Dr. Raj Shah receives ASTM International’s highest honour

Dr. Raj Shah was awarded ASTM highest honour this last week in Kansas City, MO at the ASTM Annual meeting. ASTM International is a globally recognized leader in the development and delivery of voluntary consensus standards, that are used improve product quality, enhance health and safety, strengthen market access and trade, and build consumer confidence.

With more than 30,000 of the world’s top technical experts representing 140 countries, ASTM practices support industries and governments worldwide. Being awarded the ASTM Award of Merit which is the highest society award granted to an individual member is a rare honor and it accompanied by the title ASTM Fellow.  Dr. Shah, was overwhelmed and humble to receive this honor from his peers and he thanked his mentors, his company and his family for all their support. He reminisced on his 30 year journey talking about his first ASTM meeting as a rookie and now being presented with this honour 60 meetings later and offered words of appreciation to his colleagues and mentors who helped and supported him these last 3 decades.

Dr. Raj Shah currently serves as the Director at Koehler Instrument Company in Holtsville, NY. He was earlier also felicitated as a  Fellow of the American Oil chemist society. AOCS mission is to advance the science and technology of oils, fats, proteins, surfactants and related materials, thus enriching the lives of people everywhere. The AOCS Fellow Award recognizes achievements in science and those who have made exceptional achievements in their field and their profession, including areas of research, industrial achievement, leadership and education. It is one of the highest and most prestigious AOCS awards and Dr. Shah was awarded the Fellow medal and plaque at the annual meeting in Montreal.

At the NLGI International meeting Dr. Raj Shah, was felicitated with two prestigious awards by his peers. NLGI is a professional society that, primarily composed of companies who manufacture and market all types of lubricating greases and companies that work closely with these organizations . Membership is by company rather than by individual and is selective . Along with grease and oil manufacturers are companies who serve them with equipment, supplies, and services, such as Koehler Instrument Company which has served on NLGI ‘s board for over 30 years.  The Institute is one of the largest organizations for grease manufacturer’s worldwide and has been around for over 70 years.

Dr. Shah was awarded the Clarence E. Earle Memorial Award at the annual meeting.  This prestigious honour was in recognition for his outstanding contribution to the technical literature relating to lubricating greases during the year, especially the official Grease guidebook  (a reference best seller) that Bill Tuszynski and he edited which will serve as the handbook for the grease industry for many years to come.

In addition he along with the authors in the new grease handbook was were also awarded the Golden Grease Gun Award which acknowledges his valuable work within the Grease Industry in the development of grease technology, manufacturing, testing, applications and better understanding of grease behavior or the promotion of grease usage. These two  honours put together have never been given to the same individual in the same year before this annual meeting. Becoming a recipient of the Clarence Earle memorial award is an unparallel honor and when Dr. Shah was awarded the award he said he was extremely humbled to be chosen along with his esteemed colleague Mr. Tuszynski.

Petro Industry News has had the opportunity to review this handbook (https://www.petro-online.com/article/biofuel-industry-news/22/unassigned-independent-article/nlgi-publishes-updated-grease-handbook-a-must-have-for-producers-marketers-and-users-of-grease/3181). As well as Dr. Shah’s other publication in the grease industry, )titled “Grease” in 2022, which discusses the latest research in this field, details of that book review can be found at https://www.petro-online.com/article/biofuel-industry-news/22/koehler-instrument-company/greases-the-new-frontier/3170, ( https://bit.ly/3u2e6GY).

Dr. Shah also holds the Fellow position at the IOP. The Institute of Physics (IOP) is one of the world’s largest professional body and learned society for physics inspiring people to develop their knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of physics, headquartered in London.  The great challenges we face in years to come, such as climate change and developing clean energy are international in scope and physics is the key to a lot of these societal problems. International collaboration is essential to tackling them; no individual country can solve them alone and physicists, have a fundamental role in leading the development of technologies to address these problems. The IOP has international reach and global connections, but is independent of government or any academic institution or business. This enables them to bring together scientists and organizations from around the world, building the cross-border links that fuel scientific discovery and technological innovation.

This honour for Dr. Raj Shah  comes right after his recent elevation as a Fellow at the Institute of Chemical Engineers. The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a world class professional society in its own right, a multi-national institution that advances chemical engineering’s contribution worldwide for the benefit of society. They have over 35,000 members in more than 100 countries and is the leading professional society for Chemical engineers in the world. IChemE applies its expertise and experience to make an influential contribution in solving major global challenges. To be elevated to a Fellow at IChemE is considered the pinnacle in any Chemical engineers career. Dr. Shah was inducted as a Fellow into this Society recently and when contacted by us at that time, he was extremely grateful and said he accepted this honor with great humility on behalf of his colleagues and his family.

