The Charles Pankow Foundation, which, since 2006, has spent $7.4 million funding 42 mostly unrelated research projects, is switching gears. To improve construction practice, it will now focus on larger research concepts that could have an impact on all structures, not just buildings.

该小组为其第一个广泛影响研究计划选择了高强度增强钢。目的是更新混凝土代码，该代码当前限制了所有类型的结构中更高强度的钢筋的使用。

Pankow还打算填补研究领域的领导差距。总部位于华盛顿州温哥华的私人基金会董事会主席理查德·昆纳斯（Richard M. Kunnath）说：“我们正在努力解决问题并推动议程。”

The high-strength-rebar effort will consist of 20 to 30 discrete structural testing projects over five to 10 years at a cost of $10 million to $20 million. Pankow will seek support from many interested parties.

该小组专注于高强度钢筋，因为材料会降低钢筋拥塞并增强构造性。供应商可以生产80 KSI甚至100 KSI钢筋，但是代码限制了60 KSI以上的钢筋使用，因为尚未进行必要的结构测试。

Pankow's advisory board supports the group's new direction. "High-strength rebar is an ideal project," says Jack Moehle, a professor of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. "It will be a challenging project ... one that requires an organization capable of sustained leadership."

Another advisory board member agrees. "The rebar project is the most important and valuable undertaking the Pankow foundation has done to date," says Glenn R. Bell, CEO of structural engineer Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Boston. "The approach is brilliant—bite off a big issue in small steps and solve the right problem."

本文于2013年6月14日更新。