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Martyn R. Shorten, Ph.D.
Managing Partner
BioMechanica, LLC
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“The primary reason why I have stayed involved for almost 20 years is that I have enjoyed and personally benefited from working with the many experts in various fields that are involved in ASTM. There has never been a meeting where I have not learned something important or been challenged to change the way I work or think.”
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Who is your current employer and what is your current position? |
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I am the managing partner (effectively the proprietor) of BioMechanica, LLC, an independent research, product development and testing company providing services primarily to manufacturers of sports shoes, surfaces services and equipment, and body protective equipment. |
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Where did you obtain your undergraduate/ graduate degree(s) and in what fields? |
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I have a bachelor’s degree with joint honors in biological sciences and physical education and a Ph.D. for research in the area of sports biomechanics, both from Loughborough University in Leicestershire, United Kingdom. |
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When and why did you become involved in ASTM International? |
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I first became involved with ASTM around 1987, when my then employer, NIKE, Inc. asked me to represent them at an ASTM meeting. At that time, to be honest, I had a somewhat negative opinion of the standards development process and did not see much need for standards in my particular field. That opinion evolved over time as I became familiar with the standards process and when my own work was made more difficult by the lack of consensus standards. |
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In which committees are you active? Are you a committee officer; if so, what group or groups? |
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I became more actively involved in 1993 when I was invited to chair Subcommittee F08.54 on Athletic Footwear in Committee F08 on Sports Equipment and Facilities. Since that time, I have served in various officer positions within the F08 Committee. Currently, I am serving a second term as F08 chairman and am also a member of the Committee on Standards.
Within F08 I am actively involved in subcommittees that develop standards for athletic footwear, sports surfaces, playground surfaces, protective equipment, and anywhere that folks need help with math or statistics.
In my role as chairman of F08, I often find myself engaged in problem solving with groups working in areas outside my core expertise. This kind of work is challenging and sometimes frustrating, but ultimately rewarding when things work out.
As a member of the Committee on Standards, I am one of the volunteers who works with ASTM staff to ensure that due process and openness are maintained in the standards development process. As a result, I have seen the standards process at work in diverse fields ranging from the certification of forensic documents examiners to the specifications of lubricants for interplanetary spacecraft. Clearly, ASTM standards have fundamental value and importance in many industry settings.
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How do you apply ASTM standards in your work? |
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When appropriate, we routinely use ASTM standard test methods to evaluate the performance of products and materials for our clients. Specific examples include measuring the cushioning and stability of running shoes, and testing the properties of newly installed artificial turf fields to ensure the facility is within specs and safe for play. |
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Apart from using standards, are there advantages to participating in standards development? |
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It is certainly not my love of committee meetings and paperwork that keeps me engaged in the ASTM process. The primary reason why I have stayed involved for almost 20 years is that I have enjoyed and personally benefited from working with the many experts in various fields that are involved in ASTM. There has never been a meeting where I have not learned something important or been challenged to change the way I work or think. I have also made many useful business contacts and some good friends over the years. I’ve been doing it for a while, but I still get a kick out working with a group of people to build consensus. Those people usually have a wide range of interests, backgrounds and expertise, and are often competitors, but are ultimately able to agree on standards that work for the common good. |
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What are some of your favorite aspects of your job? |
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My mental dictionary still tends to associate “standards” with “dull and boring”, but that does not have to be the case. As F08 chairman, I occasionally get to present awards on behalf of the committee. While acknowledging people in this way, I learn about their careers and contributions to ASTM, often discovering that their work on standards has led to important changes in products and processes.
For example, I recently presented an award to a fellow committee member whose work on bike helmet standards can be equated to saving many young lives and protecting many more from severe injury. What’s dull and boring about that? As an ASTM member I can share pride in what we build together through the consensus process. Recognizing other people’s successes alerts us all to the possibilities and I think it motivates us to do a better job.
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Are there advantages that you can identify that result from having an understanding of standards? |
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A consensus standard embodies “proven and tested” methodologies that a large group of experts in the field can agree on. Consequently, standard methods and practices incorporate a wealth of knowledge. We use them because results can be compared from lab to lab, because their repeatability and reliability is usually documented as part of the standards development process and because they provide a common technical language that researchers, test laboratories, manufacturers and consumers can all understand.
For some purposes, we use our own custom methods that we believe are more sophisticated, especially for research projects. In this case, the validity of the method is subject to peer review and is not necessarily accepted by everyone else working in the field.
I am occasionally engaged as an expert witness when a court case involves technical matters in my field. Not surprisingly, the courts tend to give more weight to conclusions drawn from the results of a standard test that is used industry wide and has been developed through the ASTM consensus process. In this context, it is important to understand both the strengths and limits of ASTM standards. One “limit”, for example, is that voluntary consensus standards are enforced primarily by mutual agreements and contracts and less commonly by statute.
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Are there any words of wisdom that you can offer to professionals starting out in your field? |
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As someone who loves to indulge in theoretical explorations, I find it helpful to keep the following words taped to my desktop monitor.
“The difference between theory and reality is that, in theory, there is no difference between theory and reality whereas, in reality, there is a difference.”
For me personally, ASTM is the place I go to confront the real world of applied science and technology; where real needs are addressed by real people working together to seek real solutions to real problems.
2007
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