National Institute of Building Sciences

Fostering Collaboration for Climate Adaptation and Decarbonization in the Built Environment
2024-07-09 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
In a time characterized by rising climate extremes, this session underscores the significance of bridging the gap between the public and private sectors to effectively prepare for climate challenges. Led by experts from Arcadis, the session will delve into two key aspects of climate action: climate mitigation, which focuses on energy conservation and sustainable operational practices, and climate adaptation, which emphasizes readiness for extreme weather.
The evolving regulatory environment, exemplified by measures like Local Law 97, now positions decarbonization of the built environment as a necessity rather than a choice.
Speakers will share case studies of successful responses to risks following extreme weather events over the past decade and long-term public initiatives. By demonstrating the long-term cost savings for private owners through reduced insurance claims and damages and to public cities/agencies by preventing or reducing future hazard response and recovery costs, the discussion will underscore the benefits of public-private collaboration in working toward adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Arcadis, renowned for its expertise in sustainable development and resilience, will moderate the panel discussion. Through Arcadis’ Dutch roots and metropolitan clients such as the city of Rotterdam, New York City and Miami, there is tremendous potential to re-evaluate urban areas in a way that they are climate resilient and include other measures to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Learning Objectives

Understand the value proposition associated with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) performance, including the benefits and significance of effectively implementing ESG practices within buildings.
Understand the current state of practice of climate resilience planning and risk preparedness in the public and private sector through best practice introductions.
Understand climate risk mitigation through risk scoring and defining base and design flood elevations for built assets, performing vulnerability assessments, and defining conceptual solution strategies for flood mitigation.
Learn from real-world examples, such as Battery Park City in New York City, and 7 Square Endeavour in Rotterdam, on how private sector investments can supplement public resources for an integrative approach on climate resilience, decarbonization and hazard mitigation.

NASA’s POWER Project: Global Solar Insolation, Meteorological Parameter Data, and Web Services to Support Sustainable Building Design and Operations
2024-07-31 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Virtual Event
The building industry is striving to adopt green solutions to make infrastructure more energy efficient to meet the 2050 net-zero climate goals.
Planning requires reliable environmental datasets that are crucial in designing, building, and maintaining the global built environment, as well as other energy-related processes and investments. NASA’s Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) Project informs decision-making and development for sustainable building design and operations by enabling public open discovery, efficient access, and convenient distribution of NASA’s Earth Observations and atmospheric model datasets to support three focus areas: 1) renewable energy deployment and management, 2) sustainable infrastructure, and 3) agroclimatology applications.
To this end, solar data from several NASA projects and meteorological data from NASA assimilation models have already been reformatted and disseminated to the public via a user-friendly web GIS-enabled based data portal through the POWER platform.
The POWER Data Access Viewer (DAV) also features data consistent with ASHRAE Climate Design Conditions and has developed web image services showing building climate zones and their variability. Through those tools, the data can be downloaded into multiple formats that support the infrastructure community, including CSV, Geo-JSON, and Energy Plus Weather (EPW).

Learning Objectives

Provide an overview of the NASA POWER Project’s data and services developed in collaboration with the sustainable infrastructure community
Discuss the data sources and the process of determining their uncertainties
Feature brief demonstrations of using the DAV to obtain parameters
Discuss examples of how the renewable energy and building communities have utilized POWER data products to make decisions and preview of future data product expansion, including climate projections, and web services will also be provided

Construction and Fire Risk: An Insurance Perspective
2024-08-01 08:00 - 17:00, 2024-08-01 13:00 - 14:30 UTC
Buildings are built using a variety of construction types, methods, and materials. There are many risks to property and occupants, including fire, water, intrusion, extreme weather, and other natural disasters.
Developers and owners of multifamily buildings must insure these buildings during construction and occupancy over the building lifetime against these risks. Fire, however, continues to result in more fatalities in the United States than all other disasters combined.
Jeff Benson will present on the current state of the construction insurance marketplace, focusing on underwriting issues related to the increasing wildfire exposures around the country and how construction materials affect availability and cost of insurance for projects under construction.
Shamim Rashid-Sumar will provide an overview of the 2024 survey of insurance costs for multifamily buildings constructed with wood-frame and concrete, quantifying differences in costs to insure buildings of combustible versus non-combustible construction.
Dr. Anne Cope will discuss the ongoing wind and wildfire research of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). Dr. Cope will provide insights on how the findings lead to actionable resiliency guides and voluntary designation programs.

