Amid an ongoing nationwide labor shortage, American steel fabricators are finding creative ways to inspire—and recruit—a new generation of skilled tradespeople. The Steel Fabricators of New England’s (SFNE) win-win solution: a welding competition partnership that gives high school students exposure to careers in steel and gives local employers a chance to connect with their future workforce.

On May 16, more than two dozen students from nine high schools across New Hampshire competed in the fifth annual New Hampshire State Welding Competition, a collaborative effort between SFNE, AISC, and sponsoring organizations. Held at Manchester Community College, this year’s competition raised more than $21,000 benefiting the career and technical education (CTE) programs that have helped each competitor hone their skills—and introduced them to potential employers and mentors in the process.

Innovative projects come from innovative ideas, which come from innovative people--and the 2026 IDEAS Awards are looking for all of the above!

The structural steel industry's flagship design awards, presented by the American Institute of Steel Construction and Building Design+Construction, are now accepting entries! IDEAS Award-winning projects stay in the spotlight for a full year in national publications, online, and at NASCC: The Steel Conference.

As always, the goal is to showcase the steel projects that demonstrate excellence in adaptive reuse, architecture, constructability, engineering, and sustainable design and construction.

The American Institute of Steel Construction is now accepting nominations for the prestigious T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award, which includes a $15,000 cash prize.

Nominations are due July 1, 2025.

Presented annually by AISC, the award recognizes a lecturer-author whose technical paper(s) are considered an outstanding contribution to engineering literature on fabricated structural steel. The Higgins lecturer will deliver a keynote at the 2026 NASCC: The Steel Conference, April 22-24, in Atlanta, and will also present their lecture, upon request, at various professional association events throughout the year.

Want to learn more about steel bridge design fundamentals with the help of an AISC award winner and veteran bridge industry expert with over 30 years of bridge engineering experience?

AISC/NSBA has added a new three-part series of self-paced learning modules to its steel bridge engineering curriculum, all led by Francesco Russo, PE, PhD, founder and principal of Russo Structural Services.

The American Institute of Steel Construction's Fabricator Education Training Program has developed and released new resources to help fabrication shops boost employee familiarity with welding as well as the layout and fitup of more complex beams.

AISC's award-winning online Fabricator Education Training Program is a supplement to in-person instruction. It helps new hires acquire necessary skills as quickly as possible, which will, in turn, help them progress into more specialized career paths that become available with experience. They're also an excellent way for a steel fabricator to demonstrate investment in the potential of individual employees, which is key for retention.

Three of the six new courses lay the foundation for the Fabricator Education Training Program's welding curriculum. These courses cover welding symbols and procedures--a perfect complement to hands-on training.

A draft of the next edition of the AISC Standard for Certification Programs (AISC 207) is now available for limited public review and comment.

This review covers proposed changes introduced since the last public review in January 2025.

AISC expects to release an updated version of AISC 207 later this year; it will supersede the 2023 edition.

This summer, the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) will welcome its third Innovation Scholar to a two-week residency at the institute’s Chicago headquarters.

Cornell University Professor Matthew Reiter, SE, PE, will collaborate with AISC's engineering and research team on a structural steel-focused project (to be determined) and take part in a variety of industry events, including committee meetings and local facility tours, between July 7-18.

"We are very excited to invite Matthew's expertise and insight into our technical activities this summer," said Chris Raebel, SE, PE, PhD, AISC's vice president of engineering and research. "We know he will bring so much to each conversation, and we look forward to showing him what makes our industry--and Chicago in the summertime--so special."