This is Part 1 of 7 - Introduction and Background Presentation of the final research report for the project, “Structural Fire Engineering and Design of Speedcore Composite Walls” Funded by the Charles Pankow Foundation, Steel Institute of New York, and American Institute of Steel Construction Authored by: Amit Varma, Ataollah Taghipour, Saahas Bhardwaj, and Preshit Wazalwar