MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s Brandon Cruz Campero, a concrete industry management student, recently won a top “Sustainability in Concrete” scholarship from CarbonCure, an industry leader in sustainable concrete and building practices.

Now in its fourth year, CarbonCure’s scholarship program awarded $2,000 each to Campero and his four fellow scholarship recipients.

“Through their concrete-focused coursework and industry experiences, (recipients) highlighted practical, scalable solutions to reduce embodied carbon without compromising performance,” stated CarbonCure’s announcement of the winners from across the country and Canada. “This cohort was chosen for their forward-thinking ideas and passion for concrete innovation.”

Originally from Shelbyville, Tennessee, Campero detailed in his scholarship application how he envisions the concrete industry as a catalyst for better sustainability practices.

“Being the first cog in a much larger machine to reduce emissions could help trigger a cultural and operational shift across construction,” he said.

Campero witnessed this possibility firsthand during an internship with the research and development team at Ozinga, a construction materials and logistics company and CarbonCure producer partner.

CarbonCure and Ozinga both work on “carbon mineralization” innovations — a technology that captures carbon dioxide and injects it into fresh concrete mix. The added carbon dioxide then reacts with the mix and “mineralizes,” staying permanently embedded in the concrete and removed from the air, offsetting both carbon emissions from the construction process and optimizing the concrete quality.

“The carbon mineralization innovations are a significant leap in the right direction in the industry,” Campero said, while also acknowledging that meaningful change and adoption of the environmental tech will take time, education, collaboration and persistence to become a reality.

CarbonCure scholarship winners are chosen from the select pool of Concrete Industry Management-affiliated, or CIM-affiliated, institutions, of which MTSU is one of only five in the country.

In addition, of the company’s nine-person scholarship selection committee, two are alumni of MTSU’s CIM program, Rhett Dunlap and Erik Wallin.

“We continue to be proud of our graduates and the work they do during their time here with us and beyond,” said Jon Huddleston, the MTSU CIM program director. “Our goal continues to be to produce graduates on the cutting-edge of this industry who will then pour back into the economic growth and overall flourishing of our community through this essential field of concrete management.”

Learn more about MTSU’s School of Concrete and Construction Management at https://ccm.mtsu.edu/.

— Stephanie Wagner (Stephanie.Wagner@mtsu.edu)