Learning Objectives

Understand the risk to buildings posed by fire.
Develop an awareness of the current state of the construction insurance marketplace.
Recognize how construction materials affect availability and cost of insurance for building projects.
Learn how current research in wind and wildfire translates into resiliency programs.

Integrating BIM and Digital Twins: Unveiling a Position Paper for the AECO Industry
2024-09-04 08:00 - 17:00, 2024-09-04 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
Join us for an insightful webinar focused on the integration of BIM and Digital Twin technologies in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) industry. This session, based on a newly released position paper developed by the National Institute of Building Sciences and written by leading AEC practitioners, educators, consultants, and technology leaders, will dive into the innovations and efficiencies that these technologies bring.
The webinar will not only demystify technical capabilities and promote efficiency but also highlight the availability and key insights of this comprehensive position paper. Attendees will gain an understanding of the distinct yet complementary roles of BIM and Digital Twins and learn how the position paper will help with integrations and streamlining practices.

Learning Objectives

Understand the main takeaways from the newly released position paper on BIM and Digital Twins.
Explore the distinct yet complementary roles of BIM and Digital Twins.
Discover the importance of using existing data standards and clear use-cases.
Understand the importance of clear communication and proper use-case definitions.

The Intersection of Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency
2024-10-17 11:00 - 12:30 UTC
Public awareness of the need to improve indoor air quality (IAQ), ventilation, and air filtration in buildings greatly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Post-pandemic, several things have taken place: The Biden Administration announced the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge in 2022, held a White House Summit on Sustainable K-12 School Buildings and Grounds, and released a toolkit this past spring. In June 2023, ASHRAE finalized Standard 241, Control of Infectious Aerosols, a pioneering consensus-based standard that provides explicit requirements for airborne infection risk management, which have been absent for a century from IAQ standards. In July, Congressmen Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the Indoor Air Quality and Healthy Schools Act.
The Environmental Protection Agency refers to IAQ as the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. Controlling common pollutants indoors can help reduce the risk of health concerns and is the job of everyone on the building team.
The U.S. Department of Energy defines energy efficiency as “the use of less energy to perform the same task or produce the same result.” As buildings use less energy, we need to know how indoor air quality is affected by:

Ventilation
Insulation
Building materials
Energy-efficient appliances
Control systems and operations

Balancing IAQ and energy efficiency is crucial to create healthy, comfortable, and sustainable buildings. By integrating efficient ventilation strategies, choosing the right materials, and utilizing advanced technologies, it is possible to enhance both IAQ and energy performance?
Our expert panel will discuss strategies for integration, including whole building design, performance monitoring, education, and workforce training.
Presentations
ASHRAE Presentation USGBC Presentation WELL Institute Presentation

Precast Protects Life: Healthy Buildings
2024-12-03 12:00 - 13:00 UTC
Precast, prestressed concrete is a durable material well known for its strength, resilience, and ability to protect the lives, livelihoods, and lifestyles of people and communities. Part of that equation is contributing to safe and healthy spaces where occupants can live and work.
This presentation will discuss how precast concrete can be used to create safe and healthy spaces. It will highlight case studies that utilized precast to accomplish goals.
Attendees will learn about attributes, benefits, and considerations of using precast concrete in the holistic design of healthy buildings. Participants also will understand what a healthy building is, as well as related programs and definitions to measure them.

