Civil engineering graduate student Shayan Khan has received the 2025 American Concrete Institute (ACI) Foundation Concrete Materials Fellowship. With the ACI Fellowship, Khan will expand his own research in concrete durability and have the opportunity to engage with industry and academic experts and industry leaders.
Khan earned a BE in civil engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan in 2023, after which he arrived at the University of Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering to pursue a thesis-based master’s degree in civil engineering. Under the guidance of Professor John Popovics, Khan’s research focuses on multiscale characterizations of rebar corrosion mechanisms in concrete. Using advanced physical, chemical and electrochemical techniques to address knowledge gaps in how cathodic disbondment and crevice corrosion affect longevity, Khan hopes his work will serve to improve material durability in the concrete and cement industry.
The ACI Foundation is a non-profit subsidiary of ACI that promotes progress, innovation and collaboration in the concrete industry through strategic investments in ideas, research and people to create the future of the concrete industry. ACI Fellowships provide students with educational stipends, as well as access to opportunity to attend two ACI Concrete Conventions with all expenses paid.
Also receiving 2025 ACI Awards were civil engineering PhD students Ernesto Perez-Claro and Muhammad Farjad Iqbal, who were awarded an ACI Foundation Fellowship and the Master Builders Solutions Concrete Materials Scholarship, respectively.