Robin Tallon, a project manager at The Transtec Group, is the recipient of the 2017 Tilton E. Shelburne Memorial Award. ASTM Committee E17 on Vehicle-Pavement Systems presented the award to Tallon for her outstanding contributions to the work of ASTM in the field of friction and texture measurements.

“In addition to her considerable contributions to E17 and its several subcommittees, both administratively through her committee leadership roles and in her technical input on standards, Ms. Tallon has been among the most productive and reliable participants in ASTM meetings,” said Dr. Zoltan Rado, chairman of the E17 committee. “She has been instrumental through her hands-on expertise and substantial subject matter knowledge to regular committee-related activities working on friction measurement and macro-texture measurement related standards. She furthermore was an essential driving force in many activities that occur outside the committee meeting’s conference room, but are essential to the development of new and to the improvement of existing standards.”

Over the past several years, Tallon has been leading the efforts to revise the existing ASTM standard E1911 – Standard Test Method for Measuring Paved Surface Frictional Properties Using the Dynamic Friction Tester. The standard has a high level of interest and those who use it wanted to ensure improvements were implemented to address quality management concerns.  An inter-laboratory study was conducted to determine the repeatability and reproducibility of the equipment; a round robin was conducted to compare hardness of the rubber sliders; additional information was gathered from the manufacturer regarding water flow rates, rubber slider wear, and operating the device on irregular surfaces; and the section on equipment verification was expanded. The revisions are still under development.

In revising standard E1911, there became a need for a new standard for user-level calibration of the dynamic friction tester. Tallon has spearheaded the development of the new standard, ensuring all interested parties are satisfied with the requirements. The new standard passed in the most recent vote on November 30, and will be published in the next Book of ASTM Standards in early 2018.

The Tilton E. Shelburne Memorial Award is presented once a year to a current or past member of Committee E17 on Vehicle-Pavement Systems for outstanding work in the field of the committee’s activity. The award was established by Committee E17 in honor of Tilton E. Shelburne, committee chairman from 1966-1968.

Tallon is a member of the Pavement Surface Characteristics team at Transtec, where she is actively involved with measurement of various surface characteristics on highways and runways, data analysis, and reporting. Tallon’s expertise was developed during 36 years of transportation-related research activities in a university environment including supervising and performing pavement characteristic measurements, vehicle durability testing, and full-scale crash tests; coordinating events for instructional seminars; documenting research and testing on video, high-speed, and digital photography media; and writing test reports, presentations, and brochures.  She is currently a member of the Transportation Research Board Committee AFD90 and ASTM committees F12 and E17, serving as the subcommittee chairperson for E17.23 and Group I chairperson for committee E17.

ASTM Committee E17 on Vehicle-Pavement Systems was formed in 1960. The Committee has 11 technical subcommittees that have jurisdiction of over 73 standards, published in the Annual Book of ASTM Standards. These standards have and continue to play a preeminent role in all aspects important to pavement management technologies, vehicle pavement interactions, and intelligent transportation systems.

For more information on ASTM Committee E17 on Vehicle-Pavement systems or the Tilton E. Shelburne Memorial Award, please visit www.astm.org.