The Standard 16 Dec08

8/8/2019 The Standard 16 Dec08

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The Standard is published quarterly by the Measurement Quality Division of ASQ; deadlines are February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15. Text infor-mation intended for publication can be sent via electronic mail as an attachment inMS Word format (Times New Roman, 11 pt). Use single spacing between sen-tences. Graphics/illustrations must be sent as a separate attachment, in jpg format.Photographs of MQD activities are always welcome. Publication of articles, prod-uct releases, advertisements or technical information does not imply endorsementby MQD or ASQ. While The Standard makes every effort to ensure the accuracyof articles, the publication disclaims responsibility for statements of fact or opinionmade by the authors or other contributors. Material from The Standard may not bereproduced without permission of ASQ. Copyrights in the United States and allother countries are reserved. Website information: MQDs homepage can be foundat http://www.asq.org/measure . 2008 ASQ, MQD. All rights reserved.

The StandardVol 22, No. 4, December 2008

Managing Editor and PublisherJay L. Bucher6700 Royal View Dr.De Forest, WI 53532-2775

Voice: 608-846-6968Email: [email protected]

Advertising Submit your draft copy to Jay Bucher , with arequest for a quotation. Indicate size desired.Since The Standard is published in-housethe requester must submit a photo or graphicof their logo, if applicable. The followingrates apply: Business card size ............................ $1001/8 page ...... ........... ........... ........... .... $1501/4 page ............................................ $2001/3 page ............................................ $250 page ..... ........... ........... .......... ........ $300Full page .......................................... $550

Advertisements will be accepted on a perissue basis only; no long-term contracts willbe available at present. Advertising must beclearly distinguished as an ad. Ads must berelated to measurement quality, quality of measurement, or a related quality field. Adsmust not imply endorsement by the Measure-ment Quality Division or ASQ .

Letters to the EditorThe Standard welcomes letters from mem-bers and subscribers. Letters should clearlystate whether the author is expressing opin-ion or presenting facts with supporting infor-mation. Commendation, encouragement,constructive critique, suggestions, and alter-native approaches are accepted. If the con-tent is more than 200 words, we may deleteportions to hold that limit. We reserve theright to edit letters and papers.

Information for Authors The Standard publishes papers on the qual-ity of measurements and the measurement of quality at all levels ranging from relativelysimple tutorial material to state-of-the-art.Papers published in The Standard are notreferred in the usual sense, except to ascer-tain that facts are correctly stated and to as-sure that opinion and fact are clearly distin-guished one from another. The Editor re-serves the right to edit any paper. Please sin-gle space after sentences and use Times NewRoman, 12 pt font.

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS Chairs Corner ................................................................................. 3The Learning Curve ........................................................................ 4MQD Officers and Committee Chairs ............................................ 7MQD Regional Councilors ............................................................. 8Why Reinvent the Wheel? ............................................................ 10

F ROM T HE DESK OF T HE E DITOR /P UBLISHER We have come to the end of another year (as far asThe Standard goes). I wish to thank all of the con-tributors for their articles, papers and continued sup-port. We still would like any and all to submit theirideas, suggestions and papers for publication. Wecan never have enough. Since we are electronic, sizedoes not matter - short or long, with or without pic-tures, graphs, tables, or charts. We pretty much ac-cept about anything that covers the measurement or quality topics. We alsosupport the Measure for Measure column that comes out bi-monthly inASQs monthly magazine QP .

Id like to thank Heather Wade for the article that follows at the end of thisedition of The Standard. It proves that somebody actually reads Phil Pain-chauds column, The Learning Curve .

If anyone has a desire to support the Measurement Quality Divisionthrough their volunteer efforts, we are always looking for new officers andchairs for our different committees. Very little time is needed to fill theseduties, but the willingness to support the division is much appreciated.

MQD will be supporting the review of the CCT exam during 2009, and wewill publish the time table for that review, if available in time, in our news-letters. Anyone with their CCT is eligible to participate.

Thanks again to all for their help and support during 2008. So, without fur-ther ado

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!


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Vol. 22, No. 4 The Newsletter of the Measurement Quality Division, American Society for Quality December 2008

C HAIR S C ORNER By Craig (Woody) Niemann

Who says you cant gohome? The other day I wasthinking about how I gotmy start in Air Force me-trology. There I was, a re-cent high-school graduatewith a guaranteed job as aPrecision MeasurementEquipment Laboratory(PMEL) technician. I spenta good deal of my time be-fore entering basic military

training trying to figure out what in the heck thescience of weights and measures had to do withthe weather. Well, a recent trip to Denver Coloradoprovided me an opportunity to visit what wasLowry Air Force Base and where I had my intro-duction to the wonderful world of metrology.

For those who did not come up in the US militarysystem, Lowry AFB was something that every cali-bration technician, up until 1994, had in common.From the Electronic Fundamentals course, heldright across the street from the USAF PMEL dor-mitory, to the basic PMEL course and all the ad-vanced calibration schools, held all the way on theother side of Lowry, everyone one of us did 9+months at Lowry AFB. How could we ever forgetthe 5am roll calls or the fire alarms in building 900that seemed to always go off at 2am when it startedsnowing?

Needless to say, I was interested to see how thelandscape has changed since the base closed up. Icame in through what was the west gate, and de-spite my mad navigational skills and 15-year oldmental map, I was immediately lost. It was not un-til I got all the way to the other side of the base andfound my old dormitory that I finally regained mybearings. The PMEL dormitory was surrounded bya chain link fence and I suspect it is scheduled fordemolition. The electronic fundamentals building,directly across the street is now the CommunityCollege of Aurora and looks a lot nicer than when Iattended those early morning classes. The PMELschool is still standing as well. The older half was

torn down but the newer half is now a local highschool. Overall it was a nice trip down memorylane and I would be willing to bet that at least someof the 3600+ members of the Measurement QualityDivision have a few memories of this once proudmetrology school.

