{"id":42607,"date":"2026-03-24T11:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/?p=42607"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:05:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:05:59","slug":"taking-concrete-steps-towards-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/research-innovation\/taking-concrete-steps-towards-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking concrete steps towards sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Other than water, Portland cement concrete is the most widely used material on the planet. As such, the materials used to make concrete have vast economic and environmental effects.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Ferraro, Ph.D., is passionate about developing concrete and cement that is stronger, more durable and less impactful on the environment. He\u2019s an associate professor in the University of Florida\u2019s Civil & Coastal Engineering Department, the associate director of UF\u2019s Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment (ESSIE) and a self-described \u201cquintessential tree hugger.\u201d    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a $5 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, a team of researchers from UF, Rutgers University, Oregon State University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology are exploring the viability of using steel slag as an ingredient in cement and concrete. Ferraro is one of the project\u2019s principal investigators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read full story on ESSIE’s website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a $5 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, a team of researchers from UF, Rutgers University, Oregon State University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology are exploring the viability of using steel slag as an ingredient in cement and concrete. ESSIE associate professor Christopher Ferraro, Ph.D., is one of the project\u2019s principal investigators.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":42609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"off","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31,61,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essie","category-research-innovation","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTaking concrete steps towards sustainability - News from Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/research-innovation\/taking-concrete-steps-towards-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taking concrete steps towards sustainability - News from Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a $5 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, a team of researchers from UF, Rutgers University, Oregon State University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology are exploring the viability of using steel slag as an ingredient in cement and concrete. 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