Standardization News

ANSI Announces 2022 Student Paper Competition

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has announced its 2022 Student Paper Competition. Students are invited to submit papers on ways that standards support innovation, cooperation, and excellence at the Olympic Games.

ANSI notes, “Standards play a key role in the collaborative work that enables Olympic dreams to become a reality for thousands of competitors and staff involved, and a vicarious thrill for the billions watching around the globe.” The competition encourages entrants to explore the use of — or identify an absence of/need for — standards that support health, safety, performance, efficiency, and/or innovation at the Olympic Games.

Entries must be submitted to Lisa Rajchel (lrajchel@ansi.org) by June 1, 2022. Winning papers will be announced in the third quarter of 2022.

Darla Goeres Receives Professor of the Year Award

Darla Goeres, Ph.D., a research professor of regulatory science at Montana State University, has received ASTM International’s 2021 Professor of the Year award.

Goeres earned her B.S. (1994), M.S. (1996), and Ph.D. (2006) degrees from Montana State University (MSU). She became an ASTM member in 2000, when she was a research engineer at the Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE) at MSU. Goeres is currently the chair of the committees on pesticides, antimicrobials, and alternative control agents (E35), and she also is a member of the committee on medical and surgical materials and devices (F04). 

In her current position with the CBE, Goeres, along with her staff and MSU students, develop, validate, and publish quantitative methods for growing, treating, sampling, and analyzing biofilm bacteria for a variety of different applications. As an E35 member and committee chair, Goeres has championed the approval of ASTM biofilm standards and is currently involved in the development of several more.

The Emerging Professionals (EP) Program October workshop was held virtually with nine participants from nine committees. The EP Program deepens the participants’ understanding of ASTM and its standards development process, and furthers their leadership skills.

The committee on amusement rides and devices (F24) held a student/industry roundtable event on October 18, at the close of F24’s meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The event connected industry experts with the next generation for the purposes of providing insight and tips to students, as well as allowing industry professionals to develop the future workforce of their industry.

Travis Murdock, ASTM staff manager, spoke to Drexel University senior design students on October 18 about ways to engage with ASTM International and participate in academic outreach, including free student membership and committee-specific awards, as well as the Emerging Professionals program.