Learning Objectives

Attendees will learn about attributes, benefits and considerations of using precast concrete in the holistic design of healthy buildings.
Participants will understand what a healthy building is, as well as related programs and definitions to measure them.
Attendees will discover ways that precast contributes to indoor environmental quality, fire/life safety, acoustics, daylighting and more.
Case studies will highlight healthy buildings that utilized precast to accomplish their goals.

Making Digital Twins useful via Mobile Robotics, AI, and Augmented Reality
2025-01-23 12:00 - 13:00 UTC
As the pioneer of BIM-based Digital Twin development, we’ve worked with the leading facility owners and builders, and the biggest challenges were related to creating BIMs for existing facilities, ensuring that new construction delivers BIMs that are of the appropriate quality, and making the created Digital Twins useful considering existing workforce isn’t used to new workflows. The Session will present how to address these challenges using the new technologies and processes.
Learning Objectives

Learn how to set up rules for BIM data and control its quality
Learn how Augmented Reality (AR) can make the adoption of BIM/Digital Twin easier
Learn how mobile robots (e.g. robot dogs or wheeled platforms) can utilize Digital Twins for automating redundant workflows.
Learn how AI/ML can be used to create BIMs from 2D floorplans.

The Importance of Standardized Data for Your Digital Twin
2025-03-13 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
Many building owners are starting their transition to digital twins.
There are a plethora of use cases for a digital twin, but having standardized, accurate digital models as your foundation is key to being successful. It sometimes can be challenging to know what to ask for in a model and know that you are getting one that is useful.
Come see best practices for creating your own modeling standards and ensuring you are efficiently receiving valuable models. We will discuss examples of the right and wrong ways to define these standards and go over tips and best practices. Then, we will discover ways you can perform quick model compliance checking.

Learning Objectives

Understand the key considerations you need to know as a building owner before embarking on a digital twin journey
Learn best practices for creating your own modeling standards and ensuring you are receiving valuable models efficiently
See specific examples of the right and wrong way to define these standards and go over tips and best practices
Discover ways you can perform quick model compliance checking

Are Digital Twins Ready for Takeoff? Trends and Implementation Challenges in the AEC Industry
2025-03-26 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
Digital twins have emerged as a popular term in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, often hailed as a transformative innovation. While some early adopters have embraced digital twins and invested in research and development, many facility owners are skeptical due to lack of standardized guidelines that can lead to challenges in implementation.
For this presentation, a case study approach is used to demonstrate the real-world applications of digital twins in complex facilities, such as those in the healthcare, transportation, institutional, and federal sectors. The presentation also will provide a roadmap for the AEC industry to realize the full potential of this transformative technology.
Finally, the presentation will address broader industry trends and barriers to the adoption of digital twins, including an aging workforce and a lack of shared understanding about the technology.

Learning Objectives

Understand the concept and benefits of digital twin implementation in the AEC industry and the potential of live data-based decision-making for improved facility operations and sustainability initiatives.
Analyze the process of developing a digital twin roadmap and strategy for facility owners to identify system requirements, select appropriate data frameworks, and implement a robust strategy for execution.
Evaluate the challenges and uncertainties surrounding the adoption of digital twins due to unclear return on investment for facility owners.
Explore potential use cases and current trends for digital twin implementation within various market segments and customize adoption strategies based on facility readiness.

Using Urban Building Stock Digital Twins to Streamline Building Retrofit Planning for Urban Energy Efficiency and Resilience
2025-04-09 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
Rapid retrofitting of America’s existing building stock is of urgent national interest to improve energy efficiency and resilience. But how can cities plan for this significant transition with limited funding, data, resources, and time?
This session introduces a practical and scalable Urban Building stock digital twin for energy modeling developed by the Environmental Systems Lab at Cornell University. Designed to operate on widely available data, the model delivers robust, city-scale building physics models for predicting building energy use and thermal response in power outages. The digital twin platform analyzes existing energy consumption patterns. It predicts future energy consumption trends, allowing users to evaluate the impact of electrification, building retrofits, and extreme weather events on energy demand and emissions. It also enables cost and incentive modeling, helping cities and utilities assess financial feasibility and prioritize retrofit strategies. The session features a real-world case study from Ithaca, NY, the first U.S. city to commit to 100% building decarbonization and community-wide carbon neutrality. Within the session, we will provide pointers on how to scale this work to other communities.