Speaking of the MQD, I would like to once againencourage any member who would like to get moreinvolved with the division to contact either me orany other member of the leadership team. Involve-ment with MQD has truly been one of the high-lights in my career.

Additionally, I hope everyone that tested for theCCT exam last June received their coin. My wiferecently received hers and division leadership alsoworked with the ASQ community care coordinatorto improve the process. I am hopeful that the nextround of individuals who take the test in Decemberwill receive the coin sometime shortly after the firstof the year. If you did not receive your coin yet orif you have any other feedback, please let meknow.

Lastly, I would like to thank all those currently vol-unteering in MQD. I have had a busy year withtrips to various parts of the US and all over theworld. There is no way I could have kept up withall the Division requirements without your help.All the best for a wonderful holiday season.

V/rWoody Niemann


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T HE L EARNING C URVE By Phil Painchaud

This is the fifty-sixthconsecutive screed supposedly

to be on the chartered subject of Metrology Education, but some-times due to lack of current ma-terials it isnt. This time how-ever is one of those times wecan. As usual with these disser-tations it will be in the form of an open letter to our genial

Boss, the Managing Editor and Publisher of thisperiodical which many thanks to him has becomequite periodic.

Dear Boss:

I know that you know that I have ex-pounded on this matter before, many people neverseem to get the point. I mentioned in an earlieressay (Column 46) that some people insist uponthrusting their self-importance upon us via lengthysignatures on their e-mail messages. I mentioned atthat time of one that I had received recently an e-mail message that had less than a full line of mes-sage (which was quite adequate for the communi-cation of the thought involved) but had no less than

fourteen lines of self-aggrandizement in the signa-ture! Again I am reminded of what the MarquisAlexis de Tocqueville, the French nobleman andscholar said in the compendium that he publishedafter his two year study of America and the Ameri-can people. They increasingly harass you toextort praise and if you resist their entreaties they

fall to praising themselves.

Personally I rather abide by what the Eng-lish philosopher Sir Francis Bacon said during theseventeenth century, True greatness is like a

two sided coin, the reverse side is humility. My signature is generally just my name. If thedocument requires some verification as to myrightful power to sign, then I might add a singleline denoting what may be required.

Well Boss, enough of that for now. Letsget down to our business at hand. Next all of youreaders dig out your copy of the last issue of THE

STANDARD (I trust that you downloaded andsaved it). If you didnt save a copy, go borrowsomebody elses. I want to start a regression to andexamine some of the statements that Mr. FredHume made in his White Paper entitledEDUCATION IN MEASUREMENT SCI-ENCE that we reprinted in Column 55.

His statement, The average graduatingengineer or scientist knows little about measure-

ment science really sets the theme for most of hisfollowing discourse. For those of us who are in-volved in the fundamentals of the measurementsciences this is obviously too true. His observa-tion,

Others see a need for educational programs developed specifically to produce professionals educated in measurement science to fill positions in governmental and industrial standards and calibration laboratories, and there to a rationale for several levels of educational attain- ment in such a program.

This is precisely what we have been tryingto preach in this column for the past seventeenyears!

We see a few attempts to start educationalprograms in the measurement sciences (more cor-rectly Metrology) but extremely few of these areabove the level of the calibration technician. It isnot that we are against the creation of technicians;it is obvious that we need them, lots of good skilledand competent technicians and calibrators, butwithout highly educated Metrologists and Metrol-ogy Engineers who will guide and train the techni-cians? Who will develop new calibration proce-dures? Who will design the new measuring de-vices capable of digitizing and quantifying theemerging technologies in precise quantities? Wedesperately need people who are thoroughly edu-cated in such fundamental measurement elementsas Experimental Design, Error Propagation andAnalysis, Traceability, and Data Analysis and Dis-play. Where are these fundamentals being cur-rently offered in a concise four year curriculum?However , as Mr. Hume notes, it is obvious that

(Continued on page 5)


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some the solutions involve changes in education.These changes will take considerable time to ad-

dress, as anyone involved in higher education will affirm.

To this I can personally affirm. It took Dr.Watson with a little help from me, nearly a decadeto convince the hierarchy to allow him to developand introduce the curriculum and program cur-rently being offered at California State University,Dominguez Hills. The typical academic minds,particularly those in administration, are painstak-ingly slow to change from their adherence to classi-cal formulae.

In his paragraph entitled The Con- straints, Mr. Hume states, To the outside, measurement science in not perceived to be glamorous work. How true! I have been ambus-caded many times in my career by that argument.Why is measurement science not given its properstature by most management? There are probablynumerous reasons, mostly quite erroneous. How-ever, I believe that the two most prominent of theseare: It is a costly overhead non-productive func-tion , and It produces nothing usefully palpable.

The first is generally expressed by MBAsof the financial areas. According to their rulessince the measurement science (or Metrology)function in itself does not directly produce a sale-able product, it is non-productive and therefore anoverhead indirect burden. On the other hand howlong could the direct functions continue to oper-ate in todays technology without close supportfrom the non-productive indirect Metrologyfunction? Rules are meant to be changed whenthey do not fit the situation of the moment. Thefinancial people made that rule and they canchange it if enough pressure is applied.

I had personal experience as to how hide-bound the thinking of the top level financial peoplecan be. At one time I was head of Metrology for adivision of a major aerospace company. Oncewhen we were in an overtime mode attempting tocatch up due to massive increase of work caused bya sudden granting of very large engineering con-tract, the Divisional Finance Director arbitrarily cut

our funding because we were not directly contrib-uting to any hardware going out the back door.My boss (the Director of Quality Assurance) and Iwent to see him and set him straight. Instead wereceived an indoctrination of financial policy asinterpreted by him. Budgets are developed

based upon firm business. The only projects that can be considered firm business and therefore chargeable direct are those on a firm signed prime contract and that produce hardware that is shipped out the back door. That statement hitus like a ton of bricks. What about all the work in the shop? They are working two shifts and loadsof overtime to keep oodles hardware moving outthe back door? .we asked. All of that work iseither sub-contracted from other divisions of the

company or is being performed on a Letter of Intent (Note: For those not aware, in those days prime contracts were often not firmed and signed until after the product was completed and shipped. The work was performed under the authority of a Letter of Intent.) What you are say-ing is that all of the work we are doing to supportthat shop work is not considered when you developbudgets? His reply could have floored us, That is correct, we only recognize such efforts

your organization does to support prime contractwork producing shippable hardware .

