Participating in NACE Technical Committees

Thursday marked the end of NACE's Corrosion Technology Week 2009 (CTW/2009). This event, previously called Fall Committee Work Week, now includes other activities such as exhibits, training, and seminars, but the main focus is still technical committees.

There are several types of technical committees, but their raison d'etre is to share information about corrosion. Committees can meet to develop standards and publications, or to sponsor symposia and technical exchanges. Task Groups (TGs) develop some form of document, such as a standard (Standard Practice [SP], Test Method [TM], or Material Requirement[MR]) or a technical committee report. Technical Exchange Groups (TEGs) sponsor technical information exchange (TIE) or sponsor symposia at Annual Conference. Participation in technical committees can be done at several levels.

Spectator
Anyone can stay up-to-date on committee activities by visiting the new pulic face to NACE technical committees. Click here to see the list of Specific Technology Groups (STGs) that organize the NACE technical committees by industry or topic. Find an STG of interest, and then drill down to see the active committees within that STG. By periodically reviewing the website of committees of interest, you can stay abreast of standards development and information in new NACE publications. Standards and publications represent consensus industry practices. Industry standards share best practices with others, incorporating expertise and experience from a broad group. Industry standards can increase safety, provide more effective methods and procedures, and reduce costs by more efficient methods and by eliminating duplication of effort in company specifications.

For a list of new standards published in 2009, click here.

Participant
The members of an STG are the voting pool for draft publications and standards. By joining a STG, you will have the opportunity to vote and comment on all new documents proposed by the technical committees that are part of the STG. STG membership is open to all NACE members, just click here (requires NACE login) to join the STGs that are of interest to you. Other ways of participating include attending the annual conference (next is Corrosion/2010 March 14-018 2010 in San Antonio, Texas) or attending Corrosion Technology Week (next is CTW/2010 September 19-24, 2010 in Orlando, Florida). Committee meetings of all kinds are open to conference attendees, and there are many symposia, technical information exchanges, and other activities. Following the conferences, you can download conference papers, minutes, and drafts of publications from the NACE website.

Active Participant
To become an active participant, join a technical committee or author a symposium paper.  Committee members work on developing publications or sponsoring technical exchanges and symposia. Authors of technical papers will have their paper published by NACE, and present the results of their papers at the technical symposia at the annual conference.  Each symposium needs reviewers to review the content of technical papers and presentations, and ensure that they meet the NACE style requirements.

Leader
There are opportunities for leadership at many levels in technical committees. Task groups, technical exchange groups and symposia each have a chair and vice-chair responsible for ensuring the committees follow the NACE guidelines. STGs manage and guide the technical committees that fall within their topic or industry, and each STG has a chair and a vice-chair. Finally, the Technical Coordination Committee (TCC) has a number of positions that oversee all of the STGs.

I encourage you to participate in NACE technical committees, the benefits are many, and you can tailor the level of participation to suit your needs.