January 9, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO - At engineering firms, fabrication shops, and erectors across the country, new project managers are tackling novel challenges every day.

The American Institute of Steel Construction’s new three-year Career Accelerator Program with Steel (or CAPS) is designed to help them hone their leadership skills while building valuable connections with other project managers throughout the structural steel industry.

Applications for the inaugural cohort are due February 15, 2024.

“As our long-tenured, experienced team members retire, we’re losing a lot of knowledge that you don’t find in textbooks or e-learning sites or in YouTube videos. All of that knowledge is walking out the door,” said Schuff Steel Senior Vice President of Fabrication Chris Crosby, who chairs the subcommittee that developed the program. “There’s a need for experienced people right now and a void on the teaching and training side. CAPS aims to fill that hole.”

Each year, a cohort of 60 CAPS Fellows will begin a course of specialized training during NASCC: The Steel Conference that is specifically designed to position them for success in their careers.

Crosby noted that the Steel Conference is an ideal place to build these connections. “There’s a lot of learning that goes on outside of the sessions, when you’re sitting having a boxed lunch with someone you don’t know. Twenty years later, I still call the people I’ve met that way if I have a specific question,” he said. “We’ve designed the program to have a specific cohort that stays together for multiple years in order to foster the development of those relationships as well as the organic learning that makes the conference so valuable.”

CAPS Fellows receive complimentary registration for NASCC: The Steel Conference throughout the program. The program is free, and it is open to all AISC full members and domestic associate, affiliate, and professional members.

Further information, the full 2024 course list, and the application form are available at aisc.org/caps.