Editor’s Note

This issue marks the beginning of the 21st year of publication of the Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities. It has been my pleasure to serve as editor since the formation of the publications committee in 1986. Throughout this time, it has been gratifying to see the Journal maintain its focus on the improvement of engineering practice. Also encouraging is the continuing interdisciplinary character of the manuscripts submitted to the Journal.

In response to an increasing number of quality manuscript submissions, the Journal publication frequency will change this year from quarterly to bimonthly. Our publication dates will be February, April, June, August, October, and December.

A new regular feature of the Journal will be initiated in April. Each issue will include a Practices to Reduce Failures article contributed by the Committee on Practices to Reduce Failures of the ASCE Technical Council on Forensic Engineering. The committee has been collecting case study examples involving improved practices, with the intention of eventually publishing an ASCE monograph. These brief summaries are expected to be of special value to readers who practice as consulting design professionals.

The Technical Council on Forensic Engineering (TCFE) sponsored the Fourth Forensic Engineering Congress, held on the campus of Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, on October 6–9, 2006. The congress was a very successful event. Proceedings, including 50 technical papers, are now available at the ASCE Publications website. Forensic engineering congresses are held every three years. Previous congresses were in Minneapolis, Minnesota (1997); San Juan, Puerto Rico (2000); and San Diego, California (2003).

An international conference on forensic engineering will take place in Mumbai, India, December 6–9, 2007. The conference will be sponsored by a number of Indian engineering and construction societies, with cosponsorship by ASCE, the American Concrete Institute (ACI), the UK Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), and the UK Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE). Lead coordinator for the conference is Ramesh Raikar, Indian member of this Journal’s Editorial Review Board. I am serving as a co-coordinator and will be pleased to provide information about the conference should you be interested in attending or in submitting a paper for consideration. I can be contacted by mail: Kenneth L. Carper, School of Architecture & Construction Management, College of Eng. & Architecture, PO Box 642220, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2220; by phone: (509) 335-1229; by Fax: (509) 335-6132; or by e-mail: [email protected]