The Structural Engineering Institute recognizes 2010 SEI and ASCE Structural Award Winners

SEI is proud to honor the winners of the 2010 SEI and ASCE awards for Structural Engineering. Awards were presented at the Joint 2010 NASCC: The Steel Conference and Structures Congress May 15, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. Click here for complete details.

Register Now for a One-Day Seminar:
Best Practice Guidelines for Structural Fire Resistance Design of Concrete and Steel Buildings

Over the past four years, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), working through the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) and in collaboration with industry experts, has prepared a comprehensive document providing guidelines on designing structural fire resistance.

The Guidelines contain the current “best practices” for fire-resistant design of concrete and steel structures including a review of existing U.S. and international guidelines and design standards, which use approaches that range from simple prescriptive methods to sophisticated software programs with advanced methods of analysis under a wide range of realistic fire conditions.

This seminar will provide general guidance on the approaches to, and practical aspects of, implementing a fire-resistant design approach for concrete and steel buildings. The guidance includes key concepts and examples for identifying performance objectives, conducting risk analyses, selecting design fire scenarios and fire exposure curves, and implementing heat transfer and structural response analyses for the structural fire-resistant design of concrete and steel structures.

Co-sponsored by

ASCE/SEI 31 & 41 Committee Meeting

The Committee on ASCE/SEI 31 Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings and ASCE/SEI 41 Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings will meet on July 19, 2010 at The Westin, San Francisco Airport from 9am - 5pm Pacific. For more information, please contact Robert G. Pekelnicky, S.E., LEED® AP, M.ASCE at rpekelnicky@degenkolb.com.

ASCE 7-10 Now Available

Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures provides requirements for general structural design and includes means for determining dead, live, soil, flood, wind, snow, rain, atmospheric ice, and earthquake loads, as well as their combinations, which are suitable for inclusion in building codes and other documents. This Standard, a revision of ASCE/SEI 7-05, offers a complete update and reorganization of the wind load provisions, expanding them from one chapter into six. The Standard contains new ultimate event wind maps with corresponding reductions in load factors, so that the loads are not affected, and updates the seismic loads with new risk-targeted seismic maps. The snow, live, and atmospheric icing provisions are updated as well. In addition, the Standard includes a detailed Commentary with explanatory and supplementary information designed to assist building code committees and regulatory authorities.

Standard ASCE/SEI 7 is an integral part of building codes in the United States. Many of the load provisions are substantially adopted by reference in the International Building Code and the NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code.

Structural engineers, architects, and those engaged in preparing and administering local building codes will find this Standard an essential reference in their practice.

Visit the Publications Website to order.

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2010 SEI/ASCE Student Structural Design Competition!

SEI sponsors the annual Student Structural Design Competition to reward innovative projects demonstrating excellence in structural engineering.

	The First Place Award goes to Villanova University Team: Colin Doyle, Timothy Harrington, Nicholas Martignetti, Brian Mellen, Richard Runyen, with Faculty Advisors David Dinehart and Shawn Gross for their proposed dormitory at the Amigos de Jesus home for boys in Honduras.
	Second Place was awarded to Princeton University student Ben Sitler for the Design of a Gridshell for the University Physics Building. Faculty advisor: Sigrid Adriaenssens.
	Third Place Award: Florida A&M - Florida State University Team: Lacey Brady, Jacqueline Petrozzino, Brian Reeves, Fausto Rozon, Samantha Smith, Robert Walters, with Faculty Advisor Michelle Roddenberry for their design of the Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge.

Structures Congress 2010 Proceedings

Proceedings of the 2010 Structures Congress and 19th Analysis and Computation Specialty Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, May 12-15, 2010. Sponsored by the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE.

This collection contains more than 380 papers on topics that are redefining structural engineering in the areas of bridge and transportation structures, buildings, strategies for today’s global economy and advances in research. Topic areas include:

• analysis and computation
  
• bridges
  
• building design
  
• buildings -- seismic
  
• business and professional practice
  
• concrete and masonry structures
  
• education and educational reform
  
• extreme loads and loading
  
• nonbuilding structures
  
• research
  
• tall buildings
  

CD-ROM
List $225.00 / Members $168.75

Order Structures Congress 2010 - online or by calling 1-(800)-548-ASCE.

Register Now - P.E. Structural I Exam Review Course

The ASCE/SEI live P.E. Structural I Exam Review  course on the web is designed to prepare candidates for the Structural I Exam. The course will be taught by experienced structural engineers who have practiced and also have experience with professional seminars and workshops.  The Codes referenced will be those specified by NCEES for the exam. The review courses for the Fall 2010 P.E. Exams will begin in mid-August. The registration deadline is Thursday, August 19, 2010. For more information on the series and to register, click here.

Interested in ASCE’s live P.E. Civil Exam Review course on the web? We offer 12 two-hour modules and three additional ‘depth’ sessions to prepare you for the afternoon depth portion of the P.E. Exam. For more information on the 12 part-series and the three additional depth sessions, click here

What Others are Saying……

• “A good comprehensive course on the test material”.
• “Definitely, the course helped me prepare for the exam. The biggest help was to identify the topics I need to spend more time on and those with which I have a greater comfort level”.

