Founded in 1950 as a non-profit professional society concerned with the use of coatings to protect industrial steel structures, the Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC) inspires learning, advances knowledge, and elevates performance in the industry through training, certification, and education of the workforce, communication of advances in technology, and promotion of the use of protective coatings. As such, each year the SSPC hosts a conference that includes training programs that cover a gamut of topics, including surface preparation, coatings and application, project management, research, testing and technology that can help improve vital infrastructure and the coatings industry as a whole.