Abstract
On May 3, 1971, the Engineers Joint Council sponsored a panel on metrication at its offices in New York City. Bryce MacDonald of EJC was chairman; he had been instructed to invite representatives of various societies. Its purpose was to “present to the Board of EJC a summation of the situation regarding plans for conversion to the metric system.” The EJC Board will later come to a decision whether it will assume a more active role.
George Arnold of Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, was named to represent the Air Pollution Control Association on the panel because of his long-standing membership in the Metric Association and his efforts toward exclusive use of international units for pollution measurement.
Twenty-two societies were represented. These included ASME, ASTM, SNAME, ASQC, ASHRAE, ISA, ASEE, ASCE, and ESNE. Among those present was Gregory Schultz of the Material Management Society, who is prominent with the American National Standards Institute and the International Standards Organization. Of the societies present, only six have a firm policy in favor of the metric system. The others are cautiously in favor, or using dual units, or waiting to see what Congress will do about the 1971 Department of Commerce Metric Study Report.