ASTM International Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management and Corrective Action has named Dennis D. Rounds, manager for Multi-Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) projects at Morris Inc. in Ft. Pierre, S.D., as its new chairman.

Committee E50 has a membership of approximately 1,150 technical experts who oversee 93 ASTM International standards for environmental assessment, risk management and corrective action. This includes issues like environmental assessment, environmental management, corrective action due diligence, sustainability and more.

Rounds is an ASTM fellow who received the Award of Merit in 2013. An ASTM member since 1993, he served a term on the ASTM board of directors from 2011 to 2013, and previously served on the ASTM Standing Committee on Standards (COS), including a term as COS chairman. He works on several E50 subcommittees and was instrumental in the development of the widely used Standard Guide for Risk-Based Corrective Action Applied at Petroleum Release Sites (ASTM E1739). Rounds is also a member of Committee D18 on Soil and Rock.

At Morris Inc., a heavy highway contractor and supplier of construction materials, Rounds oversees the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers construction and repair projects on the Missouri River dams that are awarded to Morris Inc. through the MATOC program. Prior to his current role, he was a professional consultant providing expertise in environmental and business risk management, including environmental risk portfolio analysis and expert witness services, and executive director of the Office of Risk Management and the Petroleum Release Compensation Fund, in Pierre, S.D.

A graduate of Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Ky., where he received a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering technology, Rounds also holds a master’s in civil engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T), Rapid City, S.D., where he is a past chair of the professional advisory board for the civil and environment engineering programs.

ASTM PR Contact: Erin Brennan, Phone: 610-832-960; ebrennan@astm.org

Release #9616