ASME President and an ASME Fellow named to Homeland Security committee

Two Society members — ASME President Reginald I. Vachon and ASME Fellow Richard T. Roca — have been named to the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee of the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate.

The advisory committee was established to serve as a source of independent, scientific and technical planning advice to the Under Secretary for Science and Technology as mandated by the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The committee held its first meeting in February.

President Reginald I. Vachon

Vachon, the 122nd president of ASME, is chairman of Atlanta-based Direct Measurements Inc. He is a registered professional engineer in six states as well as a licensed attorney with more than 40 years of experience in industry, education and the government sector. His experience is broad, encompassing design engineering, research, software development, management of domestic and international projects, teaching and instruction, and corporate leadership.

Vachon has consulted on several prominent design projects for the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He also has extensive experience in international engineering business.

Roca, who is also a registered professional engineer, has been the director of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) since January 2000. He had previously spent his entire professional career with the AT&T Corp., where he designed communications networks and equipment.

At APL, Roca leads the not-for-profit University Affiliated Research Center that performs research and development work on behalf of the Department of Defense, primarily the U.S. Navy, and NASA. JHU/APL technically contributes in various warfare areas and in space science and exploration. The organization has 3,400 employees, over two-thirds of whom are engineers and scientists.

The 20-member Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee meets at least four times a year. Committee members are eminent in their fields, which include emergency response, research, engineering, new product development, business and management consulting.

Information about the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee, including the full list of members, can be found at www.dhs.gov.

 

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