We could not believe what we had justheard, so I asked another question. What aboutthis new engineering contract? General knowledgeis that it amounts to about twelve million dollars(about 50 million in todays dollars) a month. It hasrequired my calibration and repair section to goonto extensive overtime to try to keep up with theincreased demand for instrumentation by the Engi-neering Department That engineering con-

tract has not been signed as yet and therefore cannot be considered as firm business and fur- thermore it produces no shippable hardware!Therefore I can allow you no additional budget

because of it!

That illogical logic is what you can ex-pect from financial types who have never been ex-posed to real work during their lifetime. The situa-tion was now beyond my depth so my boss being atthe same administrative level as the Finance Direc-

(Continued from page 4)

(Continued on page 6)


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tor took the matter to the General Manger. The Fi-nance Director was rapidly transferred to anotherdivision of the corporation and I got the additionalbudget that I needed. An interesting story followedwith the new Finance Director, but it is not ger-mane here so we will keep it for some future col-umn.

My second thought under Mr. Humes TheConstraints paragraph, it produces nothing use-fully palpable was driven home to me when oneof my subordinates came to me and told me that hewas quitting. Naturally I was quite shocked for hehad been with me for over five years and the rela-tionship, both professional and personal had beenexceedingly harmonious. Technologically he wasmy right hand; he was truly a Master of the Meas-urement Sciences He had been in Metrology fornearly three decades, and was considered by manyas a world authority in several disciplines of meas-urement.

Why?, I asked. Phil,. he replied, Youmade the mistake of giving me two weeks vacationand my wife putting me to work painting thehouse. When I have a paint brush in my hand, mymind wanders and I start thinking of many things.One of these things was the work heredont getme wrong, it is not that you havent given me everypossible opportunity and intriguing challenges ga-lore, but I just feel that I need to work for a com-pany that makes products that go in a catalogue andare sold to the general public . ( Note: I have

never hear of an aerospace company that puts its products in a catalogue and offers them to the general public,) Of course here he was not justreferring to the fact that our division producednothing that was useful to the public, but that ourMetrology Organization contributed to thatnothingness by producing paper that attested tothe validity of the tools that produced it.

Most assuredly I was not of that same phi-losophy but I understood and did not stand in hisway. In fact I provided the glowing references thathelped establish him in a ranking position with anappreciative employer who did make superiormeasuring devices that were shown in a catalogue.Here is a true example of one of Mr. Humes con-

cerns; work in the Metrology Laboratory generallydoes not produce tangible products that the artisancan hold in his hand and admire and be admired.The only reward the Metrologist can attain is theself-satisfaction of a job well and properly done.

Well Boss that about does is for this ses-sion, we shall examine Mr. Humes White Paperfurther in our next column. It has gotten me think-ing as I hope it has you also, Why do we trueMetrologists do it? Why do we continue at tasksthat produce no artifacts that can be seen and val-ued by others? I dont know how long you havebeen at it, but I have spent the better part of a cen-tury in Metrology and cannot leave it. Why? Proba-bly because I love it.

Should any of you wish to explore this phi-losophy further with me, I am still at the same oldstand:

Phil Painchaud1110 West Dorothy DriveBrea, CA 92821-2017Phone: 714-529-6604Cell: 714-928 -6084FAX: 714-529-1109E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

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ChairCraig (Woody) Niemann1489 Pheasant Run Dr.Newark, OH 43055-8046Voice (740) 788-5034E-mail: [email protected]

Chair-Elect, Program Chair,Immediate Past Chair

Dilip A. ShahE = mc3 Solutions197 Great Oaks Trail #130Wadsworth, Ohio 44281-8215Voice (330) 328-4400 / Fax (330) 336-3974E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Treasurer, Certification Chair,NCSL International Representative

Christopher L. GrachanenManager, Houston Metrology Group HPP. O. Box 692000 MS070110Houston, TX 77269-2000Voice (281) 518-8486 / Fax (281) 518-7275E-mail: [email protected]

Secretary, Publication Chair, NewsletterEditor/Publisher, Share Point Administrator

Jay L. BucherBucherview Metrology Services6700 Royal View Dr.De Forest, WI 53532-2775Voice (608) 846-6968E-mail: [email protected]

Nominating ChairGraeme C. PayneGK Systems, Inc.4440 Weston Drive SW, Suite BLilburn, GA 30047 USAVoice: (770) 931-4004 / Fax (866) 887-9344E-mail: [email protected]

Joe Simmons ScholarshipNorm Belecki7413 Mill Run DrDerwood, MD 20855-1156Voice (301) 869-4520E-mail: [email protected]

Standards Committee RepresentativeJay L. BucherBucherview Metrology Services6700 Royal View Dr.De Forest, WI 53532-2775Voice (608) 846-6968E-mail: [email protected]

Website ManagerMiguel A. DecosRohmann Services, Inc.Measurement Standards andCalibration LaboratoryNASA/Johnson Space CenterVoice (281) 483-3574 / Cell (832) 385-1354E-mail: [email protected]

Examining ChairDuane AllenU. S. NavyP.O. Box 5000, Code MS11Corona, CA 92878-5000Voice (909) 273-4783 / Fax (909) 273-4599E-mail: [email protected]

Membership ChairElias MonrealIndustrial Tool Die & Engineering(www.itde.com)4765 S. Overland Dr.Tucson, AZ 85714Voice (520) 241-0478E-mail: [email protected]

HistorianVolunteer Opportunity!

