Hall of Heroes

Christian Pavlidis

Doctoral Student, University of Toronto

2024 Recipient

Christian Pavlidis is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering at the University of Toronto. She assumed responsibility for the 2024 Fellowship “Development of a More Rapid Test for Assessing Sulfate Resistance of Blended Cements and Cement-SCM Mixtures” under the direction of R. Douglas Hooton, Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto. She received her civil engineering MASc and BASc degrees from the University of Toronto as well.

Ms. Pavlidis had previously completed work on a 2021 PCA Fellowship “Maximizing the Performance of High-Limestone Cements,” which was awarded by the Slag Cement Association (SCA) for the innovative use of slag in research. This project explored the synergistic relationship between inter-ground limestone and slag to achieve enhanced concrete durability and comparable long-term compressive strength in comparison with traditional ordinary portland cement. With the growth in availability and production of portland-limestone cements in Canada (GUL, GULb) and the U.S. (Type IL), understanding the potential durability implications of these materials is an important consideration in gaining acceptance for their use in concrete applications.

In 2025, Ms. Pavlidis’ research focuses on improving concrete design approaches for resisting external sulfate attack and the development of performance-based standards for sulfate resistance testing.