarship: Samira Rizaee, E.I.T., MSc, PhD Candidate researching Manufactured Thin Stone Bond under the direction of Dr. Nigel Shrive at the University of Calgary
   
• TMS Journal Paper Awards: Outstanding Technical Paper Award Recipients:
• "Analysis of Field-Measured Reversible Deformations in Masonry Cavity Walls", by A. J. Lohonyai, Yassar Korany, and N. Trovato, Published in Vol. 33, No. 1
• "Shear and Tensile Strength Equations for Analysis of Grouted Masonry", by Laura Redmond, Lawrence Kahn, and Reginald DesRoches, published in Vol. 34, No. 1
• Outstanding General Interest Paper Award Recipient: "Anchor Bolt Design Provisions in the TMS 402-16 Code", by Richard M. Bennett, published in Vol. 35, No. 1

• "Finite Element Analysis of Hollow Concrete Block Masonry Walls" by Andrea C. Isfeld, Mark D. Hagel, and Nigel G. Shrive
• "Shake-Table Tests on a URM Building with Chimneys" by Francesco Graziotti, Stylianos Kallioras, and António A. Correia
• "Shake-Table Testing of a Small-Scale Five-Story Confined Masonry Building" by Sergio M. Alcocer and Nina Casas

• "Cyclic In-Plane Testing of Simulated Australian Historical Perforated URM Walls" by Milon K. Howlader, Mark J. Masia, and Michael C. Griffith
• "Evaluation of Macro Models for Masonry-Infilled Reinforced Concrete Frames" by Rajdeep Ghosh and Manish Kumar
• "Seismic Resistance Mechanisms in Partially Grouted Shear Walls with New Design Details" by Arturo E. Schultz and Catherine A. Johnson
• "Strengthened Thin Clay Masonry Infills: In-Plane and Out-of-Plane Experimental Tests" by Massimiliano Minotto, Nicolò Verlato, Marco Donà, Elisa Saler, Francesca da Porto

The Masonry Society is proud to release Assessment and Retrofit of Masonry Structures by Ahmad A. Hamid and Michael Schuller.  This new book is a practical and current guide on evaluating, testing, and repairing existing masonry. Hundreds of color photographs combined with a number of case studies make this book both visually appealing and extremely helpful.

Click here to read more about this exciting and useful new book or to place an order.

The Masonry Society will hold its Annual Meeting from November 6-9 in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona. A preliminary Schedule is being finalized, but a full slate of business meetings, a series of enjoyable events, and a number of excellent educational topics will be presented including:

• Freeze-thaw from the Inside Out, Emma Cardini, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE)
• The Mystery of the Wandering Drip Edge, Robert C. Haukohl, Raths, Raths, & Johnson, Inc.
• The 'Castle' Renovation on the south side of Camelback Mountain, Paul G. Scott, Caruso Turley Scott Structural Engineers
• What's New in LEED v4.1, Christine A. Subasic, C. Callista Subasic
• Design and Construction Guidelines for Dry-Stack Concrete Masonry, David Biggs, Biggs Consulting Engineering
• Surprising Masonry, Scott Walkowicz, Walkowicz Consulting Engineers
• Hygrothermal Performance of Mass Masonry Walls Based on In-Situ Testing and Numerical Modeling, Patrick B. Dillon, WDP & Associates
• Revit Plug-In for BIM-M, Jamie L. Davis, Ryan Biggs | Clark Davis Engineering & Surveying
• Code and Design Poll with Q & A, Dick Bennett, University of Tennessee and Dave Pierson, ARW Engineers

Watch TMS's Website for additional information on the meetings and to register later this summer. 

At the request of the Sustainability Committee, The Masonry Society's Board of Directors has disbanded that Committee and has formed a new broader Building Performance Committee. This new Committee, that will initially be Chaired by John Civitillo will address high-performance building design with masonry through sustainability, resilience, and energy performance.Additional information on the new Committee is posted here. Those interested in serving on this new Committee should apply here.   

The Masonry Society (TMS) is accepting applications for the 2019 Clayford T. Grimm P.E. Student Scholarship until July 31, 2019. 

Upstate Masonry Institute (UMI), based out of Upstate New York is looking to grow its collection of masonry educators, advocates, professionals. UMI would like to collaborate within the masonry community on a national level to keep education content fresh for its target audience of Architects, Engineers, Real Estate Developers and Construction Companies. You must have the ability to create and deliver the presentations (IE: life cycle, sustainability, energy.) If programs and presentations are already created, please provide list of topics. We can never have too many... The more the merrier.

*Upstate Masonry Institute will compensate individual for time, travel and expenses*

Click here to submit information and/or questions.

Dr. James Mwangi, Professor of Architectural Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, has been promoted to the position Associate Dean for Program Support and Operations for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. Mwangi serves on TMS's Board of Directors, and is a past member of the Technical Activities Committee.

Jeffrey F. Speck of Arcosa Lightweight was awarded the 2019 Cedric Wilson Lightweight Aggregate Concrete Award by ACI for outstanding leadership and contributions in the design, implementation, and use of lightweight aggregate in concrete and masonry. Speck is outgoing Chair of ACI-TMS Committee 122, Energy Efficiency of Concrete and Masonry Systems and a member of the ACI-TMS Committee 216, Fire Resistance & Fire Protection of Structures.

Sergio M. Alcocer, Research Professor at the Institute of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, was awarded the 2019 Charles S. Whitney Medal by ACI for outstanding contributions to improving the seismic safety of buildings in developing countries through the development of seismic codes and design practices, as well as leadership to improve governmental policies.

Lisa R. Feldman has been promoted to full Professor at the University of Sakatchewan Department of Civil & Geological Engineering. Feldman is an Associate Editor of TMS Journal.

Member

Gregory P. Baenziger, HR Green Inc.

Amanda Bedian, Upstate Masonry Institute

James Bristow, NOVA Geotechnical and Inspection Services

Nicole Byl, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates

Giuliana Cardani, DIS - Politecnico di Milano

Nathan T. Charlton, SE-Charlton Consulting

Matthew DeJong, University of California Berkeley

William Dery, The Vertex Companies, Inc.

Jordan C. Dick, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger

Barıs Erdil, Van Yuzuncu Yil University

Kenneth E. Fricke, Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC

Michele Godio, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne/Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics

Robert Haupt, Mason and Hanger

John Headland, Shutler Consulting Engineers

Stephen Hunt, BlockUp

Johnn P. Judd, University of Wyoming

Hemant B. Kaushik, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

Shawn Kolterman, Kehm Contractors

Adam John Lohonyai, Origin and Cause

Erik Masitis, EJM Engineering, LLC.

Nathan Matthews, General Shale

Juan Jose Perez-Gavilan, Universidad Nacional Autonma de Mexico

Jacob Peterson, Roofing Consultants Ltd

Arezoo Razavizadeh

Brett Robinson, JVA, Inc.

Paul Self, ValCon Masonry, Inc.

Daniel Shewbridge, Architecture, Inc.

James Tworek, The PEER Group Architects

Chris Zweifel, ZZ Consulting

 

Junior

Taylor James Cox, Applied Building Sciences

 

Student

Olaniyi Arowojolu, University of Idaho

Amr Ba Rahim, University of Alberta

Nina Casas, Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Odin Guzman Sanchez, University of Alberta

Corine Lara, University of Texas at Arlington

Stephen Mitchell, Mitchell Engineering

Anthony Noto, University of Florida

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