ASQ Division AdministratorMs. Leta ThrasherVoice (800) 248-1946, x7423E-mail: [email protected]

M EASUREMENT Q UALITY DIVISION O FFICERS AND C OMMITTEE C HAIRS


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ASQ M EASUREMENT Q UALITY D IVISION R EGIONAL C OUNCILORS

Regional Councilors represent the Division to members and Sections in theirgeographic areas. Regional Councilors are appointed for renewable two-year

terms, and are advisory members of the Division leadership team.Region 1 (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)

Mr. Jun BautistaGenzymeCambridge, MA 02142E-mail: [email protected]

Region 2 (NJ, NY, PA)

Volunteer Opportunity!

Region 3 (CT, NJ, NY)

Mr. Eduardo M. HeidelbergPfizerParlin, NJ 08859E-mail: [email protected]

Region 4 (Canada)

Mr. Alexander T. C. LauExxonMobilWhitby, ON L1R 1R1E-mail: [email protected]

Region 5 (DC, DE, MD, PA, VA)

Mr. Richard A. LittsLitts Quality TechnologiesDownington, PA 19335E-mail: [email protected]

Region 6 (AK, CA, HI, ID, MT, OR, UT, WA,WY)


Region 7 (AZ, CA, NV, part of Mexico)

Elias MonrealIndustrial Tool Die & EngineeringTucson, AZ 85714E-mail: [email protected]

Region 8 (OH, PA)

Dilip A. ShahE = mc3 SolutionsWadsworth, Ohio 44281-8215E-mail:[email protected], [email protected]

Region 9 (IN, KY, OH)

Mr. Ryan Fischer, ASQ CCTLaboratory Accreditation BureauNew Haven, IN 46774E-mail: [email protected]

Region 10 (OH, MI)

Mark J. SchoenleinE-mail: [email protected]

Region 11 (NC, SC, TN, VA)Volunteer Opportunity!

Region 12 (IL, MN, ND, SD, WI)

Jay L. Bucher, ASQ Sr. Member, CCTBucherview Metrology Services, LLCDe Forest, WI 53532E-mail: [email protected]

Region 13 (CO, IA, KS, MO, NE, SD, WY)


Region 14 (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX, part of Mexico)

Mr. R. Keith BennettTRANSCATKingwood, TX 77339E-mail: [email protected]

Region 15 (AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, Puerto Rico)

Mr. E. Bryan Miller ASQ FellowBryan Miller ConsultingFlorence, AL 35633E-mail: [email protected]

Region 25 (all other countries)



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Why Reinvent The Wheel?By Heather Wade, ASQ-CCTLaboratory Calibration Officer

NSF InternationalAnn Arbor, MI 48103

[email protected]

After reading Phil Painchauds article, The Learning Curve, in the September 2008 issue of TheStandard , I was inspired to write some of my ideas about metrology education. I wholeheartedly agreethat general support for and knowledge of metrology education in the United States is abysmal. Anotherundeniable truth is that the United States has fallen disastrously behind the rest of the world in scienceeducation. In proposing ways to fix the metrology education problem, we must look at it as part of thescience education problem as a whole and work within that for solutions.

Why reinvent the wheel? Lets use the wheels that already exist to move us further along the scienceeducation highway. Lets work with established groups who are currently lobbying & working forincreased funding and support for science education. Lets work with science teachers to develop lessonplans that teach metrology, both in the classroom and on the internet. By working with groups thatalready speak science, we can more easily share the importance of our message. By working together,we can add to their mission of increasing funding & support for U.S. science education. In return, wedevelop salespeople to politick for our mission of recruiting, teaching, and developing newmetrologists. However, we cant just turn it over to others and think the job is done and never do anythingabout it again. Herein lies lessons learned by political and marketing campaigns. One needs to highlightin issue, get people to respond emotionally, propose a solution, get those people to work for you inspreading the message, and in turn, motivate others to act as well. We metrologists are facing a loss; thehuge brain-drain as many of our long-time, most-experienced metrologists retire. Our problem isrecruiting candidates to the field of Metrology and training and keeping them in the field. Like a politicalcampaign or product marketing, we must repeat our message with enthusiasm.

At this summers NCSLI Conference in Orlando, Florida, I participated in a Metrology Education Liaison& Outreach Committee session on becoming a Metrology Ambassador. Metrology Ambassadors are, toborrow from Christopher Grachanen, individuals (who) have volunteered their time and efforts towardmetrology outreach activities in order to help get the word to students and educators about the metrologyprofession and to help potential candidates better understand what challenges/opportunities/rewards awaitthem in a career in metrology. (from Conversations with Metrology Ambassadors by ChristopherGrachanen). The enthusiasm of everyone in the room was exciting and inspiring. Several times we wereasked by adjoining conference rooms to quiet down! Comments at the end of the session included thewish the session was longer and the desire to take action as Metrology Ambassadors. Each person wasable to talk with current Metrology Ambassadors and learn what theyre doing right now to teach aboutmetrology. The following is a selection from Ways You Can Be a Metrology Ambassador fromChristopher L. Grachanens NCSLI Learning & Development article, You Can Be a MetrologyAmbassador!

Taking advantage of liaison opportunities for disseminating information about Metrology andMetrology careers at professional organization conferences and meetings. NCSLIs Metrology Education and Training Outreach committee has identified professionalorganizations for establishing liaison contacts (the list includes champions who have volunteeredto act as liaisons on behalf of the committee). If you are interested in becoming a liaison orworking with the liaisons, please contact Phil Smith ( [email protected] ) or Christopher Grachanen([email protected] ).


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CALL TO ACTION: WHAT HELP IS NEEDED NOW & HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Active champions are needed for each liaison. Experienced grant writers (or those willing to learn). Contacts at companies/foundations/institutions that award grants. See NCSLI Metrology Education Outreach paper (attached), for additional outreach opportunities

& idea.