Last year, Dr. Shah was also selected as an eminent engineer into Tau Beta Pi the oldest engineering honor society in the United States, which has over 600,000 members at 254 colleges and universities across the country An eminent engineer status is rare and is afforded only to one with remarkable and outstanding performance in their chosen engineering field as well as exemplary character. Extensive and significant  contribution to the field of engineering is what got Dr. Shah this honour.

Dr. Shah also received another allocade last year by being elevated as a Fellow at the Institute of Measurement and Control an organization very familiar to the readers of Petro industry news. The Institute of Measurement and Control is recognized by the Royal Charter as the professional body for scientists and engineers working in measurement, automation and control. Founded in 1944, its members’ original priority was to maintain the national infrastructure and support wartime logistics. During the post-war reconstruction years, attention shifted to developing new major infrastructure programs including nuclear power, oil and gas, the transport network and major industrial and chemical facilities. Dr. Shah was indicted into its hall of Fellows (its highest honor) this week. Currently the members of INSTMC are still involved in all the above areas, but the digital age has opened a new sphere of involvement in the area of sensors linked to intelligence. This includes the Internet of Things, cyber security, smart cities and transport networks, driverless cars, personal health monitoring and astronomical exploration. It is indeed a very unique and singular honor for Dr. Shah to be honored as a fellow by this prestigious institute.

Dr. Shah is no stranger to distinction. He was also recently named a Fellow at the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK which boasts such historical members as Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein.

The Royal Society of Chemistry has over 54,000 members and is one of the largest professional bodies for chemical scientists, supporting and representing our members and bringing together chemical scientists from all over the world. The Royal Society of Chemistry was founded in 1841 and incorporated by a royal charter in 1848, and its main patron is her Majesty the Queen of England. A not-for-profit organization with a heritage that spans 175 years, The Royal Society of Chemistry has an ambitious international vision for the future. Around the world, they invest in educating future generations of scientists and partner with industry and academia, promoting collaboration and innovation. The Royal society of Chemistry also advises governments on policy and promote the talent, information and ideas that lead to great advances in science.

Dr. Shah was also honored recently, by the Energy institute with the title of a Chartered petroleum engineer. The Energy Institute (EI) is the largest professional membership body that brings global energy expertise together. The global energy industry, the people working in it and wider society all benefit from the EI’s work. Election to the status of a chartered petroleum engineer so far has been limited to just a handful of people in the United States. Dr. Raj Shah was widely recognized worldwide for his contributions to the field of Fuels, Lubricants, and Greases with this recognition. His specialization has also been in the development of laboratory analytical instrumentation used primarily in the petroleum laboratory. He has been recognized for his inventions and his efforts in creating standardized test methods for use worldwide by the American standard of testing materials ( ASTM International )  previously with three awards of Excellence and an ASTM Eagle award (a sui genres distinction). 

He currently also serves, or has served on the Board of Directors/ Advisors of various institutions such as the Department of Material science and Chemical Engineering , State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, Farmingdale College (Mechanical Technology), in Long Island NY,  Technology Management graduate program at SUNY Farmingdale, Penn State school of engineering design and innovation, State College, PA,  Tribology Minor in engineering at Auburn University, the Foundation Board at Developmental Disabilities Institute in  Smithtown, NY until 2009, and he served on the board of directors of  the National Lubricating Grease institute  for almost 2 decades. With over 700 publication in journals worldwide, he is a avid writer and reader and  also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Dept. of Material Science and Chemical Engineering at State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY.

A recipient of multiple awards at ASTM over his career, more recently he was awarded the PM Ku medal (the youngest recipient of this medal), from STLE and prestigious John A. Bellanti Sr. Memorial Award from NLGI as well.

Dr. Shah has also been conferred the distinguished alumni award from the Institute of Chemical technology, Mumbai (ICT).  In conferring him this honor ICT Mumbai, stated “ Dr. Raj Shah, a professional par excellence due to his high degree of integrity , commitment and professionalism has been responsible for the high esteem in which his alma mater, the Institute of Chemical Technology is recognized”. In addition to a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from Penn State University, he also has a Fellow designation from the Chartered Management Institute in London.  More recently National Certification Commission in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in Washington, DC honored Dr. Raj Shah with inducting him as a Certified professional chemist and Certified Chemical engineer.

Dr. Shah is also an elected Chartered Engineer from the Engineering council in the UK, a Chartered Chemist from the Royal society of Chemistry  and a Chartered Scientist from the science council, all of these combined are exceptional honors within the scientific community. Dr. Shah is the only person worldwide who now holds all 6 of these elected certifications namely CPC, CCHE, CEng, CSci, CChem, CPEng). Dr. Shah is now an elected  Fellow at ASTM, STLE, IOP, CMI, NLGI, AIC, AOCS, RSC, InstMC, IChemE and EI a singular honor that is indeed unprecedented worldwide.

Dr. Shah’s other interests include kayaking, mentoring engineering students and reading. He lives currently in Long Island , NY with his wife of 30 years Dr. Niloufar Faridi and their son Kian. They are active in the special needs community and enjoy participating in philantropic community events.