Innovation abounds in the structural steel industry, and the American Institute of Steel Construction is honoring 10 leaders in the design, construction industry, and education fields at this year’s NASCC: The Steel Conference.

“It’s getting crowded on the cutting edge,” said AISC President Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD. “These 10 people have made extraordinary contributions to the present--and future--of America’s built environment.”

The presentations will take place at 8:00 a.m. Central on Wednesday, March 20, during the opening session of NASCC: The Steel Conference in San Antonio. AISC will also present its highest design honor, the J. Lloyd Kimbrough Award, to Michael A. Grubb, PE; the T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award to Benjamin W. Schafer, PE, PhD; and the Milek Fellowship to Mohannad Zeyad (M.Z.) Naser, PE, PhD. 2024 Lifetime Achievement Awards

Nima Balasubramanian, Registered Architect, has joined the American Institute of Steel Construction as the Institute's first director of market development for architecture.

Balasubramanian will lead the development of AISC initiatives for steel architecture design, research, and innovation as the Institute works to build resources for and partnerships within the architecture community. She will lead a team of architects at AISC’s forthcoming architecture center, which will serve designers as the ultimate resource for all things structural.

Can't join the thousands of steel industry professionals gathering in San Antonio next month for NASCC: The Steel Conference?

Great news: You can tune in live from your home or office! Choose from more than 50 streaming sessions to get the must-have, practical information conference attendees rely on through AISC's popular NASCC Online streaming service, which returns March 20 to 22!

NASCC Online participants can earn PDHs for live-streamed sessions, and they get access to the session archives after the conference, as well.

AISC is honoring more than 180 structural steel fabricators and erectors with a Safety Award for their outstanding safety records in 2023.

The majority of this year’s Safety Award recipients will get the Safety Award of Honor, AISC's top safety honor.

"Avoiding accidents is not an accident," said AISC Senior Director of Engineering Tom Schlafly. "Structural steel fabrication shops and construction sites are busy places with many activities occurring simultaneously. Skill, experience, and planning are required to accomplish those activities safely. AISC is proud of those companies whose employees worked through 2023 with few or no Days Away, Restricted, or Transfer (DART) injuries."

The AISC Education Foundation is pleased to announce that Degenkolb Engineers’ Ahmad Hassan has received the second-ever Reidar Bjorhovde Outstanding Young Professional Award.

Hassan graduated from the University of California, Davis, with his PhD in structural engineering in December 2022. Shortly thereafter, he went to work at Degenkolb Engineers.

He will kick off his upcoming year of steel industry exposure in March at NASCC: The Steel Conference, where he will receive recognition and connect with industry leaders and peers. Later this year, Hassan will visit a structural steel mill and fabrication shop to get an up-close look at the process before joining AISC at its November Task Committee meetings in Chicago.

AISC will present the J. Lloyd Kimbrough Award--which recognizes the pre-eminent steel designers of their era--to bridge industry legend Michael A. Grubb, PE, executive director at M.A. Grubb & Assoc., LLC.

Grubb is just the 13th person to receive the Kimbrough Award since 1941. Previous recipients include Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Fazlur R. Khan, Leslie E. Robertson, John Kulicki, and, most recently, David I. Ruby.

"It’s hard to overstate Mike's contribution to American infrastructure over his career," said AISC President Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD. "He's been a relentless contributor, and nobody can communicate the big picture and the details behind it better. AISC is proud to recognize his accomplishments."

Jim Harris, W&W | AFCO Steel's senior vice president for bridge contracts, died February 6 while on a business trip in Alabama. He was 63.

Harris was a regular presenter at National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) steel bridge forums throughout the country. He also frequently spoke at the World Steel Bridge Symposium, held annually at NASCC: The Steel Conference. He represented W&W | AFCO at many steel bridge industry meetings and was an involved industry partner.

The Steel Erectors Association of America (SEAA) will hold its Convention and Trade Show April 2-5, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. at The Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa. The event will feature several education sessions, networking opportunities, the George R. Pocock Memorial Golf Tournament, a pickleball tournament, and more.

“Attending and exhibiting at SEAA’s convention is an investment in time and money, but members tell us that participation makes it possible to meet people and learn about industry trends and products that will shape your company for the future,” said Kathy Epperson, SEAA events and digital content manager.

In the light-filled rotunda of the Milwaukee School of Engineering's (MSOE) Grohmann Museum, eight stained-glass windows tell an evolutionary story. Each colorful panel depicts a gritty moment in industrial history, from early blacksmithing and quarrying to one of the first iterations of metallurgical engineering--and each echoes a masterwork housed in the museum's galleries.

"These works are at once fine art and documents of the history of technology," Museum Director James Kieselburg said. "We can see exactly what iron smelting looked like in 1600."

Everyone is talking about collaboration these days, but is everyone on your project team defining it the same way?

AISC and AIA Contract Documents have just released the second part of a document intended to provide guidance for three common strategies: informal involvement, design assist, and delegated design. Part II focuses on the implementation of design assist in the fabricated structural steel industry.

Duane Miller, the leading authority on structural welding and a previous recipient of the AISC Robert P. Stupp Award for Leadership Excellence recipient, has added another honor to his already lengthy list: membership in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Miller was elected on February 6 in recognition of his contributions to engineering “for design, fabrication, and performance of welded structural steel connections and for contributions to welding education.” He will be inducted during a ceremony at the NAE Annual Meeting September 29 to 30, 2024.

A stunning steel space frame to kickstart a day of adventure. A series of glass boxes that seem to hang in the sky while uniting a community. A sustainable shade system that uses steel tubes for water capture.

These three projects are finalists for AISC’s 2024 Forge Prize. One of these projects will win $10,000. But which one?

The Forge Prize, established by The American Institute of Steel Construction in 2018, recognizes visionary emerging architects, architecture educators, and graduate students for design concepts that embrace innovations in steel as a primary structural component. The three finalists now move to the final stage, which features a live presentation of their ideas on youtube.com/@aisc.

A draft of the next edition of the AISC Specification for Safety-Related Steel Structures for Nuclear Facilities (AISC N690) is available for public review until March 18, 2024. This is a planned revision to the 2018 edition of the standard and will supersede the 2018 version.