Please contact the following people for respective NCSLI committees regarding MetrologyAmbassadorship (updates can be found at http://www.ncsli.org/committees/ ) 162 Financial Resources: Mark Lapinskes, [email protected] 164 Education Liaison & Outreach: Chris Grachanen (Chair), [email protected] ,

and Elizabeth Gentry (Co-Chair), [email protected]

In addition to this article, Id like to share other great ideas, articles, and websites Ive come across: MythBuster Adam Savage: 3 Ways to Fix U.S. Science Education.

From September 2008 Popular Mechanics.http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/4279828.html

American Association for the Advancement of Science; http://ehr.aaas.org/ehr/ This site can be both a resource for teaching tools as well as a site to offer metrology educationtools & resources.They have a request for volunteers: http://ehr.aaas.org/ehr/volunteer.htm

The Sally Ride Foundation; http://www.sallyridescience.com/home This site can be both a resource for teaching tools as well as a site to offer metrology educationtools & resources.

The US House of Representatives, Committee on Science & Technology:http://science.house.gov/ Lobby your Representatives in Congress!

Here is the presentation that presents NCSLI Metrology Education Outreach. With permission, below isthe entire presentation by Chris Grachanen and Georgia Harris, as presented at the American Society forEngineering Education:

NCSLI Metrology Education Outreach

Christopher L. GrachanenMaster Engineer / Operations Manager

Houston Metrology GroupHewlett-Packard CompanyMS 070110, 20555 SH 249

Houston, TX 77070Tel (281) 518-8486Fax (281) 518-7275

[email protected]

Georgia L. Harris


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NCSLI Vice President, Learning and DevelopmentNIST, Weights and Measures Division, Laboratory Metrology Group

100 Bureau Drive, MS 2600Gaithersburg, MD 20899

Tel (301) 975-4014Fax (301) 975-8091

[email protected]

Abstract

The National Conference of Standards Laboratories International (NCSLI), one of the worlds leadingMetrology professional associations, is very much in the forefront of initiating and coordinating outreachactivities in order to help reverse the trend of a dwindling Metrology workforce. NCSLI, in closepartnership with such other professional associations as the American Society for Quality, MeasurementQuality Division (ASQ-MQD) and the Measurement Science Conference (MSC), is taking steps toincrease Metrology awareness with an emphasis on Metrology education and training. These efforts areunder the auspices of NCSLIs learning and development program. The goal of the next-generationoutreach program, a program under the NCSLI learning and development group is to:

Promote the Metrology profession to potential candidates; Publicize Metrology education and training opportunities; and Initiate and support activities that help enhance Metrology curricula.

The field of Metrology, like many other technical professions, is faced with an acute shortage of trainedpractitioners to replace retiring baby boomers. In fact, 2008 marks the first year that the baby boomergeneration can start taking early social security benefits at age 62. Since many technical professions aretrying to recruit potential candidates from an ever-dwindling supply of technically-minded young people,something has to be done to help ensure an adequate supply of next generation Metrology professionals.In recent years the pool of young people with technical career aspirations has become smaller andsmaller: the allure of more glamorous career occupations is taking its toll. Young people are oftenunaware of Metrology careers and of related education and training opportunities that are available tothem. This situation will no doubt worsen if concerned individuals, industry sponsors and professionalMetrology organizations fail to take action.

NCSLI Metrology Education Outreach

Background

In 2005, NCSLI began a strategic roadmap effort by creating a set of objectives and a framework fororganizing these objectives and their related activities, followed by organizing committees and actionsteps to address workforce challenges in the metrology community.P 1P During the technical sessions of the 2005 NCSLI Annual Workshop and Symposium, participants were given sticky dots to mark on kiosk displays the areas that they believed to be of highest priority. In addition, a survey form was distributedto gather feedback on suggested action steps that NCSLI might take. The overwhelming feedback on thekiosks, surveys, and individual discussions related to Metrology Outreach. The objectives and framework of the roadmap were slightly modified in 2007 to reflect the intervening time and are noted below.

Objectives:


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1. Metrology & Standards Outreach. Ensure awareness of metrology, measurement sciences, and needsfor calibration and standards so that they are readily recognized by organizational managers and thegeneral public.

2. Workplace Development. Ensure that clear career paths are identified and communicated as widely aspossible, and ensure that labor statistics are tracked and available.

3. Professional Development. Ensure that appropriate methods or systems are in place to provideappropriate recognition and credibility for the metrology professions.

4. Metrology Education. Provide multiple forums where metrology educators interact, and encouragesharing of ideas and resources, helping to ensure that stakeholder educational needs are met.

5. Training Resources. Ensure that information and resources on metrology education and training arewidely available and ensure a high level of awareness.

6. Training Opportunities. Ensure development, implementation, and recognition of real-time (fast-response) metrology training.

7. Training Assessment & Certification. Develop and provide an infrastructure for assessment (andcertification) of metrology training courses.

8. Knowledge Management. Ensure that critical infrastructure needs for ongoing knowledgemanagement are in place and flexible enough to capture and widely disseminate metrology expertise.

9. Technology Trend Analysis. Ensure identification of potential education and training needs in supportof measurements and standards needed for new technology infrastructures.

10. Collaboration. Ensure that the entire metrology community and stakeholders work together to gainsynergy in achieving our goals.

11. Funding. Ensure that adequate resources are available to support metrology education and training.

Framework for Objectives:

1. Metrology & Standards Outreach Human Resources

2. WorkplaceDevelopment

3. ProfessionalDevelopment

Education4. Formal

Programs

Training5. Training Resources6. Training Opportunities

(Events)7. Training Assessment

Infrastructure

8. Knowledge Management9. Technology Trend Analysis10. Collaboration11. Funding

Based on the number of action items suggested at the 2005 conference, a Next Generation OutreachOutline was created. The outline was part of a status paper that was presented in 2007 at both theMeasurement Science Conference and at the NCSL International Workshop and Symposium.P 2P Theoutline has been updated and is included as Appendix A.

Liaison and Outreach Moving Forward

Education Liaison & Outreach Committee Established An Outreach subcommittee was established in 2007 under the Education Liaison committee. The initialcharter and objectives are as follows:

Initial Charter


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Develop and support initiatives and programs enabling Metrology Education & Training globally.

