National Science Foundation Awards Research Funding to Advance Performance-Based Fire Design for Cold-Formed Steel Structures

A research project progressing from the American Iron and Steel Institute’s Small Project/Fellowship Program has received significant funding through the National Science Foundation to advance performance-based fire design for cold-formed steel structures. Thomas Gernay, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, was named a recipient of the NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development Award for nearly $580,000 over five years.

The award will enable research to develop an advanced science-based framework for assessing the fire performance of cold-formed steel structures that results in more accurate modeling to ensure increased public safety, resource efficiency and resilience. The NSF award will run from July 1 through June 30, 2028.

The NSF funding will allow Dr. Gernay to build on research initiated through a 2021 AISI Small Project/Fellowship Program award for “Structural Design for Fire Conditions of a Prototype Metal Building Using the New Proposed Appendix to AISI S100, North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members.” 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 in construction. The research is conducted by teams comprised of students, faculty advisors and steel industry advisors.