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UL names Seven Corporate Fellows to William Henry Merrill Society

NORTHBROOK, Ill., May 9, 2006 - Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) has named seven charter members to its newly created William Henry Merrill Society. UL President & CEO Keith Williams announced the creation of the society and recognized the new corporate fellows during the company's 2006 annual meeting in April.

The society is named for William Henry Merrill, who founded the not-for-profit safety-testing and certification organization in Chicago in 1894. Membership is limited to UL employees who have been recognized both within UL and outside the organization as leading technical authorities in their fields of expertise.

"Our founder, William Merrill, said, 'Know by test, and state the facts,'" Williams said. "These seven words capture so simply and eloquently UL's 112-year commitment to technical expertise. [This society was formed to] recognize those in our organization who have made a significant and sustained contribution to the fulfillment of UL's public safety mission on an everyday basis."

As corporate fellows, society inductees will be engaged in a number of activities that will allow them to influence the future of product safety certification, including sharing their experience with and mentoring UL staff.

2006 William Henry Merrill Society Inductees

James Beyreis is vice president of technical training for UL's Global Fire & Signaling Sector. He has provided valuable leadership at UL during his 40-year career, including chairing UL's Fire and Electrical councils, its Engineering Policy Committee and several industry advisory committees.

Beyreis was instrumental in developing the first test for large-scale evaluation of fire sprinklers designed to protect exterior glass curtain walls. His design of a special fire testing apparatus has helped in the development of low-cost school buildings, and he was responsible for the standard requiring detachable magnetic electrical cords for countertop deep-fat fryers.

Among other honors, Beyreis has received a Distinguished Service Award from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and is a Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

He earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at Valparaiso University in 1966 and an M.B.A. at Roosevelt University in 1981.

J. Thomas Chapin, Ph.D., is general manager of UL's North American Fire & Signaling Sector. He joined UL in 2001 after a 30-year career as a materials scientist in the telecom industry.

At UL, Chapin's focus includes content flammability and sources of ignition; fire services education and training in fire ignition, fire growth and fuel load calculation; and fire research on materials and plastics, including corrosion, decomposition, ignition and long-term stability.

He is involved in the detailed study of smoke from a variety of materials to facilitate new detection schemes and the development of new smoke suppressant technology; he also has been active in UL's restricted substances program, in particular its application to materials and products related to fire safety.

Chapin chairs the UL Fire Council and active in a number of external committees, including serving as a technical director of an NFPA Advisory Council; a board member of the Center for Campus Fire Safety, the International Sleep Products Association's Sleep Products Safety Council, and the International Consortium for Fire Safety, Health and Environment.

He also is on the editorial review board of the NFPA Journal and a member of the American Chemical Society, the USFA/CDC/CPSC Fire Safety Council and the National Association of State Fire Marshals' School Safety Committee for Hazard Abatement.

Chapin earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Connecticut in 1974. He earned his doctorate in polymer chemistry at the same university in 1978.

Chapin has published extensively since 1977, and his work in copper and fiber optic cable technology has resulted in 16 U.S. patents.

A 42-year veteran of UL, Lee Dosedlo retired as UL's global chief engineer for Testing and Certification in 2005. During his years with UL, Dosedlo was deeply involved in a number of important milestones, including the development of the first residential fire sprinkler standard and a standard for a unique "on-off" fire sprinkler system that automatically stops the flow of water when it senses that the fire is extinguished.

While with UL, Dosedlo published widely, and as chief engineer was responsible for reviewing all technical papers written by UL employees for publication. The NFPA recently recognized Dosedlo for his 35 years of service on NFPA technical committees. He earned his engineering degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Hsiang-Cheng ("H.C.") Kung, Ph.D., is the director of UL's Fire Protection Business Development operations. During his distinguished 37-year career, Kung has become particularly well known for his contributions to automatic fire sprinkler technology and the science behind sprinkler performance. His efforts have led to the development of the residential sprinkler, the quick-response sprinkler, the early suppression fast response sprinkler and a number of other important sprinkler innovations.

Kung is a frequent contributor to the Journal of Fire Protection Engineering, Fire Technology, and the International Symposium on Fire Safety Science, as well as other peer-reviewed journals. Since 1990 he has been a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Fire Protection Engineering.

In 2003, in recognition of his work in sprinkler science and technology, he received the Arthur B. Guise Medal of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers for eminent achievement in the advancement of fire protection engineering. He became a SFPE Fellow in 2003.

Kung obtained his master's degree and doctorate from Brown University, where he majored in fluid mechanics and heat transfer.

Don Mader is UL's Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. As UL's head of engineering technology, he is responsible for technical excellence and driving technical innovation across the organization, including developing and implementing consistent, state-of-the-art testing, laboratory, calibration, and instrumentation policies, procedures and practices.

Mader coordinates UL's global participation in the International Electrotechnical Commission's Conformity Assessment Schemes, as well as other international certification-related activities, and oversees UL's standards harmonization work with the IEC and the International Standards Organization (ISO).

Mader is a certified product safety manager with the International Product Safety Management Certification Board and is a senior member of the System Safety Society. He also holds memberships NFPA, the International Association of Electrical Inspectors and the Instrument Society of America.

Other professional distinctions include former chairman of the National Electrical Safety Foundation, former vice president of the U.S. National Committee Council, and U.S. representative to the IEC Conformity Assessment Board. In 2005, Don received the IEC's 1906 100th Centenary Award for his work with the IECEE over the past 20 years.

Don earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Clarkson University and a master's in engineering management from Long Island University.

Walter Skuggevig is a senior research engineer at UL's Melville, N.Y., facility. In his 43 years with UL he has gained a reputation as one of the world's foremost experts on the effects of electricity on the human body. His expertise has contributed to the adoption of numerous life-saving standards for telephone equipment, electric vehicle charging circuits, power distribution equipment, ground-fault circuit-interrupters and others.

His work with experts from other countries has promoted international standards harmonization and resulted in a wider understanding of the rationale for North America's systems, as well as a better understanding at UL of systems used in other parts of the world.

Walter is active on technical committees and in advisory groups serving a number of professional associations, including the IEC, NFPA, the American National Standards Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

He also is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and the International Association of Electrical Inspectors. He has written or co-written more than 30 technical papers published in a variety of publications.

He has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and is a Licensed Professional Engineer in New York.

In August 1980, Michihisa Yamasaki, executive vice president, UL Apex Co., Ltd, co-founded A-Pex International in Japan to provide application agent services for product safety certification. Over the next 23 years, he helped to build the company to become Japan's leading provider of Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) evaluation and application agent services. A-Pex International and UL Japan merged in 2003 to form UL Apex Company Ltd.

His accomplishments include designing wireless testing services to expand the EMC service portfolio as promising new wireless technological devices have emerged.

As part of this effort, he has worked closely with regulatory authorities in various countries, registering UL Apex testing sites to aid conformity with each new wireless standard. To date, he has fostered communication with wireless control authorities in more than 80 countries for conducting EMC services.

He implemented certification services for conformance with wireless LAN and Bluetooth standards using short-range wireless technology. In addition, he led the development of SAR testing to evaluate the effect of electromagnetic waves on human body.

Yamasaki is active as a standards development panel member on the Electric Magnetic Information Security Committee, and the ECONET Committee.

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