Initial Objectives1. Help advertise and promote Metrology Education & Training programs;

2. Support the expansion, enhancement, and development of Metrology Education & Training

programs;3. Develop a clearinghouse of Metrology & Education resources; and

4. Provide guidance and support for the donation of test equipment to University and College MetrologyEducation & Training programs.

As Phil Smith, the subcommittee chair, noted in an early status report:

The Metrology Education and Training Outreach sub-committee started from a conversationbetween three NCSLI and the American Society for Quality (ASQ), Measurement QualityDivision (MQD) metrology veterans when they met during a break at a meeting in Houston,Texas during August of 2006. The group discussed that there needs to be more traininginformation made available and that the number of people entering the metrology field aredwindling. The group agreed to meet again to discuss ideas to alleviate the situation. Additionalpeople became involved and then one member who is the NCSLI 164 Education System LiaisonChair, Mark Lapinskes, suggested we form a subcommittee.P 2P

Within one year, the committee grew to over 40 people, which may seem small, but is one of the fastestgrowing and largest committees within NCSLI. The committee and subcommittee were merged in 2008as a stand-alone Education and Liaison Outreach committee.

In 2008, the NCSLI Education and Training function was changed to Learning and Development toreflect a wider scope of issues that were being addressed to meet workforce challenges. Some of theissues beyond education and training include workplace (human resources) and professional development(certification and qualification), scholarship sponsorships, and a formal Educational Development Fundfor managing financial resources related to learning efforts. The Learning and Development committeeswere also updated: some subcommittees were added, some were renamed, and some were disbanded. Thecurrent charters for the Education Liaison and Outreach and its subcommittees are noted below.

Current Charters

164 Education Liaison and Outreach Committee Charter Provide multiple forums for educators to interact on topics related to metrology learning anddevelopment; to encourage sharing of ideas and resources; and to help ensure that the educational needsof metrology stakeholder are met. Ensure that educators, students, related professional organizations, andthe general public are aware of and recognize metrology, measurement sciences, and the needs forcalibration and standards. Develop and support initiatives and programs enabling world-wide MetrologyLearning & Development.

164.1 Marketing Subcommittee Charter Work with the Learning & Development Committees and the Marketing team to promote Learning &Development products and services and to incorporate education and training, professional development,and workforce development topics into general NCSLI literature and resources whenever applicable.


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164.2 Communications Subcommittee Charter Work to increase world-wide awareness of metrology through ongoing and widespread communicationsefforts using multiple media. This primarily relates to metrology education and training, professionaldevelopment, and workforce development topics (2008 changes were made to ensure that marketingefforts were more effective and focused than in the past).

The updated charters are all noted above, but the strategy for action has been to select each year a smallnumber of manageable projects from the Next Generation Outreach Outline to enable work to be focused,to achieve short-term successes, and to enable maximum impact and momentum. Some longer-termprojects have also been selected. The following section provides a list of projects that have been startedand/or completed along with their current status.

Outreach Progress and Plans

Multimedia Outreach. One of the projects that the committee has been considering from the beginning isa DVD or other multimedia tool that can be used to reach counselors, teachers, students, and the generalpopulation regarding careers and opportunities in metrology. A fantastic video was created by ButlerCounty Community College (BC3) that provides an overview of career opportunities in metrology andpromotes the instructional program. 3 The BC3 video is tailored specifically to that school; hence it is notapplicable for other schools or the measurement sciences community in general. In addition, thecommittee felt that teacher resources, salary data, aptitude exercises, and maybe even an Introduction toMetrology course could all be placed on the multimedia tool for widest applications.

Current Status and Insights: A detailed statement of work and request for proposals are being preparedand funding needs to be secured. While we believe this to be a worthy project, NCSLI has notdetermined if the BC3 video is having its intended effect for school enrollment. NCSLI has not investedin outreach projects of this magnitude in the past. Thus, adequate funds have not been allocated from theoperating budget. NCSLI also doesnt have committee members with significant experience in writingfunding requests and developing requests for proposals for a non-profit environment.

Outreach PowerPoint Presentation. One of the first projects that was selected by the committee was aPowerPoint file that would provide a standard Introduction to Metrology set of slides that could be usedfor outreach to teachers and students at NCSLI section meetings (located regionally around the world) orwhen Metrology Ambassadors go into schools or academic fairs to share information about themeasurement sciences. The presentation was shared at the 2007 NCSLI Workshop and Symposium byMichelle Foncannon (who was a NIST engineering intern at the time who served on the 164.1subcommittee). The target audience was primarily teens. Feedback on the presentation was solicited atthe conference and the presentation was updated based on metrology community feedback.

Current Status and Insights: The current presentation has been shared among committee members andcirculated to interested parties. It is posted on the NCSLI website for unlimited and unrestricted use andwe will be able to track downloads. Requests for standard presentation materials on metrology topics and

concepts were requested prior to the committee development so the committee knew that the projectwould be a valuable resource. A draft article for the April 2008 NCSLI Newsletter interviews severalMetrology Ambassadors. One of the questions asked what kinds of resources would be useful forconducting outreach. One answer was: having standardized presentations available. Only onepresentation is currently available. It is generic in nature and targets High School and freshmen leveluniversity students. Additional resources and standard presentations are needed for other audiences.

Internship Opportunities. The initial subcommittee considered how to help students get into metrologypositions through internships. NCSLI already had a job posting and resume posting service. The


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subcommittee provided guidance and requested modifications to the website to allow posting and requestsfor internships (as well as jobs.) A press release was issued in February 2007 to encourage use of the newservice.

Current Status and Insights: The website is being used to post internship opportunities. Putting aninfrastructure in place was not a completely adequate solution. There have been requests to provideguidance on how to develop and implement a successful metrology internship program. The use of internships in the metrology community has not been widespread, successes and lessons learned have notbeen shared with others, and very few calibration organizations have considered internships as a way toidentify promising employees or to introduce metrology concepts to other professions.

