New committees on educational, health care and judicial facilities are being formed by ASHRAE to draw upon the expertise of its members in these areas.

New committees on educational, health care and judicial facilities are being formed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) to draw upon the expertise of its members in these areas.

The committees will hold their first meetings at ASHRAE's 2004 Annual Meeting June 26-30 in Nashville, TN.

"Educational, health care and judicial facilities currently are addressed by ASHRAE's technical committee on large building air-conditioning applications (TC 9.8)," Mark Hegberg, chair of ASHRAE's Technical Activities Committee, said. "Creating these separate committees will allow us to address these specific areas of technical expertise with focused groups unencumbered by competing building function discussions."

The health care committee replaces an existing subcommittee of TC 9.8. That subcommittee has been active in developing programs for ASHRAE's technical session, chapters for the ASHRAE Handbook and other publications, such as the Society's HVAC Design Manual for Hospitals and Clinics and a proposed standard 170P, Ventilation of Health Care Facilities.

The education facilities and justice facilities groups also will edit ASHRAE Handbook chapters and sponsor programs. A new chapter on justice facilities was added to the 2003 ASHRAE Handbook, HVAC Applications.

Those interested in serving on the committee or groups should submit ASHRAE biographies, available at ASHRAE.org, to ASHRAE technical services manager, 1791 Tullie Circle N.E., Atlanta, GA 30329-2305; fax (404) 321-5478; e-mail techserv@ashrae.org.