Photo by Erik Missio

Drawing steel fabricators, manufacturers, and structural engineers, the North American Steel Construction Conference emanated from the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona.

Photo courtesy Robert Tremblay

Canada's Robert Tremblay is a professor at Ecole Polytechnique Montreal, an expert in structural steel and seismic design, and now an AISC Special Achievement Award winner.

After an almost decade-long absence, the North American Steel Construction Conference (NASCC) will be coming back to Canada. The 2014 edition of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) event will be held in Toronto. (The last time the structural steel show was in this country was Montreal in 2005).

While NASCC's return to Canadian soil is still a while away, there was significant Maple Leaf presence at this year's event. Held in Phoenix, Ariz., during the first week of April, the conference brought together more than 3000 fabricators, erectors, manufacturers, and structural engineers from across the Americas and beyond—including many Canadian delegates, speakers, and exhibitors.

Ecole Polytechnique Montreal professor Robert Tremblay was awarded for his research in improving understanding and design of seismic-resistant concentrically braced steel frames. Tremblay, the school's Canada Research Chair in Earthquake-resistant Design and Construction of Building Structures, also sits on various AISC and Canadian Standards Association (CSA) committees. He was one of three winners of the AISC Special Achievement Award. (The others were Kyoto University's Masayoshi Nakashima—an international expert on steel's seismic performance—and the late John Ruddy, a U.S. structural engineer and council staff member.)