Outreach Ambassador Training. The subcommittee discussed the idea that many section meetings arelocated within driving distance of schools with metrology or engineering programs, or feeder schools forthose with related programs. The committee put together some guidance on how to do outreach for asection meeting. Additionally, many members of the subcommittee are interested in visiting schools(from Elementary schools to University classrooms) or participating in events such as Career Days, Takeyour Kids to Work, Adventures in Science, or others, to share measurement science principles withteachers and students. Training was conducted for region and section coordinators at the 2007 NCSLIRegion/Section Coordinator Training session. An article on how to be a metrology ambassador waspublished in the premier January 2008 issue of the Metrologist (NCSLIs updated newsletter) whichprovides more guidance on how to be an ambassador.P 5

Current Status and Insights: Resources such as the Introduction to Metrology presentation, posters, andhandout materials are posted and more are being compiled for use by Ambassadors. Initial training andcommunications is generating interest and is identifying outreach that was already occurring but notcentrally communicated. Ongoing training and promotion is needed for metrology OutreachAmbassadors. We still need more resources for use in conducting outreach. We need a way to measurehow much outreach is being conducted. The metrology community is quite decentralized and NCSLI hasnot yet developed a way to track outreach that is being conducted or whether it is having an impact.

University/College Laboratories. One of the problems that schools with metrology programs have is thecost of the infrastructure required to develop and maintain an up-to-date working calibration laboratory.An idea to facilitate test equipment donations to metrology education & training programs was suggested.A concept was developed to have a website where schools could post wish lists, and companies couldbrowse the list and determine if they could provide suitable equipment for use in a classroom/laboratory.

Current Status and Insights: Most contributions to schools are occurring through one-on-one interactionsand networking that takes place at the section meetings. For example, at one section meeting in PuertoRico in January 2008, university representatives mentioned an equipment need. A representative of thecommittee introduced him to an industry representative who was also at the meeting. It was later reportedthat the company would visit the university laboratory and provide equipment. Success! The committeehoped that a website interface where colleges could post equipment needed and standards and

instrument manufacturers could review to consider where they would like to make donations would behelpful. The committee also considered that sample paperwork on how to make tax-deductible donationswould be useful. However, what we have found is that making the connections between the school andpotential donors is often the key challenge. Finding the best ways to facilitate the right connections is stillbefore the committee.

Metrology Graduate Outreach. A proposal was made to provide free one-year memberships and giftpackages to new metrology graduates. In addition, it was suggested that free or reduced rate conferenceregistration would draw student attendance at the annual NCSLI conferences. In 2007 the NCSLI Board


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approved the membership and conference gifts. To implement this program, congratulatory letters andmembership applications were sent to schools with metrology programs for distribution to graduatingstudents. In the first year, no one accepted the offer. The committee got mixed feedback as to why therewas no response. With all of the privacy limitations of personally identifying information (PII), it wasfound that schools are unwilling to provide names and contact information of graduating students. Thecommittee suspects that some schools did not pass along the information. Feedback was also providedthat once students graduate, if they are employed in the field, their employing organizations are likelyalready NCSLI members. NCSLI also provided free registration for up to three students (whom wesupport with scholarships) from each school with a metrology program. In addition, discountedregistrations were provided to as many as 20 part-time students in the same school programs, if they weresponsored by calibration laboratories. Four students attended the annual conference in 2007.

Current Status and Insights: the programs were again approved for 2008; we will determine whether tocontinue the program based on feedback we receive this year.We have received feedback from schools that we need to target current students, not graduates. As theyhave noted, graduating students will likely be hired by organizations that already have NCSLImemberships and resources. We also got feedback from students employed by one of NCSLIs membercompanies that our literature is not as attractive as is needed for next generation students. The studentsfelt it was too professional and not colorful or engaging enough. Our marketing team is consideringways to capture demographic feedback at our upcoming conference to help guide our efforts.

Strategic Liaisons. As a part of the NCSLI strategic roadmap process, partnerships were developed tosupport the education and training framework with the American Society of Quality, MeasurementQuality Division (ASQ-MQD) and the Measurement Science Conference (MSC). Both of theseorganizations were already active in the metrology community and the strategic road mapping effort.Many members of one organization are likely to be involved in the other. Each group has uniqueobjectives with respect to the roadmap, and more specifically regarding outreach efforts. MSC has beenactive for many years with outreach to schools, though primarily in southern California. MSC has alsoadministered scholarship programs and created a new youth achievement award in 2007. ASQ-MQD hasbeen involved with developing a certified calibration technician (CCT) program which helps meet career

and workplace objectives once someone selects a career in metrology. Relationships with ASQ-MQDand MSC formed the foundation of NCSLI liaisons in outreach efforts. NCSLI began pursuing the ideaof other strategic liaisons after noting education outreach efforts by standards organizations, such as theAmerican Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), and by the American National Standards Institute(ANSI). NCSLI already has numerous passive liaisons with specific committees of professionalorganizations (for example, ASTM), and with the Instrument Society of America and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE), all of whom are already active in education and trainingand outreach. The committee thought, Why reinvent the wheel? The members began making initialcontacts and are looking to pursue active liaisons with organizations that already have effective and/orgrowing outreach programs to learn what they are doing, gain synergy, share ideas, and become moreeffective. An article published in the premiere issue of our updated newsletter, the MetrologistP 5 P inJanuary 2008 Preferences Pa number of our proposed liaisons and champions, including the American

Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The NCSLI VP of Learning and Development attended the2007 ASEE conference and began investigating opportunities to link metrology to the engineeringoutreach efforts.

