American Society of Mechanics Engineers

Council on Codes and Standards

Board on Performance Test Codes

Committee on

Verification and Validation in Computational Solid Mechanics

Organization and Membership

Organization and Membership Policy [20KB PDF] (Approved Mar 00)

 

ASME Reference Document

“Procedures for ASME Codes and Standards Development Committees Operating Under the Redesigned Process.” Revision 5 approved by ANSI Executive Standards Council 12 Jan 00. ( www.asme.org/cns/redesign/proceduresRev.pdf )

The procedures described in the present document are for the organization and membership of the proposed ASME Standards Committee on Verification and Validation in Computational Solid Mechanics and are intended to comply with the above cited ASME Reference Document. Please notify the author of any discrepancies.

Introduction

The Organizational section of this document summaries Sections 2 – 4 of the ASME Reference Document and is intended to provide the reader with an overview of the committee structure and terminology associated with the committee’s organization. The section on Membership is a proposal for the selection of committee members and officers that is intended to comply with the ASME Reference Document. The ASME Reference Document provides general guidance, and some term limitations, but permits the committee to form their own membership policy, subject always to review and approval of the Supervisory Board appointed by the ASME Council on Codes and Standards.

Committee Organization

Figure 1 shows an overview of the standards committee organization described in the ASME Reference Document. Briefly, the ASME Supervisory Board reviews and approves all committee actions. The Board interacts with the committee chiefly through the committee’s Officers. The committee may have an Executive Committee that serves only in an advisory role to the committee. The main working group of the committee is the Project Team, one is assigned for each standards action. Subordinate Groups are formed to support the committee activities directly or more typically Project Team activities.

 

Figure 1 Organization of an ASME Standards Committee.

 

Committee Officers – Chair, one or more vice-chairs, and a secretary appointed by the ASME Supervisory Board serves without a vote (an ASME Staff person).

Standards Committee – a consensus group responsible to the Supervisory Board.

Executive Committee – advisory to the standards committee.

Project Team – Each Project Team includes a technical manager (normally a committee member), organizational manager (ASME staff), and additional committee members, and subordinate group members as necessary.

Subordinate Groups - advisory to the standards committee. Subordinate Group members need not be members of the standards committee.

 

Committee Membership

The following are requirements from the ASME Reference Document:

1.      The membership of the standards committee shall consist of a specified number of members.

2.      To establish a balanced representation, members shall be classified as per Section 3.2 of the ASME Reference Document with not more than one-third from any single category.

3.      A consensus means substantial agreement has been reached. This signifies the concurrence of more than a simply majority, but not necessarily unanimity.

Committee experience demonstrates that the difficulty in forming a consensus increases with the number of committee members. The committee will be representative, but with a minimum number of members. The committee intends to not exceed 30 members.

Increased representation could be obtained through the establishment of an Executive Committee or Subordinate Groups who would be advisory to the committee but not members of the committee and hence without a vote. No advisory groups are planned.>

Term Limits – The ASME Reference Document limits the terms of members to not exceed five years, with an eligibility for reappointment. The term of the chair and vice-chair are limited to three years. To conform with a proposed two year election cycle, the term of members will be limited to four years, with eligibility for reappointment. The term of the chair and vice chair will be limited to two years.>

Election Cycle – To provide continuity of the committee membership, elections will be held on a two year cycle. Approximately half of the membership will stand for election on each cycle.

First Installment of Members – To initiate the two year cycle of elections, the committee secretary will conduct a lottery of the initial membership to select (approximately) half of the initial membership whose initial term will be for two years.

Nominations – Three months before the elections the committee secretary will call for nominations of members and candidates for chair and vice chair. All current members whose term is expiring will be included on the ballot. New members and candidates for chair and vice chair require the supporting nomination of at least three members. The secretary will contact all nominees to ascertain their willingness to serve in the nominated position.

The chair and vice chair positions are nominated and elected as separate positions. No name may appear on the nomination slate or ballot for both positions. The chair and vice chair are required to be elected by a majority.

Two months before the elections the secretary will submit to the members a slate of chair and vice chair nominees. Each member will have two votes for the chair and two votes for the vice chair. The two nominees receiving the largest number of votes for chair and vice chair will be included on the election ballot. In the event there are more than two nominees receiving the largest number of votes, i.e. a tie, the current chair shall specify the procedure for re-polling the committee membership to establish no more than two candidates for the ballot.

Elections – one month prior to the elections the secretary will submit to the membership a ballot with the names of the nominated members, and candidates for the chair and vice chair positions, as determined via the above described nomination procedure. The secretary will also assign each name on the ballot a category of membership so that voting members can attempt to maintain a balanced membership.

Voting – Each member will have one vote for the position of chair and one vote for the position of vice chair. The committee secretary will determine the number of members to be elected and each voting member will be given votes sufficient to elect that number of members. No more than one vote per name is permitted on a member’s ballot. Those nominees receiving the largest number of votes become members of the committee. In the event more nominees than the number of members to be elected receive the largest number of votes, the current chair shall specify the procedure for re-polling the committee to select the required number of members.

Number of Members to be Elected – The newly elected chair and vice chair will become members of the committee. The other two candidates for chair and vice chair will also become members of the committee as they were selected from a slate of nominees.

Terms of Elected Members – Members are elected to a four year term with the exception of the four candidates (maximum) for the positions of chair and vice chair. These candidates are elected for the lesser of their remaining terms as members (two years), or four years if their term was expiring or if they are not currently a committee member. The intent is to not extend any term to a possible six years and exceed the ASME specified five year maximum term.

Voting Period – Voting periods shall be closed upon the receipt of all responses, but not later than four weeks after the date of issue, unless the chair extends the voting period.