ASTM International Committee F12 on Security Systems and Equipments has elected Edward J. Conrath, P.E., a structural engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, Neb., as its new chairman. The committee consists of 120 members who are responsible for 20 standards related to security systems, components, and equipment, and product counterfeit protection.

An ASTM International member since 1987, Conrath also serves as chair of Subcommittee F12.10 on Systems Products and Services. In addition, he is affiliated with ASTM Committees E06 on Performance of Building Construction and E54 on Homeland Security Applications. Outside ASTM International, Conrath is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, his local chapter of the American Concrete Institute, and the Society of American Military Engineers.

Conrath, a registered professional engineer, is currently part of the Corps of Engineers' Protective Design Center, where he writes criteria on designing structures to resist the effects of terrorist weapons. He is also involved in developing standards, criteria and design methods for using glazing in blast environments.

Before his security engineering duties with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Conrath was a structural engineer at the Air Launch Cruise Missile Support Facilities and on the Underground Munitions storage Complex at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. Conrath has a bachelor of science in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Release #7370