The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is pleased to announce that Shaun Clancy, Ph.D., and Ajit Jillavenkatesa, Ph.D., have agreed to serve as the co-chairs of the ANSI Nanotechnology Standards Panel (NSP), which will hold its next meeting on October 30, 2012, in Washington, DC.
Dr. Clancy is the director of product regulatory services for Evonik Degussa Corporation, and is the current chair of the American Chemistry Council’s Health, Product, and Science Policy Committee. Dr. Jillavenkatesa is the senior standards policy advisor for the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC), and serves as executive secretary of the Subcommittee on Standards within the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Technology. Both Dr. Clancy and Dr. Jillavenkatesa serve as active members of the ANSI-accredited U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 229, Nanotechnologies. Dr. Clancy is also the current chair of ISO TC 229’s Task Group (TG) 2, Consumer and societal dimensions of nanotechnologies. Dr. Clancy and Dr. Jillavenkatesa’s joint leadership of the ANSI-NSP reflects the role of the NSP as a public- private-sector collaborative for the coordination and discussion of nanotechnology standardization issues.
Nanotechnology, linked to nanoscale science and engineering, involves the understanding and control of matter at the nanoscale (approximately 1-to-100 nanometers), where unique phenomena allow for innovation and novel technological applications. Formed in 2004, the ANSI-NSP serves as the cross-sector coordinating body and works to provide a forum for standards developing organizations (SDOs), government entities, academia, and industry to identify needs and establish recommendations for the creation or updating of standards related to nanotechnology and nanomaterials.
The ANSI-NSP meeting on October 30, 2012 will be from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the offices of the law firm Sidley Austin LLP (1501 K Street NW, Washington, DC. The meeting will consider whether current nanotechnology standards activities meet existing stakeholder needs, as well as discuss the impact of existing standards on research and development and possibilities for greater collaboration between stakeholders in this area.
Attendance at the meeting is free. Individuals planning to attend the October NSP meeting may register online here. For more information, visit the event Web page or contact Heather Benko ([email protected]), ANSI senior manager, nanotechnology standardization activities.