The 14th North American Masonry Conference (14NAMC) will include student engagement opportunities at every level, from Kindergarten to PhD! This was made possible by generous funding from the NCMA foundation.

14NAMC will host the inaugural 5-Minute Masonry (5MM) Talk Undergraduate Student Competition on June 11-14, 2023. The first-round finalists are already selected by a jury formed of distinguished individuals from NCMA, IMI, academia, and the masonry industry (see list below).

The judging criteria on the abstracts included: how engaging the selected subject would be in a 5-minute live talk and the quality of the received abstracts.

Congratulations to the first four finalists!

1. Will Pahl, University of Saskatchewan
2. Amanuel Shumuye, Georgia Institute of Technology
3. Alexander Menun, McGill University
4. Tyler Watson, Georgia Institute of Technology

To participate in the second round of the 5MM competition, all undergraduate students are invited to:

1. Pick a topic related to masonry to give a 5-minute masonry (5MM) talk at the conference.
2. Write a 150-word abstract of your 5MM talk.
3. Submit using the form on the 14NAMC Students page by the deadlines.

The deadline for the second round is March 15, 2023. The final four finalists will be announced latest by April 15, 2023. All finalists will be invited conference to perform their 5MM Talk to the jury. Travel support will be provided to all finalists. The top award for the winner is $1,000, and two honorable mentions will also be awarded at $250 each.

*The finalists must be willing to attend the conference in its entirety to be considered for the final prizes.

In addition, graduate students are welcome to join the Graduate Student Research Poster Competition to showcase their work related to masonry. To participate in this competition, all graduate students are invited to:

1. Prepare a poster reflecting MS or Ph.D. work related to masonry (team work from graduate level class projects are also welcome). Poster dimensions must be 22×28 inches.
2. Submit a pdf of your poster with the following file name format: Lastname-14NAMC-GradPoster
3. Submit using the form on the 14NAMC Students page by March 15, 2023.

Five finalists will be selected and invited to the conference. Travel support will be provided to all finalists. The top award is $1,000. In addition, there will be one honorable mention awarded at $250.

Lastly, students of K-12 are invited to make drawings and posters and submit their work! TMS members are called upon to spread the word. Let’s put masonry construction and a career in A/E/C in their young minds!

A jury formed of engineers, architects, and contractors will select the finalists. The finalists’ drawings will be printed and presented at the 14NAMC. During the conference, the attendees will vote on their favorites, and winners and honorable mentions will be determined. For more information on the two levels of K-12 competitions, please visit masonrysociety.org/14namc/students.

5MM Jury Members

1. Nick Lang
2. Jason Thompson
3. Linda Potter
4. Brandon Kreiling
5. Tom Elliott
6. Bobby Chamra

14NAMC Educational Outreach Committee

• Ece Erdogmus‐ Georgia Tech
• Semsi Coskun- Georgia Tech
• Melissa Hoffman‐ University of Nebraska‐Lincoln
• Brandon Kreiling ‐ University of Nebraska‐Lincoln
• Bora Pulatsu‐ Carleton University
• Lisa Feldman- University of Saskatchewan
• Noah Buchanan‐ TMS