Robert E. Shaw, Jr., PE (Michigan) is President of the Steel Structures Technology Center, Inc., Howell, Michigan. A graduate Civil Engineer from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, he began his career in the steel construction industry in 1973.
The SSTC focuses on providing consulting services and technical education related to the design, fabrication, erection, and inspection of steel-framed structures.
SSTC seminars have been conducted by Mr. Shaw across the United States and internationally, including courses on structural steel building quality, inspection, and evaluation; structural welding design; bolted connections; welded connections; and connection design. In-house training has been provided to a wide range of clients.
The SSTC publishes three documents authored by Mr. Shaw. The Structural Bolting Handbook is a guide for the testing, installation, inspection, and use of high-strength bolts in steel structures. The Structural Welding Quality Handbook is a guide for structural steel welding production, quality, and inspection. The Shop Inspection Handbook for Structural Steel Buildings is a 300+-page document that includes references to standards, structural steel, fabrication, bolting, welding, and surface preparation/coatings. He also authors the Structural Steel Inspector’s Workbook, published jointly by the SSTC and the International Code Council.
SSTC has consulted on design, fabrication, erection, and quality issues on numerous building and bridge projects for US, Canadian, and other international clients, including owners, government agencies, designers, constructors, fabricators, erectors, and inspection agencies.
Mr. Shaw is a member of the American Welding Society D1 Structural Welding Committee and serves on Subcommittees on Steel (D1.1), Seismic Welding Issues (D1.8), and others. He serves on the American Institute of Steel Construction Specifications Committee (now as an Emeritus Member), the AISC Connections Prequalification Review Panel for seismic connections, and TC6 on Connections, and joins the TC12 on Quality Control and Quality Assurance when the schedule permits. He is currently Chair of the Research Council on Structural Connections and serves on the Specifications Committee. He is involved in the International Institute of Welding, having served five years (2020-2025) on the IIW Board of Directors, including three as Vice-President, and also served as Chair of Commission XVIII on Quality Management in Welding and Allied Processes (2016 – 2025), Chair of Commission XV on Design, Analysis and Fabrication of Welded Structures (2006-2015), and Chair of Working Group-Technical Commissions (2021-2025). He is a member of ASTM Committee F16 on Fasteners. Memberships in professional and technical societies include AWS, ASNT, AISC, ASM, ASCE, ASTM, AMPP, and ICC. He is a registered ICC Special Inspector for Structural Steel and Bolting (S1) and for Structural Welding Inspection (S2).
Mr. Shaw was the Lead Guideline Writer for In-Process Construction Inspection for the SAC Joint Venture Program to Reduce Earthquake Hazards in Steel Moment Frame Structures, Phase 2, was the principal author of FEMA 353, and served on the Welding and Joining Technical Advisory Panel.
Mr. Shaw wrote the Technical Instruction (TI 809-26) for the United States Army Corps of Engineers on “Welding – Design Procedures and Inspections.” Mr. Shaw was the principal consultant for updating the Commentary to the AWS D1.5-96 Bridge Welding Code for the NCHRP/Transportation Research Board. The SSTC conducted the Federal Highway Administration / NHI course on “High Strength Bolts for Bridges” with Mr. Shaw serving as principal instructor. He wrote Chapter 12, “Fabrication, Erection and Quality Control,” for the textbook Steel LRFD Design, and Chapter 8, “Inspection and Quality Control,” for the textbook Handbook of Structural Steel Connection Design and Details, both published by McGraw-Hill.
Before founding the SSTC in 1990, Mr. Shaw served the American Institute of Steel Construction as Associate Director of Education (1986-1990) and Regional Engineer (1981-1986). As Associate Director of Education, he conducted seminars on steel design and construction to an estimated 9000 engineers and other professionals. He also prepared separate individual short seminars on bolting, the use of alternate weld acceptance criteria, and the retrofitting of steel structures. As Regional Engineer for the AISC, Mr. Shaw served Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky as a technical resource to engineers and fabricators.
Before joining AISC, Mr. Shaw was a Sales Engineer for the Mississippi Valley Structural Steel Division of Bristol Steel and Iron Works, Inc., working in the Decatur, Illinois, office. His duties included sales and project management for steel fabrication and erection contracts in the upper Midwest.