Standardization News

Helping students learn the value of standardization is an important part of ASTM's mission. In order to do that, ASTM staff members visit students at many schools, including the following.

Universidad del Valle de México

ASTM International Mexican representatives Luis Ordonez and Vanessa Corona visited the Universidad del Valle de México – Campus Querétaro with the objective of encouraging students and professors to participate in ASTM's standards-related activities.

The UVM audience included many engineering professors interested in helping their students gain real-world experience through the use of standards. As a result of the presentation, the university has requested a proposal for ASTM to make similar presentations in each of its 36 campuses.

Northern Virginia Community College

On Oct. 8, 2010, Jeff Grove, ASTM International vice president of global policy and industry affairs, spoke to a group of students as part of their class, Introduction to Engineering, at Northern Virginia Community College. The class of 30 aspiring engineers was engaged and interested in the presentation, "Standards Development around the World."

Grove received the invitation to participate as a guest lecturer from ASTM International member Peter Pollack, who has been active in ASTM since the late 1970s. Students were given an extra credit homework assignment to apply to be ASTM student members.

University of Texas

Several students at the University of Texas took advantage of the October 2010 Committee Week held at the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio, Texas, as a result of an invitation from Manuel Diaz, Ph.D., P.E., associate professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at the university.

During their visit, the students participated in a meeting of ASTM Subcommittee E60.95 on Student Liaison and Affairs, part of Committee E60 on Sustainability, where they met with Caitlin Augustin, a former ASTM International intern who now serves as the subcommittee chair. The students also had an opportunity to attend the Committee E60 meeting and visit with ASTM staff to discuss the ASTM standards development process.

Cornell University

On Oct. 18, 2010, Phillip Godorov, director of the ASTM International Interlaboratory Study Program, spoke to students as part of their class on product quality assessment in the fiber science and apparel design department at Cornell University. The class was very engaged in the presentation and discussion of real-world examples demonstrating the importance of standards in many aspects of textile design and production.

The following day, Godorov visited Cornell's textile testing laboratory, which is equipped with modern instrumentation for chemical, physical and mechanical analysis, microscopy facilities, and a controlled temperature and humidity room. Here, students participated in hands-on evaluations of textile and sewn product properties using ASTM International test methods developed by Committee D13 on Textiles. Over the course of a semester, 20 different ASTM test methods are covered in this lab.

The invitation to participate as a guest lecturer for the course was received from Frances Kozen, fiber science and apparel design lecturer, at the recommendation of Thomas Ellingham, an ASTM student member and a Cornell University graduate student in fiber sciences, who is a teaching assistant for the course.

To Learn MoreEducating future engineers and leaders about the importance of standardization and the voluntary consensus process continues to be a high priority for ASTM staff.

For additional information about ASTM's academic outreach activities, please contact James Olshefsky, ASTM director of external relations (phone: 610-832-9714; jolshefs@astm.org), or visit www.astm.org/campus.