Structural Engineer - the magazine crafted to be your resource for design and specification - will end this year with a bang by sponsoring our new event, the Structural Engineers' Buildings Conference & Expo, Dec. 1-2, at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago. When we conceived this event, our goal was to “bring the magazine to life” for the readers by featuring three educational tracks: Codes & Guidelines, Project & Business Management, and Design & Analysis, as well as by offering an exposition to view the latest products and services.Comparing this month's columns and features with the conference program, I'd say we did just that.

For example, our newest column, Code Simple, which aims to explain some of the nuances of the building codes, is written bi-monthly by S.K. Ghosh, Ph.D., and Susan Dowty, S.E., from S.K. Ghosh Associates, Inc.The renowned team discusses the International Building Code's Section 1617.2 Redundancy on page 14 and will present “A preview for the Structural Provisions of the 2006 IBC/ASCE 7-05” during the conference as a part of the Codes & Guidelines track.

Structural Engineer's Risk Management column is contributed to by members of the American Council of Engineering Companies' Council of American Structural Engineers' (CASE) Risk Management Program. This month's column (on page 16) describes Certificate of Merit legislation and how such statues may help prevent frivolous lawsuits against engineers. This same group will present a session titled “Risk Management for Structural Engineers” and is included as part of the Project & Business Management track. This panel session will be moderated by the CASE/Risk Management Program's Chairman Nils V. (Val) Ericson, P.E.

This month's Material Matters feature (see page 28) delves into the how-tos of cold-formed, steel framed, shear wall assembly design. This technical article - based upon the American Iron and Steel Institute's North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed steel Structural Members - is written by Jeff Ellis, P.E., S.E., from Simpson Strong-Tie Company. Ellis, along with Don Allen, P.E., from the Steel Stud Manufacturers Association and Steel Framing Alliance, will present “New Building Construction Design Standards and Applications for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Framing” as part of the Design & Analysis track at the conference.

Finally, long-standing Structural Engineer columnist Richard Weingardt, P.E.- whose comments anchor the back page of the magazine each month - discusses “How you can influence structural engineering's future” this month (see page 50) and will similarly conclude the inaugural Structural Engineers' Buildings Conference with his presentation “Leadership, Involvement, and Visibility: Reaching your highest level.” The exhibit hall will bring the product and specification side of Structural Engineer to life at the conference. See “Products and Services for building design professionals” on page 18 to learn more about the exhibiting companies.

I would like to thank everyone who worked so hard on the magazines and the conference this year. Additionally, I would like to thank all of the subscribers who have offered feedback and have contributed articles to make this year a success.

I wish everyone a happy holiday season and a peaceful New Year.

Jennifer Goupil, P.E., editor@gostructural.com