ABOUT ACI
Introduction
The Institute is a global, non-concerned, leading institution in the field of development and publishing in all areas of material use, such as design and implementation. The Institute was established in 1904, its headquarters are in Michigan, USA, and it has a regional office in Dubai, UAE. The institute has more than 94 branches, 260 student branches, and their number is thirty thousand, from more than 120 countries. The report gives a brief overview of the Iraq branch of the Institute of History: the idea, the establishment, and the most important of them the activities carried out.
The Iraq Branch of the American Institute: Idea and Foundation
Since its inception, the Teacher Institute has been striving to build for specialists, specialists and specialists in vocational education and training. The idea of establishing a branch in Iraq was based on materials from one of the professors in the field, which is d. Riyad Al-Muhaidi when he spoke in one of his lectures in late 2012 about the communication of professors and students with correspondence with international scientific organizations. It was the UNESCO program to rehabilitate higher education in Iraq that started in 2011 and ended in 2016.
In 2013, the professor at the University of Kufa, Dr. Ali Nagy, educator, American president, educator, educator, educator, educator, educator. After that, the steps required to establish a branch in Iraq followed, the most important of which is submitting an official request from 25 members of the Institute who live in the area in which the branch is to be opened. The American Institute approved the establishment of the Iraq branch in August 2013 through the e-mail address shown in Appendix-1. The American Institute invited Professor Dr. Riyad Al-Mehaidi and Dr. Ali Naji Attia to attend his global conference held in Arizona, USA in October 2013 to announce the establishment of a branch in Iraq as shown in Figure (1).
Figure (1): Announcing the opening of the Iraq branch of the American Concrete Institute
Figure (2): Pictures of the winning students published in (Concrete International Magazine)
Activities of the Iraq branch of the American Concrete Institute
The activities of the Iraq branch of the American Concrete Institute were launched after many professors and engineers joined it, in various academic fields and in the field of work as well. These activities varied in different fields, such as giving lectures, training workshops, student competitions, and others. The following paragraphs summarize the most important activities:
1- Lectures and training workshops
Several lectures are organized every year to develop capabilities on the one hand and to exchange knowledge between academic institutions and the field of work on the other hand. Experts from the field of work are invited to give lectures to professors and students in universities, and professors from universities take the initiative to give lectures to engineers in the field of work. Training workshops were also held for engineers on important topics, including the workshop organized by the National Center for Engineering Consultations at the Ministry of Construction, Housing, Municipalities and Public Works in 2017 about earthquakes after the Halabja earthquake in November 2017.
2- Student competition for the graduation project
One of the main goals of establishing a branch of the American Concrete Institute in Iraq is the communication of Iraqi students with international scientific organizations. One of the methods of communication is to encourage students to have free membership in the aforementioned institute and to conduct concrete activities for them to be published in international publications. One of the important activities that started with the establishment of the Iraqi branch is the organization of an annual competition for final stage graduation projects whose theme revolves around concrete. The aforementioned goal was actually achieved when the “Concrete International” magazine published by the American Concrete Institute published a report on the three winning projects in the competition that was organized in 2015, Figure (2).
3- Certificate Granting Program
The American Concrete Institute seeks to develop the capabilities of engineers and technicians working in the field of quality control of the concrete sector. The effectiveness of this vital material depends largely on its quality, so the Iraqi members of the American Concrete Institute were keen to transfer this experience to Iraq. One of the professors at the University of Technology, Dr. Maan Salman Hassan, took the initiative to communicate with a donor organization to send a group of professors from the aforementioned university to the American Concrete Institute and train them there. After that, two programs will begin to grant a certificate in soft concrete tests and another in the field of investigation, Figure (3). Thus, an opportunity was provided for Iraqi engineers to obtain an international certificate instead of traveling to other countries to obtain it.
Figure (3): Examination of engineers to grant them a certificate from the American Concrete Institute
Figure (4): Signing a memorandum of understanding with the Iraqi Engineers Association
Figure (5): Reward for the winning project in the Graduation Projects Competition by the Captain of Engineers
4- Cooperation with the Engineers Syndicate
Developing the professional capabilities of Iraqi engineers in the various fields of concrete requires building relationships with the main organizations in the country, including the Iraqi Engineers Association.
Dr. initiated Khader, a member of the American Concrete Institute and an Iraqi expert in the private sector, led to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Iraqi Engineers Union and the Iraqi branch of the American Concrete Institute, Figure (4). This was the beginning of fruitful cooperation in many fields, such as holding workshops and scientific seminars, as well as supporting the graduation project competition for students, as the Syndicate allocates cash rewards annually for the projects that win the competition, Figure (5).
5- Issuing the American Concrete Institute blog in Arabic
The ACI 318 Concrete Building Design Code issued by the American Concrete Institute is one of the most important international standards approved in many countries, including Iraq. The American Concrete Blog is the main source for teaching concrete designs in Iraqi engineering colleges from their inception until now. On the other hand, it is the approved specifications for the design and implementation of concrete structures of all kinds in Iraq. This important document was issued in several languages, including Spanish, Chinese and Korean, and in July 2021, the American Concrete Institute signed an agreement with the Iraq branch to issue this document in Arabic to facilitate the access of knowledge to engineers in the Arab world, Appendix -2-. One of the Iraqi professors, Dr. Saad Al-Taan, a former professor at the University of Mosul, called for the formation of a committee of Iraqi professors and engineers to translate the American blog into Arabic. Professor Saad Al-Taan was one of the first to write methodological books on reinforced concrete designs, and his book has been approved by many Iraqi universities since the nineties of the last century.
6- Partnership agreement with the Ministry of Construction, Housing, Municipalities and Public Works
The American Concrete Institute is keen to extend bridges of cooperation with governmental and non-governmental organizations in all countries of the world to achieve the goals for which it was founded. In order to increase cooperation with Iraq, the aforementioned institute sought to sign a partnership agreement with the most important ministry concerned with construction projects that use concrete. One of the ministry’s engineers, Dr. Suhair Al-Haboubi, who works in the Building Research Department, requested coordination with the Iraq branch to conclude an international partnership agreement between the American Concrete Institute and the Ministry of Construction, Housing, Municipalities and Public Works, as the agreement was signed in December 2022, Figure (6).
Figure (6): Signing an international partnership agreement between the American Concrete Institute and the Ministry of Construction and Housing