Nucor Corporation Vice President and General Manager Zach Moon has been elected to the American Institute of Steel Construction’s Board of Directors.

“We're pleased to have Zach as the newest member of our Board of Directors,” said AISC President Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD. “His background and experience make him a great fit, and he'll enhance the breadth and depth of the group.”

The average New York Times reader might have found the September 4th article “Climate change can cause bridges to ‘fall apart like tinkertoys’, experts say” deeply disturbing--after all, the assertions within it are genuinely alarming.

The good news for readers and the traveling public is that that article is largely inaccurate and grossly oversimplifies and overstates the impact that climate can have on steel bridges.

A draft of the next edition of the AISC Prequalified Connections for Special and Intermediate Steel Moment Frames for Seismic Applications (AISC 358) is now available for public review and comment.

The next edition of AISC 358, currently slated for a 2027 release, will supersede ANSI/AISC 358-22.

Officials want to add a bridge over the Skunk River Water Trail to better connect the park’s walking trails without disturbing a mid-river haven for wildlife, and they’ve turned to students at colleges and universities to make it happen!

The situation is hypothetical, but the ingenuity and skill are real. The American Institute of Steel Construction and the American Society of Civil Engineers have released the rules for this year’s Student Steel Bridge Competition, which gives the next generation of structural and civil engineers a challenge like this one every year.

To solve it, they must design a bridge, analyze and optimize their design, then fabricate it in steel so it can be constructed and tested in real life. They’ll go head-to-head with other teams at 20 regional competitions in spring 2025; the top contenders will meet at Iowa State University for the national finals May 30-31, 2025.

There’s a vital new resource available for anyone who designs steel railroad bridges, thanks to a collaboration between the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association and the National Steel Bridge Alliance.

The document, “Guidelines for the Design of Steel Railroad Bridges for Constructability and Fabrication,” describes special considerations for railroad bridges in the areas of design, girders, boxes, trusses, floor systems, decks and walkways, bolting, corrosion protection systems, and construction.

It complements the recommendations given in AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering, Chapter 15--Steel Structures, providing guidance and best practices that can lead to rail bridges that are more economical to fabricate, construct, and maintain.

The nation’s leading expert on the vibration design of buildings, Thomas M. Murray, PhD, died August 29 at the age of 84.

Murray, an emeritus professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va., was well known for his expertise on steel connections, floor system serviceability, pre-engineered building design, and light-gauge design, but his place among the highest pantheon of steel researchers was secured by his foundational work on vibration design, including his plainly titled paper “Building Floor Vibrations,” for which he won the American Institute of Steel Construction’s 1991 T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award.

Murray was also one of the authors of AISC Design Guide 11: Vibrations of Steel-Framed Structural Systems Due to Human Activity, which is one of AISC’s most widely accessed technical resources, and a perennially popular lecturer on the subject.