Learning Objectives

Identify key public data required to build city-scale energy simulation models and recognize how these models can be improved using city-specific or private datasets.
Understand how Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) serves as an effective tool to analyze existing energy consumption patterns and predict future energy trends.
Explore how UBEMs could inform energy policy, guide decarbonization planning, and prioritize retrofit interventions by providing detailed and accurate information about building retrofit potential, upgrade costs, and incentives eligibility.
Learn from real-world UBEM applications based on a case study from Ithaca, NY, the first U.S. city to commit to full building decarbonization.

Cognitive Digital Twins: A Roadmap for Evolving Operations and Maintenance in the Age of AI
2025-04-24 12:00 - 13:00 UTC
In this session, TwinKnowledge will discuss a new type of digital twin that has emerged with AI, cognitive digital twins (CDTs), and their implications for the AECO industry.
Cognitive digital twins enable O&M workflows that are supported end-to-end by AI. They are built on top of existing digital twins; they use AI to make sense of digital twin data, generate insights such as anomaly detection and predictive maintenance for better decision-making/planning, and combine information from scattered O&M documents to generate response plans for maintenance activities.
TwinKnowledge will discuss what CDTs are, why they are so valuable for O&M, how they build on top of current digital twin systems, and a general roadmap for where to start in evolving existing digital twin systems into cognitive digital twins.

Learning Objectives

What Is a cognitive digital twin (CDT)?
Why CDTs are so valuable for O&M
How CDTs work within current digital twin systems
Where any company can start with integrating CDT capabilities

Addressing Workforce Shortages: How Can the Construction Industry Attract More Workers?
2025-05-08 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
Only 7% of U.S. students and jobseekers actively seek work in the construction industry, according to a new study conducted by Dodge Construction Network.
Despite this, the study also reveals there are several opportunities to increase that share. Join Donna Laquidara-Carr, Industry Insights Research Director with Dodge, as she discusses key findings from the study of over 250 people working in construction and more than 1,100 students, jobseekers, and people employed in other industries in the U.S.
The study provides actionable information about how to attract more workers to the industry, including:

What those working in construction find most satisfying in their careers
What the next generation of workers are looking for and how the industry can make itself more appealing to them
What keeps the largest share of people from considering work in construction (and it probably isn’t what you think)
How the construction industry needs to communicate with the next generation of workers

Enhancing Sustainability and Energy Conservation Through Digital Twin Technology
2025-05-11 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
In the evolving landscape of building management, transitioning from traditional systems of record to systems of insight has become crucial for sustained operational effectiveness and resilience.
This session explores the innovative application of digital twin technology from the owner’s and operator’s perspectives, underscoring its pivotal role in advancing sustainability and energy conservation within building operations.
Digital twins serve as a sophisticated tool that integrates four main data streams — hard assets, asset cutsheets, dynamic operational data, and institutional knowledge — into a unified middleware dashboard. Digital twins are 3D representations of the real-world asset and are the pathway for continued sustainability.
This integration not only simplifies the management of building data but also enhances the decision-making processes, allowing for more accurate virtual inspections and proactive maintenance strategies. By replicating physical assets in a virtual environment, digital twins enable operators to perform detailed analyses and simulations, which helps in pinpointing inefficiencies and predicting future performance under various scenarios.
This presentation will delve into the methodologies for transforming a building information model (BIM) into a navigable, asset-level digital twin. It will outline the process of data aggregation, labeling, and algorithm application, which are crucial for enhancing operational and energy efficiencies tailored to specific assets. The outcome is a streamlined, intuitive interface that not only promotes sustainability but also supports the building’s long-term viability and compliance with evolving environmental standards.

