Standards and Codes: Advancing Infrastructure Delivery

Advancing Infrastructure Delivery

Dr. Shyam Sunder serves on the Board of Advisors of the Construction Industry Institute, a consortium of the top 100 U.S. owners, engineering and construction contractors, and suppliers with a mission to improve the life-cycle cost effectiveness of the engineering and construction process by providing guidance on best practices discovered through research— in partnership with more than 30 leading U.S. universities—and by collaborating on important industry issues.

Dr. Sunder serves on the Board of Directors of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB). CIB was established as an association whose objectives are to stimulate and facilitate international cooperation and information exchange between governmental research institutes in the building and construction sector, with an emphasis on those institutes engaged in technical fields of research.

Dr. Sunder is the Co-Chair of the Buildings Technology R&D Subcommittee of the White House National Science and Technology Council's Committee on Technology. The Subcommittee— composed of 16 Federal Executive Branch Agencies plus the Architect of the Capitol, the Smithsonian Institution, and the U.S. Postal Service—(1) provides R&D guidance aimed at supporting advances in buildings technology and related infrastructure, with a particular focus on enabling the energy efficient, automated operation of buildings and building systems; (2) provides R&D guidance to enable sustainable renewal of the nation's physical infrastructure, improve construction productivity, enhance disaster resilience of buildings, and benefit human health and productivity; and (3) identifies R&D priorities and opportunities, develops long-range interagency R&D plans, coordinates with other NSTC subcommittees, and coordinates R&D implementation plans.

Mr. Robert Lipman participates in the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Information Technology Committee. One of the responsibilities of the committee is to oversee the CIMsteel Integration Standards (CIS/2), a product model for interoperability between various parties involved in steel construction. Mr. Lipman has contributed to the future directions for CIS/2 and has developed a widely used visualization tool for CIS/2 files and a translator to Industry Foundation Classes files, a product model used in the building industry.

Mr. Mark Palmer is a special advisor to the ASHRAE Building Information Modeling and Interoperability Steering Committee (BIM&I SC). The committee is developing recommendations for how ASHRAE can best help the HVAC&R industry achieve Integrated Building Design with the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and interoperability among software applications. The BIM&I SC is examining how to transform the format and structure of ASHRAE standards and guidelines for use as "smart documents" and for delivering engineering knowledge in the digital age.

Dr. Harold E. Marshall has been the Chairman of ASTM's Building Economics Subcommittee, E06.81, since its inception in 1979. He has played major authorship, educational, and leadership roles in writing and shepherding successfully 23 standards, two software products, and two adjuncts through the ASTM standardization process. One standard that merits particular attention is an elemental building classification called UNIFORMAT II. This standard is helping owners, project managers, designers, builders, and facility managers construct and manage their buildings more cost effectively.

Dr. Robert E. Chapman is the Secretary and Techniques Task Group Chairperson of ASTM's Building Economics Subcommittee. In addition to his strong leadership role in the subcommittee, he has provided the technical content and write-ups for revising two standard economic methods to provide case illustrations of economic decision making in support of improved, cost-effective protection against natural and man-made hazards affecting the nation's infrastructure. Dr. Chapman also drafted a standard guide for developing a cost-effective risk mitigation plan for protecting infrastructure. In addition, Dr. Chapman represents BFRL on CIB W055, the Working Commission on Building Economics.

Mr. Mark Palmer participates in the Hydraulic Institute (HI) Electronic Data Exchange (EDE) Committee. The Hydraulic Institute, the association of pump manufacturers and related equipment and software suppliers, agreed to work with the FIATECH AEX Project and established an Electronic Data Exchange Work Group. In FY2007, HI approved the development of an HI standard that will use AEX as the data exchange specification.

Mr. Christopher Currens represents BFRL on the CIB Task Group on Research and Innovation Transfer (TC 71).

Mr. Alan Lytle serves as the Chair of ASTM E57 3D Imaging Systems committee which was founded to provide 3D imaging system specification and performance evaluation for applications including construction and maintenance, surveying, and mapping and terrain characterization. Mr. Lytle also serves on the Breakthrough Strategies Committee of the Construction Industry Institute.

Ms. Gerry Cheok serves as the Chair and Dr. Kamel Saidi serves as Vice Chair of ASTM E57.01 Terminology for 3D Imaging Systems and serves on the committee's executive board. Ms. Cheok and Dr. Saidi were principally responsible for successful development and balloting of the committee's terminology standard in 2007. Dr. Saidi also serves on the Breakthrough Strategies Committee of the Construction Industry Institute.

Dr. Robert E. Chapman serves on the Benchmarking and Metrics Committee of the Construction Industry Institute (CII). The Benchmarking and Metrics Committee develops policy and procedures, provides oversight, and recommends a strategic approach to CII's collection, analysis, and dissemination of industry data. The committee develops key definitions to guide the effort and identifies critical measurements needed for identification of best practices and management of a continuous improvement program.

Mr. Mark Palmer serves on the Research Committee of the Construction Industry Institute (CII). The Research Committee develops policy to guide CII's research function. Annually, the committee develops a list of recommended research topics for review and authorization by CII's Board of Advisors, requests proposals from the academic community, and selects those proposals that best meet the intent of the research topic.