Beyond imparting his engineering knowledge, Michael Pluimer's position in academia as director of the Advanced Materials Center and associate professor in civil engineering at the University of Minnesota has allowed him to promote ASTM’s standards and process to graduate students.

Since joining ASTM International in 2002, Pluimer has worked within a number of committees including plastics (D20), rubber and rubber-like materials (D11), quality and statistics (E20), and plastic piping systems (F17). He chairs two subcommittees within F17, and is membership secretary for the committee on technology and underground utilities (F36).

Pluimer has also received various awards from F17, including the Certificate of Appreciation (2013), the Special Service Award (2016), the Paul Finn Memorial Award (2021), the Frank W. Reinhart& Henry “Butch” Kuhlmann Award (2022), and the Award of Merit (2023).

Pluimer received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Calvin University (1995), his M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota (1997), and his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Villanova University (2016)..