Learning Objectives

Understand the Role of Digital Twin Technology: Gain insights into how digital twins transform traditional building management systems into advanced, sustainable solutions by integrating hard assets, dynamic operational data, and institutional knowledge.
Explore Data Integration Techniques: Learn the methodologies for converting Building Information Models (BIM) into digital twins, focusing on data aggregation, labeling, and algorithm application for enhanced energy efficiency.
Enhance Decision-Making Processes: Discover how digital twins improve decision-making through detailed analyses, virtual inspections, and predictive maintenance strategies, ultimately contributing to energy conservation.
Optimize Asset Performance and Energy Use: Learn how owners and operators can utilize digital twins to optimize asset performance, reduce energy consumption, and achieve long-term sustainability goals.

Optimizing Asset Definition and Structure for Enabling Digital Twins
2025-05-13 13:00 - 13:55 UTC | Virtual Event
This session will explore the importance of well-defined Asset Registries and precise Asset Definitions in the development and implementation of digital twins. It will introduce new concepts, methodologies, and standards for structuring and managing asset information to support the integration of enterprise systems.
By enhancing these definitions and registries, organizations can optimize asset data usage, align with ISO 55000 principles, and ultimately improve overall asset management and performance.

Learning Objectives

Understand the critical role of Asset Registries and Asset Definitions in enabling digital twins.
Learn new methodologies and standards for structuring and managing asset information.
Explore how to integrate enterprise systems to support scalable digital twin solutions.
Discover ways to leverage digital twins to enhance asset management and align with ISO 55000 principles.

Singularity Unveiled: Exploring the Future of Spatial Computing and Digital Twins
2025-06-10 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
Dive into the transformative world of Singularity, where artificial intelligence, spatial computing, and digital twins converge to redefine how we design, interact with, and understand the built environment.
This session explores the groundbreaking technologies driving this evolution, including real-time data integration, immersive visualization, and predictive modeling, powered by AI.
Discover how spatial computing is reshaping human-machine interaction, creating opportunities for unprecedented collaboration and precision. Learn how digital twins -virtual replicas of physical assets – enable architects, engineers, and stakeholders to simulate, monitor, and optimize structures throughout their lifecycle.
Through practical examples and future-focused insights, this presentation will illuminate how these technologies can enhance your business, streamline workflows, and elevate your creative and strategic potential. Whether you’re an innovator, designer, or decision-maker, you’ll leave with actionable takeaways to harness the Singularity’s promise in shaping the future of the built environment and beyond.

Implementation of BIM/Digital Twins at MTA NY
2025-06-26 12:00 - 13:00 UTC
This presentation will provide a case study on how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority – NY (henceforth MTA) approaches and implements BIM and Digital Twins, including valuable insights, lessons learned, and best practices. It will also examine the software stack on which MTA has standardized for BIM and Digital Twins, and describe data management practices employed for these technologies.
MTA owns and/or operates significant transportation assets in the NYC Metropolitan Area, including a subway and bus network within the city itself, commuter railroads out to the suburbs, and several vehicular bridges & tunnels. MTA has been implementing BIM on select capital projects for the last 15 years. Over the past few years MTA has started combining other digital data, such as point clouds, reality models, and photogrammetry with the BIM models, thus creating Digital Twins. Since 2022, BIM has been required on a greater portion of capital projects, thus accelerating the rate of implementation. Although MTA’s assets are primarily horizontal, early BIM projects focused on discrete, vertical facilities, such as passenger stations, fan plants, bus depots, and signal buildings. However, over the past few years MTA has also been modeling horizontal (civil) assets that are receiving capital work, such as tracks, bridges, and subsurface utilities. Session Description- This presentation will provide a case study on how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority – NY (henceforth MTA) approaches and implements BIM and Digital Twins, including valuable insights, lessons learned, and best practices.

