Thomas Barlow named president-elect of ASME

Thomas M. Barlow, formerly of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has been named president-elect of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Barlow will become the127th president of ASME when he begins his one-year term in June 2008.

A longtime member of ASME, Barlow has participated on numerous technical, regional and society-wide committees and boards and has demonstrated a strong record of support and leadership in student outreach, membership development, technology and engineering diversity. He is a fellow of ASME and former member of the ASME Board of Governors, serving from 2003 to 2006.
 
During his association with ASME, Barlow has served within the local, regional and technical division structures, including participation on the Council on Engineering, the Public Information Operating Board, the Board of Governors’ Committee on Organization and Rules and the Editorial Advisory Board of Mechanical Engineering magazine. He is also a member of the ASME Auxiliary.

In the area of student outreach, Barlow has served as a judge in student paper competitions and played a key role in developing ASME’s university-level Human-Powered Vehicle Challenge.
 
Barlow enjoyed a 40-year career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, serving in a number of management and leadership positions before retiring in 2000. His professional interests include instrumentation, energy storage systems and machine tool technology, as well as project and program management.

Barlow is the recipient of the ASME Advanced Energy Systems Division Award and has co-authored several papers, including “Benefits of Energy Storage Technologies” published in 1984. Barlow served as the site manager of the Mechanical Energy Storage Technology Project of the U.S. Department of Energy from 1977 to 1981. He also served as a mechanical engineer, specializing in aircraft structures, while on active duty at the U.S. Air Force Research and Development Command at Wright-Patterson Air Base in Ohio, from 1957 to 1960.

Barlow attended Washington State University and received a bachelors of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1957. He also earned a masters of business administration degree from Golden Gate University in 1985.

Barlow has been a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, American Society for Engineering Management, and has served on the Engineering and Computer Science Research Advisory Council at the California State University at Fresno. He is currently a member of the External Advisory Board of the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department at Washington State University, a member of the Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Tau and Phi Eta Sigma honor societies, and is the recipient of the ASME Dedicated Service Award and the Society’s Membership Development Award.

Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences. ASME develops codes and standards that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong learning and technical exchange opportunities benefiting the engineering and technology community.