Edward K. Rice
Chairman
CTS Cement Manufacturing

For more than 50 years, Edward K. Rice has been developing new methods in concrete and building technology, has been a successful executive, and has championed efforts to solve problems of urban blight and substandard housing. Ed holds 26 patents, among them his widely used system for stacking table-like modules to build de-mountable, efficient parking structures. He also invented the single-strand post tensioning system.

Ed started his academic career at UC Berkeley in 1943, and after one semester enlisted in the Army Air Corps, where as a 2nd Lieutenant he flew as navigator on a B 24 bomber. After the war, he earned his BS and MS from UC Berkeley, accomplished PhD work at UCLA, and served as a lecturer in 1951-1954 and an adjunct professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department from 1986-1990.

As an undergraduate, Ed and other students formed a small construction company. Upon liquidating their business at graduation, Ed used his earnings to travel to Europe to witness and learn from the postwar rebuilding effort.

In the early 1950s, he and UC Berkeley professor TY Lin formed a successful engineering firm TY Lin and Associates, where he was President for 17 years.

In the 1960s, Ed created a system for rehabilitating New York City tenement housing, where tenants would have to vacate a five story building for only 48 hours for renovations to be completed. Such contributions earned him appointment to the Presidential Commission on Low Income Housing.

Ed was involved in design of over 400 structures nationwide, including the six parking garages to the Promenade in Santa Monica, the United American terminals in LAX, half of the original Houston Space Center buildings, the Los Angeles World Trade Center and Sacramento’s Downtown Plaza. Currently Ed is Chairman of CTS Cement Manufacturing Company, the producer of Rapid Set cement.

Ed has received many awards including the UC Berkeley Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 1987, induction to the Post Tensioning Hall of Fame in 2005, the UCLA Engineering Service Award in 2002, and the UCLA Lifetime Contribution Award in 2013. He is a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineering and the American Concrete Institute, and an honorary member of ASTM Committee C1 on cement.

Ed has been an active supporter of UCLA Engineering, funding several engineering scholarships, the UCLA Outstanding Student Awards, and the Edward K. Rice Room. He initiated and funded the oral history project, resulting in 25 taped interviews with current and past faculty.