A message from AISC President, Charlie Carter

How smart were the people who first collaborated and undertook the early success of AISC! Among the many organizational needs to be met at the birth of our Institute, they saw three foundational tools they needed to create: a standard for design, a standard agreement for contracting, and a reference to simplify and streamline the design process. They also saw the value in having groups of experts involved--and leading minds from the design community and construction industry rose to the challenge.

• In 1923, the first AISC Specification was written by a committee of five: George Swain, professor of civil engineering, Harvard University; Milo S. Ketchum, dean of the College of Engineering, University of Illinois; E. R. Graham of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, architects, Chicago; W. J. Thomas, chief engineer, George P. Post and Sons, architects, New York; and Wilbur J. Watson, president of the Watson Engineering Company, Cleveland.
• That was followed in 1924 by the first AISC Code of Standard Practice, which was written by a committee chaired by W. M. Wood of the Mississippi Valley Structural Steel Co., Decatur, Illinois.
• The AISC staff and these committees also collaborated to create Steel Construction, a precursor to the AISC Manual, which would blossom in its still-familiar form later in the 1920s.

Our forebears truly were brilliant and visionary -- they invented tools we all still use on every project today! And their legacy is carried on today by their successors.

The current AISC Committee on Specifications is led by Chair James O. Malley, Degenkolb Engineers, San Francisco, and Vice Chair Scott Armbrust, LeJeune Steel Company, Minneapolis. They lead the 60-person committee, which deliberates in a balanced process following ANSI consensus procedures.

The current AISC Committee on the Code of Standard Practice is led by Chair Babette Freund, Dave Steel Company, Asheville, N.C., and Vice Chair William Andrews, consultant, San Francisco. They lead the 25-person committee, which also deliberates in a balanced process following ANSI consensus procedures.

And the AISC Committee on Manuals is led by Chair Mark Holland, Paxton & Vierling Steel Company, Omaha, Neb., and Vice Chair Gary Violette, Violette Engineers, Windsor, Conn. They lead the 34-person committee, which is composed of designers, fabricators, educators, and others with an interest in design and construction.

These groups are not alone, either. All told, there are 541 volunteers engaged in 81 committees that make all of our information and activities across AISC and NSBA possible. Truly, they carry on the spirit, achievement, and example set so well so long ago as they share their time, wisdom, experience, and expertise. They’re listed below. I thank and recognize all for their contributions to the betterment of our profession, our industry, and our Institute!