2010 Structures Congress

The joint NASCC: The Steel Conference and 2010 Structures Congress was a great success with around 4000 people attending the four-day event. A special thank-you goes to all who helped make this year's Congress happen. Plan to attend the 2011 Congress in Las Vegas, Nevada April 14-16, 2011. Click here to read the full summary of events in Orlando.

Click here to view or post the abstracts and presentations from the 2010 Structures Congress.

The Next Generation of Structural Engineers
Structural Engineering Poster for Young Students Available Now

SEI and the National Council of Structural Engineers Association (NCSEA) have produced a poster to promote structural engineering as a career among young students. We encourage you to include this exciting poster in your efforts to reach out to students in local schools. This year's "Make Your Mark" poster features the Bird's Nest from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Limited supplies of the poster are available upon request to Suzanne Fisher at sfisher@asce.org. Be sure to include the number of posters you are requesting and where they should be sent. The poster is also available for download.

SEI Kid's Page

SEI has a new webpage just for Kids! We’ve pulled together an assortment of resources about engineering designed especially for the younger crowd. Click here to see the new Structural Engineering Institute's Kid's Page to play free games, enter building contests, find engineering-related TV shows for kids, and explore other engineering sites that cater to young people. Inspire a curious mind today!

2009 ATC & SEI Conference on Improving the
Seismic Performance of Existing Buildings
and Other Structures

San Francisco was the epicenter of structural engineering activity in California as the SEI ATC Conference on Improving Seismic Performance of Existing Buildings and Other Structures shook the San Francisco Bay area December 9-11. The conference was well attended, indicating the high level of interest in seismic activity for those who live and work in the proximity of significant earthquake faults in California and around the world.

The conference included plenary sessions by nationally recognized specialists in the field, and technical presentations on a broad range of issues in the area of seismic performance. The conference had strong international participation and featured presentations on projects to improve the response of structures to seismic concerns around the globe. A highlight of the conference was a presentation by Kit Miyamoto of Miyamoto International on work in Turkey to protect the population from the devastating effects of earthquakes. Outlining a broad program funded by the World Bank, the presentation illustrated the dramatic difference committed professionals can make in raising awareness of the need to improve a community or nation’s response to seismic risk, thus impacting the lives of millions who benefit from buildings, schools or bridges that can withstand the rigors of seismic loading.

To view a photo album of the gala dinner at the beautiful San Francisco Ferry Building click on the links below:
First Half
Second Half

PDH (Professional Development Hours) certificates will be mailed to all 2009 ATC/SEI Conference participants that requested them. Please contact Debbie Smith if you did not receive the request form or if you have any questions regarding PDH certificates.

To access the Conference website welcome page click here.

Electrical Transmission and Substation Structure Conference

More than 650 registrants gathered at The Renaissance Worthington Hotel in Ft. Worth, TX for this year’s Electrical Transmission and Substation Structures Conference. A pre-conference workshop by noted expert Anthony M. DiGioia, Ph.D., P.E., on the Design of Transmission Line Structure Foundations kicked off the Conference and left attendees eager for the rest of the program. The Plenary Session keynote presentation by Charles W. Jenkins of Oncor highlighted Competitive Renewable Energy Zones in Texas.

As the Conference progressed participants crowded into technical sessions on Loading, Analysis and Design, Foundations, Substation Design, Applied Technology, and Case Studies on Foundations and Construction.

Attendees made full use of the highly interactive sold-out exhibit hall with 51 booths. One of the most celebrated aspects of the Conference was the excellent networking opportunities at meals and evening receptions.

Area manufacturers opened their doors to display pole fabrication, galvanizing facilities, and cable production in a series of tours at the end of the Conference. Tours were conducted by Falcon Steel Company; FWT, Inc.; General Cable; Sabre Tubular Structures; and Valmont Newmark.

SEI would like to extend a special thank you to our sponsors for their commitment to providing excellence in programming and networking events:

To access the Conference website welcome page click here.

White Paper on Bridge Inspection and Rating
Presented by ASCE/SEI-AASHTO Ad-hoc Group on Bridge Inspection, Rating, Rehabilitation, and Replacement

A joint ad-hoc group of American Society of Engineers/Structures Engineering Institute and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (ASCE/SEI-AASHTO) was formed to address issues dealing with methods and practices used to ensure the safety of highway bridges across the United States. The group concluded that, in general, the current National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) and programs developed to address those standards have adequate policies and procedures in place to ensure public safety. The group also concluded that the current system can be improved; and identified gaps and needs to improve bridge safety and ensure uniformity, consistency, and reliability of bridge inspections nationwide. As developed by the ad-hoc group, this white paper describes gaps, needs, and issues associated with the current practices and policies for the condition assessment of bridges. Link to the white paper.

Structural Seminars

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Keep Your Membership Records Up-to-Date

It is the members' responsibility to update their mailing address, phone number and e-mail address to ensure they receive pertinent information related to their membership. Members can verify or change their information by visiting www.asce.org/myprofile or by calling (800) 548-ASCE (2723) or (703) 295-6300.