The Steel Bridge Task Force, comprised of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA), and the American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) T-14 Technical Committee for Structural Steel Design, announced it has selected Ryan J. Sherman, PhD, PE, assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, as the recipient of the 2023 Robert J. Dexter Memorial Award Lecture. Sherman will present a lecture on his research findings at the next meeting of the Steel Bridge Task Force on September 21, 2023 in Denver.

AISC is pleased to honor more than 130 structural steel fabricators and erectors for their outstanding safety records in 2022.

"The dedicated people who work in fabrication shops and on jobsites across the country are what really sets domestically fabricated structural steel apart,” said AISC Senior Director of Engineering Tom Schlafly. “AISC is proud to recognize those who truly put safety first to protect our industry's greatest asset: talented, passionate workers."

Most of this year’s winners have earned the Institute’s top safety award, the Safety Award of Honor, which is presented for a perfect record of no disabling injuries (DART=0--see below for more info about DART data).

Philip Torchio, former president of Williams Enterprises of Georgia and a prominent contributor to AISC’s Code of Standard Practice for Steel Buildings and Bridges (ANSI/AISC 303), passed on January 21 at his home in Jasper, Ga. He was 73.

AISC has added a new design guide to its library, and it’s all about speed!

Design Guide 38, SpeedCore Systems for Steel Structures gives designers everything they need to take advantage of the nonproprietary concrete-filled composite steel plate shear wall core system that shaved a whopping 10 months off the erection schedule of Seattle’s 58-story Rainier Square. It’s available for download at aisc.org/dg; a printed version will be available in March.

Stanley T. Rolfe, PE, PhD, one of the nation’s leading experts on fracture and fatigue, died January 23, 2023, at age 88.

A graduate of the University of Illinois, Rolfe began his career at U.S. Steel but is best known for the more than four decades he spent as a professor at the University of Kansas. A longtime member of ASTM International and recipient of the 2003 Charles B. Dudley Medal, he served for over 50 years on Committee E08 on Fatigue and Fracture and also contributed to the AASHTO Technical Committee on Steel Design (T-14).

One of three emerging architects’ visions of the future will win $10,000 on March 30--but which will it be?

Tune in live at youtube.com/@aisc at 11:30 a.m. Central on March 30 to watch the 2023 Forge Prize finalists present their ideas to the judges!

The American Institute of Steel Construction’s annual Forge Prize competition celebrates emerging architects who create visionary designs that embrace steel as the primary structural component while exploring ways to increase project speed.

The latest version of the American Institute of Steel Construction’s flagship standard, the Specification for Structural Steel Buildings (ANSI/AISC 360-22), is now available at aisc.org/2022spec.

This document supersedes ANSI/AISC 360-16, and it is the foundation for the forthcoming 16th edition of the Steel Construction Manual, which AISC expects to publish later this year.

The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) proudly support President Joe Biden’s new standards that "All construction materials used in federal projects to be made in America."

The American steel industry produces more than 6 million tons of structural steel in factories around the country and our nearly 1,000 structural steel member fabricators stand ready and able to support this mission for all steel bridge, federal building, and steel-intensive critical infrastructure projects.

Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) has named David E. Eckmann, SE, PE, FAIA its new president. In addition his role as president, Eckmann also serves as the managing principal of MKA’s Chicago office and as a member of MKA’s board of directors.

Eckmann’s qualifications as a licensed architect and structural engineer have positioned his career to bridge the gap between design and function, creating“first-ever” projects that combine architecture and structure.

Since joining MKA in 2005, Eckmann has served a leadership role in more than 100 of the firm’s projects, including Chicago landmarks Aqua Tower, River Point Tower, the Wabash Building at Roosevelt University, The University of Chicago’s Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, and O’Hare International Terminal 5. Eckmann also led structural design for the American headquarters of CoStar and Dominion Energy in Richmond, Virginia; the Mutual of Omaha and Applied Underwriters headquarters in Omaha, Neb.; Northwestern Mutual Life in Milwaukee; and other notable projects.

The jury has spoken, and 10 projects across the country have won 2023 Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel (IDEAS²) Awards!

These awards, presented annually by AISC, are the industry’s most prestigious design honor, recognizing projects that illustrate the exciting possibilities of building with structural steel and highlight the many ways steel can help express architectural intent while harnessing its unique advantages for both simple and complex structural systems.

This year’s winners are an intriguing mix of adaptive reuse and brand-new structures.