Young, Emerging Professionals and Students (YES)

Engaging the Next Generation of Standardization Leaders

What is standardization?

Standards are everywhere! From your tablet and cell phone to building safety and environmental technologies, all innovation, products, and services are shaped and guided by standardization. They're developed by thousands of engineers and experts around the world to ensure the products, processes, and systems we rely on every day are safe, reliable, efficient, and work effectively together.

The term “standardization” encompasses a broad range of activities and ideas – from the actual development of a standard to its promulgation, acceptance, and implementation. It also includes conformity assessment or compliance – the methods of evaluating whether products, processes, systems, services, and personnel comply with a standard. Like two sides of the same coin, standards development and conformity assessment work hand-in-hand.

Why is standards education vital?

Standards and conformance play a critical role in the economy, impacting more than 80% of global commodity trade. In today’s numbers that equates to over 14 trillion dollars every year. As a result, a new graduate who is familiar with the standards relevant to their industry and how the standards system works is a strategic asset to their future employer.

Effective utilization of standards and conformance promotes technological interoperability and drives the global competitiveness of businesses. Furthermore, active participation in standards development provides an opportunity to exert influence on technical content and align products and services with changing market demand.

To ensure the U.S. retains its strength and innovative edge in global markets, standardization is imperative as part of the curricula of our future managers, scientists, and technologists.

How can we increase involvement in standardization?

The first step in getting young, emerging professionals and students (YES) – our future standardization leaders – involved in standards development activities is educating them about the importance of standards. StandardsLearn.org is the place to begin.

StandardsLearn.org provides valuable, free tools for students of all ages to learn about standards and conformity assessment, as well as courses to learn about the American National Standards (ANS) process and international standardization activities. The course that provides a comprehensive, beginners overview is An Introduction to Standards: Why, where, and how are they developed?.

Another way to get involved is to seek out the standards development work that aligns with your interest and expertise, and volunteer to partcipate on a related International Organization for Standardization (ISO) technical committee (TC), subcommittee (SC), project committee (PC), or on a U.S. Technical Advisory Group (US/TAG). ANSI can help connect you with the organizations that are doing this work. For more information about U.S. participation in ISO, contact isot@ansi.org. A list of all current ANSI-accredited U.S. TAGs to ISO is available here.

“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life.”
– Plato

About ANSI

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private, non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system.

The Institute oversees the development of thousands of standards that directly impact businesses in nearly every sector. Topics covered range from the largest construction equipment to the smallest nanoparticles, and from the most detailed applications to the broadest definition of a systems implementation. ANSI is also actively engaged in accrediting programs that assess conformance to standards.

The ANSI Federation is comprised of government agencies, organizations, corporations, academic and international bodies, and individuals. In total, the Institute represents the interests of more than 125,000 companies and 3.5 million professionals.

ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

For more information, visit www.ansi.org.