The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Standards Council is seeking research proposals for its 2020 Small Project Fellowship Program. Launched in 2014, AISI’s Small Project Fellowship Program identifies and provides funding for research projects that will significantly impact the reliability, performance and cost-competitiveness of cold-formed steel (CFS) framing products in a variety of end-use applications. The program provides a streamlined mechanism for AISI’s standards development committees (the Committee on Specifications and the Committee on Framing Standards), industry stakeholders, academics and students to collaborate on relatively short-term, highly focused and mutually beneficial projects.
The small project and fellowship requests should be developed and submitted by a project team that includes a student (if known at the time of submittal), an academic advisor from the student’s academic institution and an industry advisor. Either the academic advisor or industry advisor must be a member of the relevant AISI standards developing committee. Project selections are based on several factors, including: 1) the potential for long-term impact on the industry, 2) steel industry engagement and co-funding, and 3) results for the AISI standards development committees, the student, and the academic institution.