Jan 19, 2010

ASTM International Committee G01 on Corrosion of Metals has presented the Francis L. LaQue Memorial Award to Dr. Neal Berke, research and development fellow at Grace Construction Products, W.R. Grace & Co., Cambridge, Mass., in recognition of his outstanding contributors to the committee and to the field of corrosion testing and evaluation.

A member of ASTM International since 1984, Berke is a past chair of Committee G01, and currently leads Subcommittees G01.93 on Long Range Planning and G01.14.02 on Corrosion of Metals in Concrete and Mortar. An ASTM fellow and Award of Merit recipient, he is an honorary member of Committee C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates, and also works on C13 on Concrete Pipe, C27 on Precast Concrete Products and the Joint ASTM/NACE Committee on Corrosion. 

Berke, who joined the staff at W.R. Grace in 1983, has conducted groundbreaking research over the course of his professional career on products to improve the durability of concrete by reducing reinforcing bar corrosion and improving concrete’s resistance to aggressive chemicals and cracking. He received the Grace Prolific Inventor Award in 2007 for holding 33 patent families. 

Outside ASTM International, Berke is a fellow of the American Concrete Institute and a member of NACE International, where he chairs the groups on concrete and corrosion inhibitors and admixtures. He holds an A.B. in physics from the University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill., and a Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Ill.

ASTM PR Contact: Erin McElrone, Phone: 610-832-9602; emcelron@astm.org

Release #8465/Jan2010