Dr. Donald Archer, research chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., has received an ASTM International Award of Merit and accompanying title of fellow, the highest organizational honor for individual contributions to standards activities, from ASTM International Committee E37 on Thermal Measurements.

Committee E37 cited Archer "for exceptional leadership as an officer of Committee E37 on Thermal Measurements, his leadership in authoring ASTM standards, practices and the promulgation of improved test methods, specifications and reference materials for use worldwide."

Archer has been a member of ASTM International since 1999.  Active on multiple E37 subcommittees, he currently serves as chair of Subcommittees E37.02 on Standard Reference Materials and E37.09 on Biological Calorimetry, a new group which he helped initiate. He has made significant contributions to the development of new standards and research reports on thermal measurements.  Archer also serves on Committee D03 on Gaseous Fuels, where he is chair of Subcommittee D03.08 on Thermophysical Properties.  In 2007, D03 honored him with the Gaseous Fuels Achievement Award. 

As research chemist at NIST, a position he has held since 1988, Archer's work focuses on high-accuracy calorimetric methods and thermal analysis.  He has created reference materials and data that have supported the development and use of ASTM standards as well as other standards and calibration methods that are used worldwide. 

A graduate of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pa., where he earned a B.S. in chemistry, Archer received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Delaware in Newark.

Release #7952