Kenneth Lee, director of global product standards at BISSELL Homecare Inc., Grand Rapids, Michigan, has received the ASTM International Award of Merit  from Committee F11 on Vacuum Cleaners.

The award, which includes the accompanying title of ASTM fellow, is the highest organizational recognition for individual contributions to standards activities. The committee honored Lee for his outstanding leadership and dedicated service in the development of standards for vacuum cleaner products.

A very active F11 member, Lee serves as membership secretary of the main committee and as chairman of Subcommittees F11.35 on Extractor Cleaners, F11.40 on Steam Products and F11.92 on Precision, Accuracy and Sampling. He also chairs the subcommittee sections on Hard Floor Cleaning, Edge Cleaning, XRF Technology and HEPA Definition. Lee has organized and led three ASTM Interlaboratory Study Programs for the committee, helping to enhance the quality of key F11 industry test methods. An ASTM member since 1993, he received the F11 Award of Excellence in 2008.

Lee began his career as a lab technician at Whirpool/Panasonic, Danville, Kentucky, in 1985. He joined BISSELL Inc. as manager of product integrity in 1993, and then served as director of product design and engineering services before assuming his current role in 2011. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and a master’s in engineering management from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Outside ASTM International, Lee is a senior member of the American Society for Quality and chairman of Working Group 4 under the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Subcommittee 59F, which is responsible for the development of performance standards for wet surface cleaning applications. 

ASTM PR Contact: Erin K. Brennan, Phone: 610-832-9602; ebrennan@astm.org

Release #9626