An advanced, graduate-level course forced on understanding the micro-and nonstructural development and behavior of cementitious materials, particularly regarding portland cements. Topics covered include cement production, cement composition, hydration reactions and kinetics, microstructure development, cement-aggregate bonding, and the interfacial transition zone, effects of chemical admixtures and supplementary cementitious materials, and alternative cementitious systems. Applications of characterization techniques (such as X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance) to cementitious materials will also be discussed.

• Understand the fundamental reactions and mechanisms governing the micro- and nanostructure development in portland cement composites
• Analyze how and why chemical and mineral additional to mortars and concretes will affect the microstructure development of and change the engineering properties of the material.
• Conceptualize tan experimental program to be able to t interrogate the microstructure to better explain engineering performance.
• Evaluate and critique the research methodology and experimental methods from recent scholarly publications.

• Alexander S. Brand