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APPENDIX D
AISC SERVICES
The American Institute of Steel Construction, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation established in 1921
to serve the fabricated structural steel industry in the United States. Its purpose is to promote
the use of structural steel through research activities, market development, education, codes and
specifications, technical assistance, quality certification, and standardization.
For more than 75 years, AISC has conducted its numerous activities with a scrupulous sense of
public responsibility. For this reason, and because of the high caliber of its staff, the Institute
enjoys a positive relationship with architects, engineers, code officials, construction managers
and educators who recognize its professional status in the fields of specification writing,
structural research, design development, and performance standards.
EDUCATIONAL
AISC, together with AISC Marketing, Inc., sponsors a series of continuing education seminars
on a regular basis. For example, in 1996, the AISC Seminar Series focused on “Innovations in
Structural Steel Systems” while the 1997 seminar featured information on “Designing of Steel
for Service,” which included roof ponding, floor elevation and level, control of floor vibrations
and control of lateral drift. The seminars are usually held in more than 60 cities around the
country during a nine month period. For a complete list of seminar dates and locations, visit
AISC’s web page at http://www.asic.org.
In addition to the Seminar Series, AISC sponsors a number of short courses and a series of
lectures from the winner of the Annual T.R. Higgins Award. In the past, the short courses have
covered topics such as bracing and hollow structural sections.
On the university side, one of AISC’s most noteworthy activities is sponsorship, together with
ASCE, of the Student Steel Bridge Competition. The program challenges civil engineering
students from across the country to design, fabricate and erect a 1:10 scale model of a bridge
across a river valley in a mountainous region. While any type of steel bridge can be designed,
there are height limits and the entries are judged on erection time, bridge weight, aesthetics,
stiffness, and cost. During the past few years, solutions to the problem statement have become
more and more advanced. Teams from more than 185 schools are expected to compete in the
regional competitions, with the winners from each regional competition gaining eligibility to
compete in the national competition.
AISC also fosters academic-industry relations through its Partners in Education (PIE)
Committee. Among the chief goals of the committee are to encourage civil engineering
programs to offer sufficient structural engineering content and steel design courses to ensure
that future engineers understand the requirements necessary to provide safe and economic
structures. The program also aims to encourage interaction between practicing engineers and
both professors and engineering students. In addition, a goal is to expose architectural students
to various facets of steel design and construction.
Among many other universities-related programs, AISC provides free copies of Modern Steel
Construction magazine to students in accredited architectural and engineering programs.