Muthiah Kasi, executive vice president, operations, at Alfred Benesch & Company, Chicago, Ill., was awarded first prize in the 2007 ASTM International Advantage Award paper competition. The contest called for original case studies that demonstrated the impact and benefits of the use of ASTM standards.

Kasi's winning paper, "Managing Transportation Projects with ASTM International Standards," described how five standards originally developed by ASTM Committee E06 on Performance of Buildings are also beneficial to use when planning and managing major transportation projects.  An ASTM International member since 1993, Kasi serves on Committee E06 and its Subcommittee E06.81 on Building Economics.  In 2004, the committee honored Kasi with an Award of Appreciation for his contributions.

After receiving his master's in civil engineering from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich., Kasi began his career at Alfred Benesch & Company as a designer.  He held various engineering and management positions at Benesch over the years before assuming his current position in 2004.  As executive vice president, operations, Kasi leads all of Benesch's transportation value planning studies and has designed and managed both high-rise buildings and long and short span bridges. 

A graduate of the University of Madras, India, Kasi teaches at the University of Illinois and has written or co-written books on bridges and value engineering.  In addition to ASTM International, he is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois, the Society of American Value Engineers and the American Consulting Engineers Council.

"Managing Transportation Projects with ASTM International Standards" can be found on the Web at http://www.astm.org/SNEWS/NOVEMBER_2007/kasi_nov07.html.

Release #7812