Taeyun Kong, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign doctoral student, earned first place in the student poster competition at the National Slag Association Annual Meeting, held Sept. 15-18 in Naples, Florida.
Kong’s winning presentation, “Utilization of Aggregate Quarry By-Product Stabilized with Ladle Furnace Slag for Sustainable Pavement Foundations,” examined using locally available materials such as quarry by-products and ladle furnace slag to build strong pavement foundations while reducing reliance on carbon-intensive materials.
The research builds on an Illinois Center for Transportation and Illinois Department of Transportation project focused on sustainable pavement materials, “R27-248 Investigation of Dolomite Aggregate Long-Term Cementation and Its Potential Advantage for Building Roads.” Kong works on the project with advisor Erol Tutumluer, Abel Bliss Professor in Engineering.
Eight students nationwide were selected to present their work at the meeting, with awards given to the top three presenters.