ASTM Visits the Bryant and Katherine Mather Scholarship Winner
On March 2, 2007 Dr. Tony Fiorato was joined by ASTM International staff members Ileane Smith and Teresa Cendrowska for an educational event to engineering students at Northwestern University’s Center for Advanced Cement-Based Materials (ACBM).

Before the event, Raissa Douglas-Ferron, a research assistant at the Center and the inaugural winner of the ASTM Bryant and Katherine Mather Scholarship led a tour of the ACBM laboratory. Mrs. Douglas-Ferron is currently pursuing her doctoral degree with a focus on (SCC) Self-Consolidating Concrete and cementitious materials. The highlight of the tour was the room filled with specimens of concrete, used in a dam construction project in China, that were being tested for crack growth. 

Tony Fiorato, the 2006 Chairman of ASTM’s Board of Directors and current President and CEO of CTL Group in Skokie, IL, engaged the over twenty post-graduate students with examples of real world applications of standards within the framework of the construction industry. Tony is an active member of ASTM Committees C01 on Cement and C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates.

He presented information to help students understand the different types of standards, that construction standards may be prescriptive or performance-based and finally the growth opportunities offered by being involved in standards development. 

At the conclusion of the event, Tony presented Raissa with a plaque honoring the Katharine and Bryant Mather Scholarship award. 

For more information on ASTM’s Academic Outreach, please contact Ileane Smith by email ismith@astm.org or phone 610/832-9552.