Committees

Professionals worldwide volunteer their time to help advance the needs of the Filtration & Separations industry through their work on key AFS initiatives. Click here to volunteer. To learn more, scroll down for committee descriptions.

Articles and By-laws – Chair, Jim Walker
The Articles and By-laws committee ensures the By-laws of the Society are consistent with the purpose and needs of the Society.  Additionally, this committee updates the Society Policies & Procedures which provide a roadmap for the day-to-day operations of the Society.

Awards - Chair, Kenneth Winston
The Awards Committee shall develop and propose suitable awards for personal achievements that further the purpose of the Society. The Committee shall also represent the needs of the users to the Society by establishing an annual award for recent outstanding developments in separation technology and work with local chapters to encourage user attendance.

Chapter Affairs – Chair, Wenping Li
This committee represents the local chapters at the National Board of Directors meetings and organize, coordinate and implement with the local chapter’s programs to support their activities and growth.  The Committee annually assigns incoming Board members to a local chapter to reinforce the support of the National AFS at a local level.  Visit the Chapters page of the website to learn more about AFS local chapters. 

Education – Chair, Wu Chen
The Education Committee plans and implements educational programs of benefit to all persons concerned with filtration and separation.  The Committee also develops and conducts programs with academic institutions in the Americas to encourage the development and furtherance of the technologies of filtration and separation, and, encourages and assists students and faculty engaged in these technologies.  The Committee identifies future short course and virtual course instructors and topics.  Committee members review the new course materials and content to ensure consistency among all courses.  This committee is by invitation.

Finance Committee – Chair, Jim Walker
Shall recommend financial policies, annually audit the financial transactions, shall arrange for and have conducted an external audit, and shall assist the Treasurer in long-range planning.

Marketing  – Chair, Eline Pattyn
The Marketing Committee is responsible for content made public by the AFS.  In addition, this committee creatively promotes the Society, its conferences and initiatives, promotes AFS to the general public and industry professionals, creates videos, posts to social media, and conducts interviews and surveys to collect feedback from current and potential members.  The Marketing Committee works with the Education Committee to review short course/virtual course content to ensure course marketing materials adequately reflect the course content and offerings.

Membership – Chair, John Hancock
The Membership Committee identifies and recruits new members of the Society, both Corporate Sponsors and individual members.  The Committee conducts an annual survey of the membership to identify member needs and add to the member benefits package.  Shall conduct programs directed toward recruiting new individual members and effectuating membership renewal.  The Committee recruits and supports active participation by leading companies in the field of filtration and separations.  This committee acts as the interface between the Corporate Sponsors and the Society.

Nominations, Elections and Tellers Committee - Chair, Kenneth Winston
The Nominations, Elections and Tellers Committee is chaired by the Immediate Past Chair of the Society. This committee shall, in so far as possible, represent the diverse interest of the Members. This committee shall solicit and collect nominations and oversee annual elections for for the elected positions of the Society. The Committee shall work with the Executive Director to ensure that votes are tallied, ensure the validity of the annual election and report the results of the election to the Board of Directors at the annual Spring Board meeting for approval by the Board of Directors.

Publications – Chair – Lin Zhao
The Publications Committee recruits to obtain new One Minute Filtration Articles for the AFS Learning Center.  This committee works with The Purification & Separation Technology Journal to increase accessibility by AFS members.  

Scientific Committee - Chair, Godwin Severa
The Scientific Committee shall provide support to AFS standing committees and provide other services as required to ensure that high standards of technical and scientific quality are met.

Test Standards – Chair, Vincent Edery
The Test Standards Committee is responsible for maintaining a current database of relevant Standard Test Methods, provide access to the database for AFS members, update the Society on new Test Methods that are being developed and make recommendations on incorporating the new Test Methods into the Society database.

Users Committee – Chair, Shagufta Patel
The Users Committee encourages participation of filtration and separations end-users in Society functions and advises the AFS Board of Directors in developing programs to increase the activity and membership of vendors and end-users.  This Committee also conducts an annual New Product/Engineering Merit competition and recognition program for Corporate Sponsors of the Society to be presented at AFS FiltCon annually.