Smoot Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Oliver Smoot has had a long and distinguished career in voluntary standards activities through his work with the Information Technology Industry Council, his chairmanship of the American National Standards Institute (2001-2002) and as president of the International Organization for Standardization (2003-2004). Recently, the 50th anniversary of one of Smoot’s early standardization achievements was celebrated at his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For a Lambda Chi Alpha pledge task, Smoot and classmates had to measure the Harvard Bridge in Smoot lengths: the freshman’s height. According to their calculations, the bridge was 364.4 Smoots, plus or minus an ear.

Engineers Week 2009 to Be Held in February

Engineers Week 2009, an educational outreach program that encourages interest in engineering and technology careers among young students and raises awareness of the field, will be held Feb. 15-21. ASTM International is a contributing society for the program, which is organized by the National Engineers Week Foundation, a coalition of more than 75 professional societies, corporations and government agencies. For more information, click here.

AISI Establishes Steel Market Development Institute

To advance the competitive use of steel through a strategy to promote cost-effective, steel-based solutions, the American Iron and Steel Institute has organized the Steel Market Development Institute. Eight of North America’s leading steel producers, committed to advancing steel’s competitive position in the North American market, have funded SMDI. For more information, contact AISI’s Nancy Gravatt (phone: 202-452-7115).

TIA and ANSI Sign MOU

The Toy Industry Association and the American National Standards Institute have signed a memorandum of understanding in support of the accreditation program of TIA’s developing Toy Safety Certification Program. Under the MOU, ANSI’s assessment of the competence of product certification bodies will be determined by requirements in ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission) Guide 65, General Requirements for Bodies Operating Product Certification Systems, the associated International Accreditation Forum Guidance document and TSCP program requirements.