Nominations Wanted for Institute Board

The National Institute of Building Sciences Board Nominations Committee is currently seeking candidates to serve on the Institute’s Board of Directors. The Institute Board is comprised of 21 members. Six members are appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to represent the public interest. The remaining 15 members are elected and can represent either public interest or industry voices. The Board representation includes architects, builders, building owners, building standards developers, consumers, contractors, educators, fire safety professionals, local agency officials, product manufacturers, professional engineers, state agency officials and others. However, the majority of board members are required to come from the public interest category.

The three-year terms begin in January 2019. Nominations can be submitted for one or more candidates, but a separate nomination form must be completed for each. In preparing the election ballot, the Board Nominations Committee will give equal consideration to all submissions, whether single or multiple nominations are received. Although membership in the Institute is not a requirement for nomination or election, it is encouraged. Nominations must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. ET, Friday, July 13. Download the nomination form.

Call for Honor, Member Award Nominees

The National Institute of Building Sciences Awards Committee is currently accepting nominations for the 2018 Institute Honor and Member Awards. Each year, the Institute recognizes individuals or organizations that have made an exceptional contribution to the nation and the building community. Members of the building community will honor the recipients of this year’s awards during the 2019 Annual Awards Banquet, which will take place as part of Building Innovation 2019: The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference and Expo, to be held January 7-10, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Nominations must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. ET, Friday, July 13. Download the nomination forms: Member Award or Honor Award.

Submit an Abstract for the December 2018 JNIBS Issue

The editors of the Journal of the National Institute of Building Sciences (JNIBS) are beginning the process of compiling articles for the Winter 2018 edition, which will be published in December 2018. The Winter issue will offer a special focus on resilience, as well as additional feature articles on building enclosure design, building information modeling (BIM) specifications and hazard mapping. Abstracts are due on or before June 15, 2018. Submittals for future issues also are welcome. Submit an abstract. Interested in advertising? Download the 2018 JNIBS Media Kit.

Write a Paper for a Chance to Win $2,500

Each year, the United States standards community comes together to celebrate the importance of standards. As part of this U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day, the SES – The Society for Standards Professionals holds a paper competition. The theme for 2018 is “Innovation Nation.”

Cash prizes will be awarded for up to three papers selected by a panel of judges. The first place winner will receive a plaque and $2,500. Second and third place winners will receive $1,000 and $500, respectively, along with a certificate. In addition, the winning papers will be published in SES’s journal, Standards Engineering. Paper competition winners will receive their awards during a banquet October 18 in Washington, D.C., hosted by the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day Planning Committee, of which the National Institute of Building Sciences is a member.

All paper contest submissions must be received with an official entry form by midnight, July 13. Get the full details.

Save the Date: Building Innovation 2019

Plan now to be there where Science meets Design® during Building Innovation 2019 - The National Institute of Building Sciences Seventh Annual Conference and Expo, January 7-10, 2019, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C. Join us as we work to implement strategies aimed at Optimizing for Tomorrow. Witness industry visionaries share the ideas, initiatives, practices and policies that will deliver the high-performance buildings and communities of the future. Sign up now for Conference news and updates.

EMP Credential Achieves ANSI Accreditation, DOE Recognition

The Energy Management Association has achieved accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for its Energy Management Professional (EMP) credential, and become a recognized certification by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Better Buildings® Workforce Guidelines (BBWG) program.

Administered by the National Institute of Building Sciences Commercial Workforce Credentialing Council, the BBWG program requires that recognized certification programs first attain third party accreditation available through ANSI, which involves a rigorous process of demonstrating compliance with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 17024. Once accomplished, the certifying body applies to DOE for formal Better Buildings® Workforce Guidelines recognition — a designation that demonstrates the program is “high quality, industry endorsed, and nationally recognized by DOE.”

EMA’s EMP Certification Program was developed to respond to the need for a commissioning-based energy management protocol that could be deployed in retro-commissioning and energy retrofit projects. EMPs create added value by comprehensively addressing the energy efficiency of building systems and their ongoing operations. Read the EMP release. View the DOE announcement.

May FEMA Course on Residential Retrofits for Flood

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is sponsoring a four-day course, E0279 Retrofitting Flood-Prone Residential Buildings, to be held May 14-17 at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) National Emergency Training Center (NETC) in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

To apply, students must complete a FEMA Form 119-25-1, with the student’s signature and signature of their supervisor or sponsoring agency official. Email to netcadmissions@fema.dhs.gov or fax the application to (301) 447-1658.

OGC to Host Disaster CDS Workshop at NASA Ames

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) will hold a Disaster Concept Development Study (CDS) Workshop, May 17-18, 2018, at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Conference Center in Moffett Field, California. The workshop is sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and other U.S. Government agencies, and hosted by NASA Ames.

The workshop marks the early stages of OGC’s Disaster Concept Development Study, and will shape future activities to be led by OGC regarding disaster preparedness and response and to inform development of potential Disaster Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI).

BEST5 Conference Hosts Record Crowd in Philadelphia
Attendees Exchange Knowledge, Network, Honor Life of Wagdy Anis

Margaretha “Greta” Eckhardt, AIA, life partner of Wagdy Anis, who passed away in March, shares a tribute during the BEST5 dinner. “Wagdy was a modest man and a man of integrity. He put his efforts into seeking what is true and right, not his own fame,” she said. “Every time we too pursue the appropriate application of true scientific principles in our work, and advocate for these principles in the design and construction industry, we will honor his memory.”

Congratulations to 2018 Race to Zero Winner

Congratulations to the 2018 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Race to Zero Student Design Competition (Race to Zero) winners, including Grand Winner Prairie View A&M University. Forty teams from 34 institutions across the United States and four other countries presented their projects during the 2018 DOE Race to Zero Competition, April 20-22, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. View the results.

The Race to Zero encourages students to work with builders, developers, community leaders, and other industry partners to meet stringent design requirements and create marketable, affordable concepts. Read the DOE announcement.

NIST Releases Version 1.1 of its Popular Cybersecurity Framework

The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released version 1.1 of its popular Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, more widely known as the Cybersecurity Framework.

The framework was developed with a focus on industries vital to national and economic security, including energy, banking, communications and the defense industrial base. It has since proven flexible enough to be adopted voluntarily by large and small companies and organizations across all industry sectors, as well as by federal, state and local governments.