Learning Objectives

Learn about MTA’S- BIM Directive & Evaluation Criteria, BIM Statistics.
Learn about MTA- Data integration and Standard Libraries.
Learn about- MTA’S Digital Twin Platform.
Learn what Digital Twin Implementation challenges MTA has faced, and related Lessons Learned.

Aligning Resilience Goals in the Built Environment: How Risk Management Processes & Standards Incentivize Resilience
2025-07-22 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
Given the increasing frequency and severity of natural hazards and the dire predictions of climate scientists, it is imperative to redouble efforts to mitigate climate change and adapt to reduce the catastrophic risks of a worsening climate and sea level rise. Likewise, it is important to proactively address natural hazards caused by geological processes, such as earthquakes.
However, there always are competing priorities within capital and operational budgets for buildings and infrastructure, making it challenging to appropriately allocate funding to mitigate potential future risks. For investors, lenders, insurers, and property managers, it is increasingly important to assess climate and natural hazard risks and vulnerabilities, and to prioritize, plan, and implement resilience measures to guard against future losses.
This interactive panel session will introduce the emerging practice of climate and natural hazard risk assessment. We will learn about some of the tools and methods currently being used to assess and mitigate vulnerabilities, while improving the resilience and performance of new and existing buildings.
Panelists will explore how the standards and information gathered during commercial real estate (CRE) finance and development can drive resilience investment. This will include an introduction to the new ASTM E3429 Standard Guide for Property Resilience Assessment and its application in CRE transactions, as well as a guide for resilience-focused capital improvement planning. Panelists also will share an overview of new resilience requirements included in frameworks and new voluntary standards, such as the USGBC’s LEED version 5 rating system, the application of U.S. Resiliency Council (USRC), and the FORTIFIED program standards by IBHS, all currently being used in CRE finance and development.

Learning Objectives

Assess how hazards are impacting buildings and infrastructure
Understand how regulatory and industry trends are affecting commercial real estate
Review the primary risk management processes and standards for hazards
Consider how these processes and standards can be used to reduce risks and create value in commercial real estate

Coastal Resilience Planning and Adaptation for Waterfront Facilities
2025-07-31 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
In 2023 and 2024 a two-part workshop on Resilience of Naval Waterfront Facilities in a Changing Climate was held, co-sponsored by the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAV-EXWC) and the Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI) of ASCE. Part I of the workshop focused on developing non-stationary extreme wind speeds, sea level rise, and flooding loads on waterfront facilities, while Part II of the workshop exclusively involved life-cycle assessment, performance-based resilience planning and adaptation design to help protect public safety and to enrich the life quality in coastal communities including military installations. Resilience-based decision-making ensures community stakeholders have quantifiable information to select the most effective and efficient mitigations and/or adaptation strategies. Such quantification requires community-level models of physical infrastructure such as buildings, roadways, and water/power networks to be fully coupled with social and economic models by using computational tools and platforms, such as the Interdependent Networked Community Resilience Modeling Environment (IN-CORE). The impact of coastal multi-hazards is assessed in terms of infrastructure damage and service loss (e.g., disruption of goods flow through port and intermodal transportation). The potential to leverage robust community modeling, often referred to as digital twins, to assess the coupling between short- and long-term impacts is also highlighted.
This webinar intends to present the lessons learned from the workshop, based on the group discussions of over one hundred coastal resilience leaders and professionals from government agencies, industry, and academia. A discussion will focus on implementation of innovative methodologies and techniques on updating the structural design loads on waterfront facilities for non-stationary extreme wind speeds, sea level rise, and flooding hazards; developing performance-based and site-specific resilience planning and adaptation for coastal operation continuity; and promoting computational tools and platforms, such as IN-CORE.

