International Symposium on Fireworks Society

(Ettore is on the left)

Ettore Contestabile
Chairman

Ettore Contestabile has been chairman since the inception of the Symposia in 1992, and has successfully resisted many coups to de-throne him. 
He does stuff for the Canadian Explosives Research Laboratory.
He has mild to medium addictions to chocolate and expresso.

Roger Schneider
Vice-Chairman

Dr. Schneider is president of Rho Sigma Associates, a scientific and engineering consulting firm in the U.S., which he co-founded in 1974. He provides expertise in pyrotechnics and explosives to a diverse group of clients. With regards to fireworks, he is primarily interested in fireworks physics (or should that be fireworks fysics, or perhaps, phireworks physics?), but has been known to do R&D on pyrotechnic compositions and devices, laboratory analysis and testing, hazards evaluation and assessment, and accident investigation. Dr. Schneider holds a Ph.D. degree in physical inorganic chemistry with minors in physics and mechanical engineering (UWM, 1982).

Fred Wade
Secretary/Treasurer

Fred Wade took on the management and organization of the Symposia from the Canadian Explosives Research Laboratory in 2000, and has since then organized the 2001, 2003 and 2005 Symposia.

He is President and owner of Fireworks FX, a display company on the east coast of Canada.  He is shown with his wife Lynn who is also involved with the Symposia.

International Advisors

Julie Heckman

Julie is the Executive Director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, the leading trade association of the fireworks industry in the United States. Ms. Heckman directs the overall regulatory affairs of the APA, including the Association's Safety Program. She is frequently cited in the media (doing some 300 interviews a year) relating to her expertise in workplace safety, consumer products and hazardous materials regulations, as well as other fireworks-related issues.

Ms. Heckman has worked closely with the fireworks industry for the past 16 years. Her accomplishments include authoring "An Analysis of United States Fireworks-Related Injuries" (1996), published in the proceedings of the 3^rd International Fireworks Symposium. She has served on the Technical Committee on Pyrotechnics of the National Fire Protection Association since 1990, and she serves on the Advisory Boards of the International Symposium on Fireworks Society, and The American Tribute Foundation.

Professor Takamura

• Guest Professor of Yokohama National University
• Emeritus Professor of The University of Tokyo
• Previous Head of Special Committee on Safety Engineering,
• Japan Science Council
• Previous President of Japan Explosives Society
• President of Safety Engineering Association
• Research Adviser to National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
• Governmental Committee Member on Safety and Environment at the following Ministries:

• Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
• Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
• Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications
• Ministry of the Environment

Alexander von Oertzen

Dr. von Oertzen was born in 1967 in Heidelberg, Germany. After starting school in California, USA, he received most of his academic education in Berlin, Germany. He completed his doctoral thesis work in 1992 at a Max-Planck-Institute in Berlin in the field of Physical Chemistry. In the following years he worked part-time on numerical simulations of oscillatory chemical reactions and part-time on teaching natural sciences. In 2001 Dr. von Oertzen came into touch with pyrotechnics, and is since then as scientist at the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) involved in various issues of pyrotechnics, fireworks testing, and participates in international expert committees. Currently Dr. von Oertzen is leading the BAM contribution to the European research project on hazards related to bulk storage of fireworks (CHAF).

Bert von Rosen

Bert von Rosen is the Head of the Explosion Effects Group at the Canadian Explosives Research Laboratory where he has the enviable job of blowing things up and calling it research. Bert has been involved in the Symposium since Naples, 2000. His primary role has been to ensure that Ettore has sufficient coffee and chocolate at all times.