Society Awards and Honors
2008 Elected Positions and Offices
Baer Elected to Third Term as ASTM International Committee Chair
Don Baer, Laboratory Fellow and Lead Scientist for Interfacial Chemistry at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, was elected to a third term as Chair of the ASTM International Committee E42 on Surface Analysis. The committee has jurisdiction over some 25 standards for surface analysis methods and is one of 136 ASTM technical standards writing committees. He began serving the 2-year term—his final—on January 1.
Baer is internationally known for the application of surface analysis methods to examine corrosion processes and the reactive properties of oxide and mineral surfaces. Since joining the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory—on whose campus EMSL resides—he has specialized in the use of surface-sensitive techniques to study how the interactions of a material with its environment alter material properties. Much of his research has involved understanding the roles of surface impurities or contaminants in chemical reactivity, and his current work involves understanding the reaction properties and environmental variability of nanoparticles.
In addition to his EMSL role and research activities, Baer serves as the PNNL coordinator for a series of nanoscience and nanotechnology courses offered at the Laboratory. He is an Adjunct Professor of Physics at Washington State University; an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at the University of Washington; and a member of the American Vacuum Society (Fellow), the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, the Electrochemical Society, and the ISO Technical Committee 201 on Surface Chemistry. He has served in a variety of leadership roles within those professional societies.
Baer has been a member of ASTM International since 1980. ASTM (originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) International is one of the largest standards development and delivery systems in the world. ASTM standards are accepted and used in research and development, product testing, quality systems, and commercial transactions around the globe. (announced 2/1/2008)