Editor’s Note

The first workshop on pipeline research needs by the Pipeline Research Committee of the ASCE Pipeline Division was held in Leesburg, Virginia, on March 28–29, 1996. As the name implies, the purpose of this workshop was to identify and prioritize pipeline-related research needs by covering such pipeline applications as oil, gas, water and sewer, pneumatic, and capsule. The workshop was arranged according to different aspects of pipeline function, including safety and protection, design, operations, fluid mechanics/hydraulics, construction and rehabilitation, automatic controls and instrumentations, and freight pipelines. This new, integrated approach brought pipeline professionals and researchers from different industries together to share information and exchange ideas. The Proceedings of this workshop were published by ASCE.

The second research workshop, sponsored by the Research Committee of the ASCE Pipeline Division, titled “ASCE Pipeline Research and Technology Transfer Symposium,” was held ten years later on July 30, 2006, in Chicago, Illinois, in conjunction with the 2006 annual ASCE Pipelines Conference. This symposium provided a forum for presenting and discussing new pipeline technologies, processes, or techniques that had merits but had not yet been successfully transferred to or regularly used in the marketplace. The technologies presented came from research institutions, universities, consulting and design engineering companies, contractors, suppliers, and manufacturers and included presentations on emerging pipeline-related technologies. This workshop included pipe renewal methods, utility corridor enhancements to directional drilling, condition assessments, new pipe materials for trenchless applications, freight pipelines, tomographic ground imaging, and corrosion control. Attendees included a cross section of practitioners, suppliers, researchers, and academia. The Proceedings of this workshop were distributed among workshop registrants and currently are available on the Pipeline Division website (www.pipelinedivision.org).

The next research workshop, currently being planned to be held in conjunction with the 2012 ASCE Pipelines Conference in Miami, will highlight pipeline research needs from an academic and research standpoint. The research papers presented at this workshop will be published in a special issue of the Journal. Our industry needs an objective technical forum every six years during which new research ideas can be developed and presented to decision makers. It is our hope that such forums can continue to serve future needs of the industry and support the advancement of the pipeline profession.

We welcome contributions, suggestions, and input from all pipeline professionals and researchers. Please attend our planning meeting, which will be held in conjunction with Pipelines Conference 2010 (http://content.asce.org/conferences/pipelines2010/index.html) in Keystone (near Denver), Colorado, on Sunday, August 29, 2010.

In the meantime, I invite you to continue submitting your technical papers, case studies, and technical notes to the Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice. We promise you a fast and fair review and strive to notify you in $45\text{days}$ about the status of your paper. Manuscripts should be submitted to the Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/jrnpseng/.