Please join us for the Fire Resilience of Civil Infrastructure conference at ASCE’s Reston, Virginia headquarters November 12 – 13, 2024. The conference will be a full day on November 12 and half day on November 13. There is no registration fee for the conference.
The goal of the conference is to gather key thought leaders and agencies within the US in the field of resilient fire design of civil infrastructure. The objectives of the conference are to (1) share perspectives on available resources and facilities for experimental testing from various agencies and institutions and (2) identify needs, gaps, and challenges facing fire resilience of physical civil infrastructure; and (3) formulate recommendations for basic research initiatives.
How to apply
To apply for the conference, please fill out the following survey. If you are an academic researcher, we are asking that you develop a two-page (maximum) research needs statement. Researchers can develop up to two abstracts. All abstracts will be published on DesignSafe prior to the conference.
The conference will consist of discussion sessions rather than presentations. The application is for admission to the conference to participate in the discussion and agenda setting. Participation will be limited to 50 people and travel subsidies will be provided to selected participants on an as needed basis.
Template for research needs statement.
Application link
About/Contact
The objectives of the conference are to (1) share perspectives on available resources and facilities for experimental testing from various agencies and institutions and (2) identify needs, gaps, and challenges facing fire resilience of physical civil infrastructure considering the emergence of new structural materials, increased wildfire demands due to climate change, and other emerging stressors; and (3) formulate recommendations for basic research initiatives.
The conference will be oriented towards identifying research needs in the following topics: (1) impacts of structural (or internal) fires on buildings and structures, (2) impacts of WUI (or external) fires on buildings and structures, including residential construction, (3) impacts of fires on transportation structures, (4) impacts of fires on utilities, and (5) impacts of fire on geotechnical failures. For all considered topics, discussions will be structured to cover needs in four areas: in-field investigations, experimental research, numerical/analytical research, and educational approach. The ideas presented by the speakers and generated from the discussion sessions will be summarized in a final report and published through DesignSafe. The outcome of the conference can be used to develop a roadmap for a research program on fire resilience of civil infrastructure.
If you have any questions, please contact Erica Fischer (erica.fischer@oregonstate.edu) or Negar Elhami-Khorasani (negarkho@buffalo.edu).
This conference is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (CMMI #2411761). It will be hosted at the ASCE headquarters in Reston, Virginia.
NSF supports conferences in special areas of science and engineering that bring experts together to discuss recent research or education findings or to expose other researchers or students to new research and education techniques. NSF encourages the convening in the U.S. of major international conferences.
A conference proposal will be supported only if equivalent results cannot be obtained by attendance at regular meetings of professional societies. Although requests for support of a conference proposal ordinarily originates with educational institutions or scientific and engineering societies, they also may come from other groups. Shared support by several Federal agencies, States or private organizations is encouraged. A conference proposal should generally be submitted at least a year in advance of the scheduled date. Conferences, including the facilities in which they are held, funded in whole or in part with NSF funds, must be accessible to participants with disabilities.
It is NSF policy (see Chapter XI.A.1.g.) to foster harassment-free environments wherever science is conducted, including at NSF-sponsored conferences. Proposers are required to have a policy or code-of-conduct that addresses sexual harassment, other forms of harassment[48], and sexual assault, and that includes clear and accessible means of reporting violations of the policy or code-of-conduct. The policy or code-of-conduct must address the method for making a complaint as well as how any complaints received during the conference will be resolved. This policy or code-of-conduct must be disseminated to conference participants prior to attendance at the conference as well as made available at the conference itself. Proposers should not submit the policy or code-of-conduct to NSF for review.
Steering Committee
Thank you to our conference steering committee:
Chairs:
Erica Fischer, Oregon State University
Negar Elhami Khorasani, University at Buffalo
Steering Committee:
Richard Emberley, California Polytechnic State University
Thomas Gernay, Johns Hopkins University
Amanda Kimball, National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA)
Birgitte Messerschmidt, National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA)
Spencer Quiel, Lehigh University
