Due to the concerns raised by some of the CMI alumnus who are currently PhD students in abroad universities regarding the title of the CANMET/ACI Conference in Dubai, changes to the conference website and also in the letter head have been made.
Here is the letter sent by Rouhollah Alizadeh to CANMET/ACI's chairperson, Dr. Malhotra:
"Dear Dr. Malhotra,
We recently received the announcement for one of the CANMET/ACI conference series entitled **CANMET/ACI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCES IN CONCRETE TECHNOLOGY IN THE ARABIAN GULF U.A.E. ** to be held from November 19 to 20, 2008. Having such a quality conference organized in this region is very important viewing the enormous concrete construction projects. The hot weather and the aggressive marine environment significantly affect the performance of the concrete structures. Your efforts in this regard would definitely increase the awareness among civil engineers and research bodies in terms of concrete materials.
There is, however, one issue that is of our concern. The title of conference, that traditionally does not include the location where it is held, ends spuriously with the bogus name of "Arabian Gulf" (as included in the enclosed flyer and on the website www.canmet.org). This alternative name has never been existed to officially refer to the Gulf region and has only been adopted by some Arab countries. The true name is **Persian Gulf**. Any other fake title (such as Arabian Gulf) that is contrary to the UN documents cannot be accepted [1-3]. Most recently, at the Twenty-third session of the United Nations in March-April 2006, the name "Persian Gulf" was confirmed again as the legitimate and official term to be used by members of the United Nations [4].
We regret to see that the true spirit of the research is influenced politically and CANMET/ACI that has always conducted pure scientific activities is dishonestly manipulated by the host country. We, therefore, request that you kindly take any possible action to resolve the issue.
References:
[1] http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/maplib/docs/escwa.pdf
[2] http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/iran.pdf
[3] http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/westasia.pdf
[4] http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/gegn23wp61.pdf
Sincerely yours.
- Rouhollah Alizadeh - PhD Candidate, University of Ottawa, Canada
- Mehdi Bakhshi - Graduate Research Associate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Arizona State University
- Amir Bonakdar – Graduate Research Associate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Arizona State University
- Mehdi Chini - PhD Student, Institute of Materials, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
- Pouria Ghods - PhD Candidate, Carleton University, Canada
- Meghdad Hosseini - PhD Student, CNRL Natural Resources Engineering Facility, University of Alberta
- Mohammad Shekarchizadeh – Ing civ Dipl UT, Ir/ Dr. Sc. techn. Insa de Lyon, Fr., Assistant Professor Director of Construction Materials Institute (CMI), University of Tehran, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering"
Here is the official response from CANMET/ACI's chairperson, Dr. Malhotra:
"Dear Dr. Rouhollah,
In view of the concerns you have raised regarding the title of the above conference, we have made changes to our website and also in the letter head. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Sincerely yours."