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Minutes of the Subcommittee on Emerging Computing Technology (ECT)
Analysis and Computation TAC
ASCE Structural Division

Structures Congress XIV
Marriott Hotel

April 14, 1996
Chicago, Illinois

email: emerging-tech@eiffel.ce.gatech.edu
URL: http://www.ce.cmu.edu/~garrett/ect/

Attendance: 10

Name Affiliation

- Members:
Baugh, John - North Carolina State University
Chen, Stuart - State University of New York at Buffalo
Garrett, Jim - Carnegie-Mellon University
Kincho Law - Stanford University
Melhem, Hani - Kansas State University
Neggers, Meg - The Premisys Corporation
Roddis, Kim - University of Kansas
Ghaboussi, Jamshid - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Turkiyyah, George - University of Washington

- Guest:
Yamamota, Kosuke - CMU Visiting Scholar / Japan Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

1. Call to Order and Introduction of Attendees

The committee members met at 8:00 AM in the "Minnesota" Room (6th floor) of the Marriott Hotel. The
committee chairperson, Jim Garrett, outlined the main points on the meeting agenda, then the committee
left for breakfast. A general discussion of these points took place during breakfast.

The formal meeting reconvened at 9:35 AM. Garrett made a brief introduction and welcomed the guest
from Japan, Dr. Yamamota.

A package was distributed to the attendees. This included:
- Proposed agenda
- Announcement for the ASCE 1997 Structure Congress from Leon Kempner, dated February 19,
1996.
- Copy of the "Report on Activities in FY96 and Report on Plans for FY97" sent by Garrett to
Franklin Cheng on March 12, 1996.
- Copy of two memos, one from Debbie Smith of ASCE dated February 12, 1996, and the other from
Dan Turner, Chair, Technical Activities Committee, dated February 1, 1996, both regarding 1996
TAC Revenue Sharing Proposal Forms and Solicitation Package (attached to memo).
- Meeting agenda of the committee on Analysis and Computation, Sunday April 14, 1996 (1:00 -
7:00 PM) in Chicago (following this ECT meeting).

The proposed agenda was presented and accepted.

2. Acceptance of Minutes from Last Meeting

A motion was made and carried to accept the minutes from the June 6, 1995 meeting in Atlanta.

3. Review of Old Business.

3.a Session Planned for the 1996 SC.

Five sessions are scheduled in the SC'96 program.

Technical Sessions:

- "Computational Support for Intelligent Structures," (Wed. 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM), organized by
Stuart Chen.

- "Computer Models for the Life Cycle of Building Projects," (Tue. 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM), organized
by Meg Neggers.

- "Emerging Computing Technologies in Practice," (Thur. 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM), organized by
Mohamed Elkordy and Osman Hag-Elsafi.

Tutorial Sessions:

- "Demystifying the Alphabet Soup of Emerging Computing Technology," (Thur. 10:00 AM - 11:30
AM), by John Baugh and Jim Garrett.

- "Object-Oriented Programming Techniques," (Mon. 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM), by Meg Neggers,
George Turkiyyah, and John Baugh.

3.b ECT Annual Report sent to F. Cheng

The report was reviewed and discussed. It was noted that the second Item under IV-A, Technical Sessions
held during FY96, describing the session on "Demystifying the Alphabet Soup of Emerging Computing
Technology" has become a tutorial session (as shown above) and not as a technical session (as shown in
the report). The session was originally proposed as a technical session.

3.c Monograph on Neural Networks

This ASCE monograph has been published. Jim Garrett (co-editor with Nabil Kartam and Ian Flood) was
representing the ASCE/SD-ECT committee in this activity.

3.d Form and Content of the ECT Mosaic Homepage

Garrett is presently (and diligently) taking the responsibility of updating and maintaining the ECT
Homepage. He made an invitation to anyone who would like to take over this responsibility and (possibly)
make the homepage even more attractive. The issue of a link to and from the ASCE homepage is
desirable. This may be a subcommittee (or task-committee) activity, if necessary.

4. Discussion of Current Business.

4.a Sessions/Tutorials planned for 1997 SC.

This congress is scheduled for April 13-16, 1997 in Portland, Oregon. Two sessions were proposed by our
committee:

- "Virtual reality Applications in Structural and Civil Engineering," proposed by Jim Garrett and
George Turkiyyah. Garrett has two speakers lined up (Rehak and Karim Sheik) and Turkiyyah has
two (Miller and another person from U. of Washington). It was suggested that industries and
FHWA (Jim Wentworth) may be contacted to participate. Ghaboussi suggested that the organizers
contact the Failure Analysis Corporation in San Francisco.

- "New Technologies for Classification of Data," proposed by Hani Melhem. This session was
merged with the session entitled "Emerging Technologies for Monitoring Structures," organized
by D.R. Huston. Huston speakers were lined up but their is still a possibility to have representation
from our committee in this session. Melhem will contact Huston on this. Chen proposed a paper.

A session/tutorial on the Internet and Role of the Homepage to Structural Engineering Practitioners was
proposed by Kim Roddis but was not approved. Neggers will contact Leon Kempner to inquire about the
reason the session was rejected. This topic can be modified and resubmitted for 1998 possibly as a
tutorial or as a panel discussion.

Deadlines (1996) are as follows:

May 1: Papers titles and author names/speakers due
Sept. 1: Draft paper manuscripts to reach the session chairperson
Oct. 1: Comments sent back to authors
Nov. 15: Final Camera-ready manuscripts sent to Technical Session Committee Chair

4.b Sessions at the 1996 TCCP Congress.

