Standards for stud strength in composite joists are presently not available. Existing standards for composite design are targeted for composite beam design while design of a composite joist requires more emphasis on stud strength to fully develop the joist bottom chord. Stud placement in the deck flute is investigated. Thirty-six push-off specimens were tested with three different deck geometries. A normal load apparatus models gravity loading in an attempt to represent full-scale joist behavior during the push-off test procedure. The results illustrate that the current AISC specifications (ASD 1989; LRFD 1986) do not accurately predict stud strength for studs placed in ribbed metal deck when the deck is perpendicular to the shear loading. / Master of Science