Jan 08, 2015

James J. Simnick, Ph.D., a senior technical adviser in the global fuels technology department at BP America Inc. in Naperville, Illinois, has joined the ASTM International board of directors for a three-year term. 

A 2012 Award of Merit recipient, Simnick has been an ASTM member since 1995. He is currently first vice chairman of Committee D02 on Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels and Lubricants and has been section vice chairman of Subcommittee D02.A0.01 on Gasoline and Gasoline-Oxygenate Blends since 2001. D02 has recognized Simnick with an Award of Appreciation and two Awards of Excellence.

In addition to D02, Simnick is a member of Committees D03 on Gaseous Fuels, E50 on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management and Corrective Action and E60 on Sustainability. He recently served a term on the ASTM Committee on Technical Committee Operations.

Simnick has 35 years of experience in both technical and management roles in refining technology, marketing and fuels technology. In a career that began in 1979 with Amoco Corp., now BP America, Simnick has moved from engineering positions to his current senior adviser role, which he assumed in 2013.

Outside ASTM, Simnick is a board member of the Coordinating Research Council and co-chair of its Performance Committee, which includes programs to determine the effects of ethanol and biodiesel on vehicle engine performance. He was co-chairman of the U.S. Department of Energy’s U.S. DRIVE (Driving Research and Innovation for Vehicle Efficiency and Energy Sustainability) Partnership Program Hydrogen Delivery Technical Team, where he has been a member since its inception in 2003.

Simnick, who earned his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering at Purdue University, represents BP on the Energy-side DOE Fuels Operations Group for the U.S. DRIVE Partnership. He is also a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and SAE International.

ASTM PR Contact: Barbara Schindler, tel +1.610.832.9603; bschindl@astm.org

Release #9743