This coming congress will be held in Anaheim, CA, on June 17-19, 1996. Hani Melhem has a session
accepted on Machine Learning including four speakers (Wed. 8:30AM - 10:00 AM). Two titles are direct
applications to structural engineering, one on wind bracing and the other on optimal structural design.

4.c Interaction with EG-SEA-AI

This is our European counterpart. The upcoming form of interaction will be through the participation of
our committee to the August 14-16, 1996 international conference in Glasgow, Scotland. The conference
theme is Information Technology in Civil and Structural Engineering Design, and will be followed by EG-
SEA-AI workshop and annual meeting. At least three persons (Chen, Roddis, Law) and possibly two more
(Garrett, Turkiyyah) are planning to attend the conference and workshop and participate in the technical
program.

5. New Business

Garrett solicited an email discussion of the 1998 SC sessions and other new activities. The meeting
discussion included the following topics:

5.a Session tutorials for the 1998 SC.

This will be a World Structures Congress in San Francisco with and high emphasis on international
participation. It also includes/coincides with the bi-annual conference on Analysis and Computation.
Analysis and Computation is committed to organizing a 12-session symposium and ECT is expected to
contribute 3 or 4 sessions. Greg Fenves was not sure that there would be any space for tutorials/panel
discussions in the program, but we are encouraged to propose them and see if they fit. The main topics
proposed are as follows:

Technical Sessions

- Advanced Applications of Web Technology in Structural Engineering.
(Responsibility: George Turkiyyah). Possible contacts: Jawa, AT&T, authors from Singapore
(Kincho Law).

- Software Development as an Engineering Activity.
(Responsibility: John Baugh). This includes Specification modeling and modern structural software
engineering.

- The State of Product Modeling for Structures & Structural Engineering Process.
(Responsibility: Meg Neggers, Kincho Law and Jim Garrett). Possible contacts: CIMSTEEL, AEC,
IAI, Kumar, Hakim, and other steel/concrete industries.

- Data Management/Evaluation/Interpretation Applications for Structural Engineering.
(Responsibility: Hani Melhem, Stu Chen). Possible contributors: Arup Maji and committee on
Experimental Analysis and Instrumentation (Melhem contact person).

- Computing Support for Conceptual Structural Design
(Responsibility: Jim Garrett).

Tutorial Proposals:

- Opportunities for Using the Web in Structural Engineering
(Responsibility: George Turkiyyah)

Panel Discussion Proposals:

- Internet's Emerging Role in Structural Engineering Education
(Responsibility: Stu Chen). Including websites for distant learning and internet role in continuing
education with case studies. Potential contributors: Nelson Baker, Renate Fruchter.

- Internet's Emerging Role in Structural Practice
(Responsibility: Kim Roddis, Meg Neggers)

Garrett will put this list of topic on the net along with the name of the persons responsible for each session
and will open it for discussion. He will propose all of them to Franklin Cheng.

5.b Officer Elections

A discussion was held on the structure/procedure of the election and role of the officers. A three-year,
two-year, and one-year terms were considered. After an extensive discussion a motion was proposed,
seconded, and passed unanimously. The motion is as follows: "The committee will continue to have two
officers: chair and secretary. These officers will serve two year terms on a non-rotating basis. Both
positions will be subject to elections every two years."

This was planned such that the terms of the officers will coincide with the A&C symposium cycle. We
just had a symposium at SC96 and will have another in 1998.

It was also decided that Garrett (current chair) will conduct the election process for the new officers. He
is not interested in being chair again and everyone else might be a potential candidate. In the future, if the
chair is interested in re-election, then a different person will need to conduct the election.

In addition, we should have several (about three) main activities, each lead by a "task leader." Task
leaders will not be elected, but will volunteer to lead an activity identified by the committee as something
in which to invest committee effort. Active task leaders will be given priorities for funding to attend
committee meetings as control group members. (Although ASCE requires a specific list of control group
members, substitutions are possible to accommodate specific ongoing activities).

5.c Proposals for TAC Funding

Turkiyyah will coordinate a TAC Proposal with the help of Garrett and Chen. The guidelines and forms
were distributed with the meeting agenda at the beginning of the meeting. If details are needed contact
the committee secretary.

Stu Chen (and Meg Neggers) suggested a project that will consist of having an Electronic Monograph of
the 1998 SC sessions organized by our committee, especially these sessions that are on the websites and
the usage of the internet in practice.

Melhem proposed to pursue, as a TAC project, the activity that was proposed last year of conducting a
survey of the industries in the US that use emerging computing technologies. This was suggested as a
joint activity with EG-SEA-AI and was not carried any further from the US side due to the amount of effort
needed to conduct the survey, send letters, and follow up by phone calls. A team activity (subgroup) will
be desirable with possible TAC funding.

Roddis proposed a project that would form an index of the URL's of the persons/organizations that use new
computing technologies. This index can be by technology types, professional activities, specializations,
etc. She will bring this idea up at Glasgow as well. A link on the web with EG-SEA-AI is also desirable.

5.d Additional Activities

New activities are encouraged and should be put on the internet for information and discussion.

Dr. Yamamota announced the first US/Japan Seminar on Structural Optimization that took place on April
13, 1996 in Chicago at the Marriott Hotel. He passed around copies of the seminar preface, the technical
program (Sessions I, II, and III) and a list of the seminar steering committee. Additional future cooperation
with Japanese researchers in the area of computing technologies is encouraged.

6. Adjournment.

Meeting was adjourned around 12:45 PM.

Submitted by:

Hani Melhem (secretary)

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