Perhaps the most meaningful moment of WOCA 2026 was during a speech by Tom Robl, Ph.D., when he passed the mantle after more than 50 years of leadership. Robl, senior advisor in CAER’s Cementitious Materials Group, stepped down as WOCA conference co-chair, marking the close of a chapter that stretches back to the earliest days of coal combustion products research at UK. Robl arrived at UK as a graduate student in geology in the early 1970s and spent more than 50 years building programs, cultivating partnerships and helping transform what was once a niche industrial concern into a globally recognized field of applied science. Under his leadership, and that of ACAA’s executive director, Tom Adams, WOCA grew from hundreds of attendees to more than 1,000, with countries from around the world recognizing the conference by name.
“Most of the hard work was done in its early formation years. We were meeting new players in the industry for the first time, and we were trying to put together some of our initial agendas,” said Robl. “One of the things we did early on is to try to give the meeting an international flair with frequent international speakers for our plenary session. Over the years, WOCA has developed a life of its own, requiring a lot less work as many people contribute to its format and substance. WOCA has become a forum with university researchers, industry leaders, regulators and innovators all coming together to solve problems and promote our industry. It has been a privilege to participate in this incredibly rewarding enterprise. The success of WOCA has always been about the people — the partnerships, the technical exchange and the willingness to tackle difficult problems together.”
With nearly the entire United States represented, participation from 13 nations, and a cross-sector audience that ranged from federal regulators to startup technology companies, WOCA 2026 demonstrated that the conversation around coal combustion products is as dynamic as ever — and that UK will maintain a leadership position in that conversation going forward.