Learning Objectives

Review available datasets and tools on establishing the relationship between extreme events and performance of coastal structures and infrastructure systems;
Establish the basic concept of extreme event effects (e.g. winds, floods, and tsunamis) on structural design codes and standards;
Inform best practices of life-cycle adaptation and a risk-based decision-making process to decision-makers for coastal resilience planning strategies; and
Promote interdependent community and infrastructure system models that are available for use in engineering practices (e.g., IN-CORE) and the training necessary for civil engineers and government planners who may use these models.

Understanding the FHWA's "Advancing BIM for Infrastructure National Strategic Roadmap"
2025-09-16 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
The Federal Highway Administration has a vision of how they would like all US DOTs to conduct their Digital Project Delivery activities by 2031. This session will delve into the objectives of this vision, the driving motivations behind it, the timeline and milestones, and the support available to ensure success. Additionally, the session will address the evolving roles and responsibilities of DOT consultants, contractors, and technology partners in relation to the Advancing BIM for Infrastructure National Strategic Roadmap.
Learning Objectives

Understand the FHWA’s suggested ten-year timeline for moving to a BIM based project delivery methodology
Understand the benefits of U.S. transportation agencies moving to a BIM based project delivery methodology
Understand the challenges for U.S. transportation agencies to move to a BIM based project delivery methodology
Understand the funding sources available to assist U.S. transportation agencies moving to a BIM based project delivery methodology.

Healthy and Efficient Buildings: Policy Frameworks, Standards, and Tools for Improving Indoor Air Quality
2025-10-01 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
Healthy buildings are critical for resilient communities. With advances in science, policy, and technology, buildings can now promote occupant well-being while enhancing energy performance. This session will examine emerging policy frameworks, standards, and tools designed to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and foster healthier environments across sectors.
Leading experts will present the scientific and economic case for healthy buildings—linking enhanced ventilation and IAQ to reduced disease transmission, improved cognitive function, higher productivity, and better quality of life for vulnerable populations. The session will explore current ventilation standards that integrate disease risk management, as well as practical strategies for implementation by building professionals.
While momentum for energy efficiency is growing, parallel federal support for healthy buildings remains limited. This discussion will outline a forward-looking policy roadmap for advancing IAQ at the state and federal levels—including opportunities through the U.S. Department of Energy, EPA, CDC, and GSA. Participants will learn how low-cost sensors and performance-based IAQ targets can be integrated into existing infrastructure to sustain healthier indoor environments with a case study from the commercial sector.
Learning Objectives

Understand the impact of improved ventilation and indoor air quality on building occupants, both for health and productivity
Identify tools and guidelines that building managers and engineers can use to improve the health of building occupants and reduce risk
Understand state and federal policies that drive healthier buildings, along with policy gaps
Learn about simple targets for indoor air quality and an implementation framework for building managers, using building performance air quality standards

ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure
2025-10-29 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
Every four years, America’s civil engineers provide a comprehensive assessment of the nation’s 18 major infrastructure categories in ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Using a simple A to F school report card format, the Report Card examines current infrastructure conditions and needs, assigning grades and making recommendations to raise them.
Learning objectives:

Overall performance and status of the nation’s infrastructure
Leading issues which affect the U.S. infrastructure network and main barriers to addressing these
Solutions to address longstanding infrastructure needs and promote improvements
How the report can help to inform key infrastructure stakeholders including Congress and federal agencies as well as private, and non-profit organizations

Understanding the Challenges of Preventing Construction Site Fires
2025-12-11 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
Sponsored By:

Construction sites present a unique set of fire safety challenges due to their dynamic nature, temporary infrastructure, and evolving occupancy. The session will delve into real-world case studies, regulatory frameworks, and emerging technologies that influence fire prevention efforts. This panel discussion convenes leading experts from the construction industry, fire service, code enforcement, and government agencies to explore the persistent issue of construction site fires. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of the causes, consequences, and mitigation strategies associated with fire incidents during the building phase.
Learning Objectives

Identify the risk & hazards associated with construction sites.
Examine the codes & standards that govern buildings under construction.
Analyze how new technologies can help keep construction sites fire safe.
Explore enforcement strategies to safeguard construction.
