S. Shyam Sunder, Sc.D., director of the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., has been elected to the ASTM International board of directors for 2011-2013.

As director of the NIST Engineering Laboratory, a role he assumed in 2010, Sunder is responsible for NIST’s mission-based national programs in fire prevention and control, earthquake hazards reduction, windstorm impact reduction, and construction safety teams, as well as those in manufacturing enterprise integration, collaborative manufacturing research pilot grants, and manufacturing fellowships.

In 1978, Sunder began his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. Initially a research assistant and instructor, Sunder rose to the positions of associate professor and senior research scientist. In 1994 he joined NIST to become manager of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory’s High Performance Construction Materials and Systems Program, then an analyst and senior analyst in the program office of the NIST director. In 1998, Sunder was named chief of BFRL’s Structures Division, and in 2002, chief of the Materials and Construction Research Division. From 2005 to 2007 he served as BFRL deputy director, and from 2007 to 2010 he was BFRL director.  He led the U.S. federal investigation of the World Trade Center disaster from 2002 to 2008.

A member of the Construction Industry Institute board of advisors, Sunder currently serves as vice president of the board of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB). He is also on the advisory board for the Building Seismic Safety Council and for the National Research Council of Canada’s Institute for Research in Construction.
 
Sunder has received several honors, including, the Gold Medal Award for distinguished leadership from the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2005. Sunder graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India, in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He earned his master’s in civil engineering in 1979 and his doctorate in structural engineering in 1981, both from MIT.

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

Release #8764