John Germaine, senior lecturer and senior research associate, has been elected the next chairman of ASTM International’s Committee D18 on Soil and Rock, beginning Jan. 1. ASTM International develops voluntary technical consensus standards for many materials, products, systems and services used in industry. The Committee on Soil and Rock is concerned with standards associated with the geotechnical and geoenvironmental industry. This includes test methods, practices and guides that are used routinely by the profession to provide uniformity in methodology and quality control in data collection. D18 was formed in 1937, has about 1,200 members and meets twice annually, in January and June, for four days of technical meetings followed by a symposium. The committee has jurisdiction over more than 380 standards and has 21 technical subcommittees. For the past year, Germaine was head of D18’s Subcommittee D18.26 on Hydraulic Fracturing.