ASTM Rook Conference on Asbestos Issues

(In-person only event)

Date: August 4, 2025 - August 8, 2025

Event Location:  Marriott City Center Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Organized by: ASTM Committee D22 on Air Quality

 

 

About the Event

The ASTM Rook Conference on Asbestos Issues will be held August 4, 2025 - August 8, 2025. The conference is organized by ASTM Committee D22 on Air Quality, and will be held at the Marriott City Center Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The language of the conference will be English.

 

Objective and Scope

ASTM International’s Committee D22 on Air Quality announces the 13th Conference on Asbestos Issues. Since 1986 professionals from diverse backgrounds gather to present, debate, inquire, inspire, and share sometimes controversial thoughts and ideas that help shape and usually advance the science behind anything asbestos related. The themes engaged in the often subtle and overlapping nuances of asbestos issues involve medical and research community, geologic source interests, commercial built environment representatives, industrial hygiene experts, regulatory agencies, laboratory professionals and more. Indeed, insights from guest speakers far and wide continue to sharpen both the challenges of asbestos, as well as the unforeseen avenues of cooperation and solutions from varied viewpoints.

There are some changes to past year’s conference elements and other immutable attributes to the traditions of this conference that will remain unchanged. First, the old Johnson Conference, connected to the Johnson College in northern Vermont US, the home of the initial several conferences, has been renamed after the late great international expert, ASTM Fellow, professional and technical leader, colleague and friend, and past Chair of D22, Harry Rook. Instead of Vermont, we’ll venture to Pittsburgh in August 2025. Yet, the Rook Conference will be true to its storied past, howsoever named, by maintaining its technical roots established nearly 40 years ago. This five-day conference will feature oral presentations on current asbestos issues given by internationally recognized experts. We will provide a palette of themes to help provide content and context as to where we’ve been with asbestos issues, what are the current hot issues, and where might past and present lead us into the future.

Like the Johnson Conferences of old, freedom to express viewpoints among colleagues abounds, but recordings of any type are prohibited, and no publications will be forthcoming. Creating this safe place for frank and lively discissions has produced key pieces to assembling the puzzle that is this ever-complex mineral.

Topics for this conference include:

  • Novel Research Findings on Asbestos Health Effects
  • Geology, Mineralogy, Nomenclature
  • Sampling, Exposure Assessment, and Risk Characterization
  • Environmental Monitoring, Remediation, Asbestos Detection Technologies
  • Global Analytical Methods and Consensus Standards
  • Soils, Natural Occurrences of Asbestos, Talc, and Vermiculite
  • Asbestos Analysis and Quality Assurance\
  • And a follow-up to the Beard Conference Terminology Summit from 2024

Poster Presentations
Poster presentations are also welcome for this conference. Accepted posters will be displayed for the duration of the conference to allow ample viewing time during conference breaks. Abstracts for poster presentation should be submitted using the same portal as the abstracts for oral presentation.

 

Abstract Submission

To present at the conference, authors must submit a 250 to 300-word preliminary abstract using the online Abstract Submission Portal no later than November 30, 2024. This portal should be used for oral and/or poster presentation abstract submission. To ensure your abstract was received into the ASTM database, please email symposia@astm.org and let us know that you have submitted an abstract.

The abstract must include a clear definition of the objective and approach of the work discussed, pointing out material that is new, and present sufficient details regarding results. The presentation and manuscript, if publishing with ASTM, must not be of a commercial nature, nor can it have been previously published. Because a limited number of abstracts will be accepted, be sure that your abstract submission is complete to allow for careful assessment of the presentation's suitability for this conference. The conference chair will notify you via email by January 31, 2025 of your abstract’s acceptability for presentation at the conference. If the preliminary abstract is accepted, the author will be requested to submit a final abstract a few months before the conference. The final abstracts will be distributed in a program booklet at the conference.

 

Publication Information

This event will not have a dedicated publication for the conference papers, and a full manuscript submission is not required to present.

However, authors who, in addition to presenting, would like to submit a full manuscript for publication, may submit to the ASTM Journal of Testing and Evaluation, an online-only peer-reviewed journal for the international scientific and engineering community. For more information about this journal and how to submit your paper, please visit the journal’s homepage: Journal of Testing and Evaluation.

Manuscripts submitted for publication should be full-length technical papers of approximately 10,000 words, significantly contribute to the technical literature, and must include a review of past work in the relevant area and present information of current interest or probe new fields. Author Instructions are available here. The corresponding author (the author who is the main contact with ASTM Headquarters) will receive a copy of their paper in portable document format (PDF). All published authors will have the opportunity to purchase reprints of their papers at a nominal cost.

Please note that all submitted papers are subject to peer review by two independent reviewers.

 

Technical Program

A technical program (presentation times and titles, and presenters’ names) will be posted on the ASTM website by June 2025.

 

Registration

Registration opens approximately 10 weeks before the start of the conference.

 

Registration

Registration is now open. The fees to attend this event are listed below.

 

Through

MONTH DAY, YEAR

 After MONTH DAY, YEAR
ASTM Member $100.00 $200.00
Non-member $200.00 $300.00
Presenter Waived Waived
Student Waived Waived

Not an ASTM Member?  An Individual Membership costs only $115.00. If you would like to become a member of ASTM International and Committee D22 to begin taking advantage of all the ASTM membership benefits, including attending this event at a reduced rate, please use the link below to join ASTM before registering for the event. After you have become a member, please return to this webpage to register for the event as an ASTM Member.

ASTM International Membership

All Attendees – All attendees are urged to register for this conference before arriving onsite. All attendees must check in at the ASTM Registration Area to obtain their name badge before entering the event room.

Presenters– Conference presenters do not need to register. All presenters will be automatically registered by ASTM.

Students – Students may be eligible for a reduced registration fee provided they meet certain requirements. To qualify for the reduced fee, you must be an active ASTM Student Member, full-time student, not employed full-time, and be able to provide a current valid university email address for registration. To register as a student, please email ASTM Symposia Operations at symposia@astm.org.

Cancellations – A refund of the conference fee will be honored only if requested at least 10 business days prior to the start of the event. To cancel your registration, please click the "Modify My Registration" button found in your registration confirmation email and follow the prompts to cancel your registration. Please contact Symposia Operations at symposia@astm.org or 610-832-9522 if you need assistance.

If you have questions concerning online registration, please contact Symposia Operations at
symposia@astm.org Tel: 610-832-9522, or ASTM Technical Support at https://www.astm.org/contact.

 

Technical Chair Contact Information


Frank Ehrenfeld
Eurofins - iATL
Email: frank.ehrenfeld@et.eurofinsus.com
 

Continuing Education Units

SYMPOSIUM/WORKSHOP attendees interested in receiving 0.35 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) must complete the CEU application form in the back of the program booklet and email it to ASTM Symposia Operations at symposia@astm.org. You must be registered and have attended the entire event in order to receive the CEU’s. A certificate will be sent to you via email approximately 1 to 2 weeks after the SYMPOSIUM/WORKSHOP concludes.

 

Hotel Information

The event will be held at the Marriott City Center Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. More information on how to make your sleeping room reservation will be posted approximately 12 weeks prior to the start of the event.

 

Hotel Information

 

COPY AND PASTE HOTEL INFORMATION

 

Standards Development Meetings

Committee D22 invites you to attend their future standards development meetings. There is no fee to attend these meetings, and membership in ASTM International is not required to attend. For more information about the committee and their future meetings, please visit the Committee D22 Homepage.