MIA Technical Director Leads ASTM Stone Committee

CLEVELAND – Chuck Muehlbauer, technical director of the Marble Institute of America (MIA), is the newly elected chair of the ASTM Interntional’s Committee C18 on Dimension Stone.

Muehlbauer will take the post on Jan. 1.

Chuck MuehlbauerASTM Committee C18 on Dimension Stone, formed in 1926, promotes knowledge; stimulates research; and develops specifications, methods of test, definitions and nomenclature, and recommended practices relating to dimension stone. The committee currently has a multinational membership of approximately 125 members representing 14 countries.  

“The Committee C18 roster includes geologists, petrographers, engineers, architects, material scientists, stone producers and installing contractors,” Muehlbauer says. “It is a collection of some of the most-stone-savvy people in the world, and a group from which I have learned an extreme amount over the past decades.”

C18 has jurisdiction of over 25 standards, published in the Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Volume 4.07; the committee has five technical subcommittees. These standards have and continue to play a preeminent role in all aspects important to the effective standardization of dimension stone, including, testing, specifications and construction practices.

Other officers elected include Michael Lewis of Façade Forensics in Cincinnati as vice chairman, and Kurt Hoigard of Raths, Raths, & Johnson Inc. in Willowbrook, Ill., as secretary.

Muehlbauer started his career in the stone industry after graduating from technical college in 1981, and began serving on ASTM Committee C18 in 1989. He previously served as chairman of Subcommittee C18.08 on Stone Selection and Committee C18 Secretary.

Muehlbauer has written and edited papers published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), ASTM, Cold Spring Granite Co. and the MIA.

“Chuck’s election as chair of the ASTM C18 further solidifies the notion that the Marble Institute is a clear leader in the natural-stone industry, particularly in its technical knowledge and information,” says Garis Distelhorst, MIA executive vice president and CEO. “His history and his reputation as one of the stone industry’s most technically proficient experts, first with Cold Spring Granite Co. and, for the last seven years, with the MIA, earned him this opportunity to assume the leadership of this critically important ASTM Committee.”
 
MIA President GK Naquin adds that , “Chuck’s commitment to the natural-stone industry and the Marble Institute of America once again has been validated through his election as committee chairman of the ASTM C18 on Dimension Stone. Chuck has made a positive difference representing our industry within ASTM. We look forward to his continued guidance as chairman.”

“To be entrusted with chairing this prestigious committee is humbling, particularly when considering the impressive list of individuals that have preceded me in this role,” Muehlbauer says. “I eagerly look forward to my new responsibilities in anticipation of the committee’s continued contributions to the industry.”

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