Fiona Higham (CivE Year 3), is the first Canadian winner of a Sustainability in Concrete Scholarship. In collaboration with the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) Program, CarbonCure Technologies recently announced the recipients of its 2025-2026 awards.
Fiona, pursuing a minor in Environmental Engineering, aspires to work in transportation engineering or construction, applying sustainable, low-carbon practices in infrastructure projects. In her submission, she reflected on the industry’s potential for progress: “I believe the concrete industry innovations to reduce emissions can serve as an example to the other industries as well.”
Having grown up in Oakville, Ontario, Fiona has seen firsthand how essential concrete infrastructure is to growing communities. She emphasized emissions can be reduced “through the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and the widespread use of carbon capture technology.” Drawing from her experience leading the University of Toronto Concrete Canoe Team, Fiona shared how “small tweaks and optimization of the SCMs in our mix allowed us to completely eliminate the use of Portland Cement, effectively reducing emissions,” adding that similar adjustments at scale could meaningfully move the needle.
Now in its fourth year, the scholarship continues to support outstanding student leaders who are motivated to advance sustainability in the industry.
Chosen for their forward-thinking ideas and passion for concrete innovation, this 2026 cohort includes five U.S. undergraduate students and one Canadian undergrad. Each has been awarded a $2,000 scholarship. While the program was previously limited to CIM students only, this marks the first year the scholarship has also been awarded to a student from Canada, reflecting CarbonCure’s roots and HQ in Halifax, Nova Scotia and growing cross-border momentum behind lower-carbon concrete solutions across North America.
Through their concrete-focused coursework and industry experiences, each scholarship application highlighted practical, scalable solutions to reduce embodied carbon without compromising performance. Key themes included mix optimization, expanded use of supplementary cementitious materials, lifecycle analysis, carbon mineralization technologies like CarbonCure and durability-focused design that ensures long-term resilience in the field.
This year’s recipients are:
- Evan Almeida of Texas State University,
- Kate Connor of South Dakota State University,
- Brandon Cruz Campero of Middle Tennessee State University,
- Fiona Higham of the University of Toronto,
- Iyanna Lloyd of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and
- Mario Melo of California State University, Chico.