The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has joined the Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortium (CFSRC) as a founding member. The CFSRC is a group of principal investigators from several universities who are sharing their experimental and computational facilities to undertake specific projects that span all aspects of cold-formed steel structural research. AISI joins Geometrica in its founding member capacity.

The consortium comprises the world’s leading researchers in cold-formed steel structural design from The Johns Hopkins University, Virginia Tech, McGill University, University of North Texas, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The industry and academic members of the consortium will work together to identify long-term research needs that advance cold-formed steel design technologies and practices in building construction, developing a roadmap to prioritize research projects and undertake the work.

When the research projects are completed, the consortium will deliver the findings and results to engineers, architects, and other building construction professionals via technology transfer sessions such as webinars, industry events and seminars.

“Over the years, we have worked with this dedicated team of researchers on several projects that have advanced our knowledge of cold-formed steel properties and applications to deliver safer, more durable structures,” said Robert Wills, Vice President of Construction, Steel Market Development Institute (a business unit of AISI). “The Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortium gives us an unprecedented opportunity to bring this significant talent pool and the resources of their research laboratories together in a combined effort. We expect that this effort will streamline the research process and deliver new technologies and design practices to the marketplace in a more time-efficient and cost-effective manner.”

More information on the Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortium is available at http://cfsrc.org.