Clarkson University’s Director of the Construction Engineering Management Program Erik C. Backus was recently appointed to the APPA Informatics Working Group.

APPA, which once stood for the Association of Physical Plant Administrators, is now known as APPA: Leadership in Educational Facilities, and is most commonly referred to as APPA.

The organization, founded in 1914, serves the community of facilities professionals at universities and colleges throughout North America.

Under the auspices of the APPA Standards and Codes Council, an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards developer, the Informatics Working Group seeks to develop a universal system of information protocols that will allow colleges, universities and other similar institutions to better manage fixed physical assets.

Backus, a faculty member in the department of civil and environmental engineering, will use his role as an academic and past university facilities planner to bring a range of expertise to the challenge of writing an ANSI standard for how information about facilities is organized in order to facilitate better decision making.

"Benchmarking and related activities have been ongoing for decades now in the facilities world," Backus said. "The challenge remains to have one set of nomenclature and methodology for understanding the sheer volume of information buildings, grounds and infrastructure provided to us today to enable better choices for the future."