Research Associate Professor and Constructed Facilities Laboratory Manager Greg Lucier (BSCON 2004, MSCE 2006, Ph.D. 2012) was named 2024 Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) Educator of the Year. The award was presented in early February at the PCI Annual Membership Meeting and Luncheon during the PCI Convention in Denver, Colorado.
The award recognizes Lucier’s “fundamental commitment to fostering innovative education and his ability to facilitate creative exploration among his undergraduate and graduate students,” according to a release from ACI.
“I think this award is first and foremost a very positive reflection on all of the outstanding students that I have had the pleasure of working with thus far in my career,” Lucier said. “It is a tremendous privilege to advise and to teach the many talented undergraduate and graduate students that have come through our laboratories, classrooms and research programs. In addition, I am grateful to PCI, and to the many talented and dedicated people and companies associated with the organization, for supporting my research and teaching efforts over many years.”
Lucier co-teaches a course titled “Creations in Concrete,” which intergrates architecture and a civil engineering instructional project. Students are exposed to the precast concrete industry, with activities including tours of precast concrete plants, casting and testing of architectural precast concrete elements, and the design of structures using precast concrete elements. Lucie also acts as an advisor/mentor to students participating in PCl’s Big Beam competition, and provides guidance to master’s and doctoral students working on research in precast concrete. As a mentor and adviser, Lucier advocates for rational and simplified approaches to design, stressing the need for research to be accessible and useful to those implementing designs.
Lucier’s students note that they are inspired by his unwavering belief in the adage “there’s always a way” to find solutions to challenging research questions, according to PCI’s release. Lucier has demonstrated this belief as a contributor to several significant precast concrete research projects. Findings from those projects have been published in the PCI Journal and other peer-reviewed publications, implemented in the PCJ Design Handbook: Precast and Prestressed Concrete, and referenced in the American Concrete Institute’ s Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary.
Lucier has been a PCI member for nearly 20 years and has served on the FRP Composites Committee since 2021. He previously served on the PCI Blue Ribbon Committee that reviewed the eighth edition of the PCI Design Handbook.
A version of this story was first published by PCI in PCI Journal.