J. Robert Sims, Jr., senior engineering fellow at Becht Engineering Co. Inc., Liberty Creek, N.J., has been elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for a one-year term beginning July 2014. ASME issued the announcement at the Society’s 2014 Annual Meeting, which concludes June 11 in Portland, Ore. Sims becomes the 133rd president of ASME, an organization of 130,000 members worldwide.
He has been an active member of ASME for more than 33 years and is a recognized authority on risk-based technologies. At Becht Engineering, Sims provides consulting services in failure analysis of pressure equipment, pressure vessel and piping system design and analysis, mechanical integrity evaluation and Fitness-For-Service analysis, and the design of high pressure oil and gas well equipment.
Prior to joining Becht Engineering in 1998, Sims worked for more than thirty years with Exxon (now ExxonMobil), the last ten years as a pressure equipment specialist with worldwide responsibility for standards and improving equipment integrity.
Sims is a fellow of ASME and has served in a number of leadership roles, particularly in areas involving the Society’s codes, standards and certification processes. He is the recipient of the Society’s Dedicated Service Award (1995), the J. Hall Taylor Codes and Standards Medal (2004) and the Melvin R. Green Codes and Standards Medal (2006).
Sims earned his degree in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University and served two years as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy.