Current Status and Insights: The metrology session at the 2008 ASEE conference is the result of ourefforts to pursue active liaisons with other professional organizations that are pursuing outreach in thescience, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The third annual InternationalCommittee for Education on Standardization (ICES) conference was held in February 2008. Members of the NCSLI committee prepared outreach resources for use in the Poster Session and made contacts with


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universities and organizations coordinating outreach to many of the same audiences. A number of ideasfor improving NCSLI efforts were identified. Yet, ICES is struggling with many of the same issues asNCSLI. For example, how we get the academic community to the table and how we get adequate fundingfor the efforts we want to pursue are issues not unique to NCSLI. Another common issue is how we getcontent and courses integrated into curricula that are already full. Attendance at the ICES conferencereinforced the need for us to work with other organizations to gain synergy of our efforts.

Educational Measurement Kits. Hands-on experiments are a key activity that can be used in theclassroom to generate interest among students about measurements (and other STEM topics). TheOutreach committee has been researching and reviewing possible measurement kits for NCSLI topurchase and share on a regional basis with our Outreach Ambassadors. An effective program of providing measurement-related activities and kits is already in place in the United Kingdom, sponsoredby the National Physical Laboratory.

Current Status and Insights: A review of possible kits is expected in an upcoming issue of theMetrologist. Metrology Ambassadors have identified resources that would be useful in classrooms. Atthis time, they are sharing ideas and taking equipment that they each think will be interesting to students.Experience in the United Kingdom has been successful. However, NCSLI has not had enough experiencewith providing resources to know what measuring standards and instruments would be best to include inkits.

Virtual Physical Laboratory. In the absence of a laboratory or hands-on kits and resources, teachers areat a disadvantage in teaching such subjects as physics, engineering, and other measurement-relateddisciplines. One of our colleagues in the United Kingdom spent time teaching Physics in India anddeveloping computer tools using National Instruments LabView (no endorsement is implied: theproduct could be developed using other software tools). The resulting software package is called theVirtual Physical Laboratory (VPL).

Current Status and Insights: NCSLI is pursuing funding to license and distribute this softwarethroughout the United States, free to teachers once they attend a short training session on how to integrate

the VPL in the classroom. Again, the United Kingdom has distributed thousands of copies of thissoftware to teachers and students. Yet, having not implemented this idea, NCSLI has no idea of itspotential effectiveness in communicating metrology concepts.

Communications and Marketing are two subcommittees of the Education and Liaison Outreachcommittee. Their work often overlaps, with Marketing and Communications working on the samematerials. For organizational purposes, the marketing function is to provide a liaison to the NCSLIMarketing committee to present an Educational face to ideas about Marketing for NCSLI as a whole(marketing has historically focused on memberships and membership related products and services).

Communications. NCSLI began publicizing its Outreach efforts through conference presentations,conference attendance, publications in media that reach the metrology community, press releases, and a

blog site (see http://www.metrologytraining.org ). Articles have been published in: ASQ's Quality Press,ASQ MQD's The Standard, NCSLI's Metrologist, and Cal Lab International Journal of Metrology .Current status: Numerous articles and a few press releases have been developed and are in process. Ourgoal is to gradually move the communications outside the metrology community to reach a wideraudience.

Careers in Metrology. One of the products NCSLI has created is a communications resource and hand-out for Metrology Ambassadors. It was created within the Communications subcommittee and brandedfor NCSLI use by the Marketing team. It is a one-page summary of careers in metrology. It was


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originally suggested as a resource to fill a gap on career information websites. However, it has now beenpublished in the Metrologist and will also be used as a poster/flyer with metrology scholarshipinformation.

Current Status and Insights: See Appendix C for text which may be used, with acknowledgment toNCSLI, to promote careers in the measurement sciences. NCSLI has just begun providing this resourcein outreach efforts and has received limited feedback to measure whether it is an effective resource.

Marketing. The Education Liaison and Outreach committee has a liaison with the NCSLI Marketingcommittee to ensure that products and services that are developed include education and training outreachmaterials and concepts whenever possible. The Marketing team promotes Outreach activities andproducts that are developed (in addition to all of the Learning and Development resources). Someexamples are: 1. Measurement posters and calendars developed by the Marketing team for NCSLImembers are also useful as Metrology Ambassador handouts. The Marketing team also reviewed theCareers in Metrology flyer and is working to convert it to a two-sided poster, with career information onone side and the Joe D. Simmons Memorial Scholarship poster on the other side (also developed by thecommittee). These items are useful as handouts for Metrology Ambassadors and also as bag stuffers atconferences. 2. The Introduction to Metrology presentation was reviewed and formatted to fit the NCSLIbranding theme. 3. The Marketing team developed colorful 3D rulers for use as outreach handouts.

Current Status and Insights: The Marketing team has a liaison member from the Outreach committee andis pursuing sponsorship of copies of American Society of Engineering Educations (ASEE) Engineering Go for It to distribute as another outreach resource. The liaison between NCSLI Learning andDevelopment and Marketing is still new. Current volunteers are in agreement about the need to have acommon plan and to work together. But, we have limited insight on whether the marketing tools andresources are helping to attract new students to careers in metrology or to NCSLI as a professionalorganization based on these preliminary efforts.

Summary and Conclusions

NCSLI has made progress in the past three-and-a-half years on its mission to alleviate the gaps in themetrology workforce, education, training, and professional and workforce development throughdeveloping a strategic framework, identifying objectives, and selecting specific outreach activities. Thecurrent outreach projects, status, and insights were presented in this paper. A critical component inNCSLIs progress was the 2007 addition of the Outreach subcommittee/committee. Whether or notNCSLI formative efforts are producing measurable results as demonstrated by an influx of new studentsinto metrology careers remains to be determined in the coming years.

Much work remains to be done in our organizations outreach efforts and the support and volunteerstaffing infrastructure needs to be embedded in the organization so that success will be reaped in the long-term independent of the individuals making the changes. We still need to develop intermediate and long-term measures to determine if our efforts are moving us in the right direction. Having effective measures

will also provide us a way to determine if/when we need to modify our approaches. We also need to keepin mind that conducting outreach to teachers and students does not pay off overnight. Long-term successin our education liaison and outreach efforts requires that we have adequate numbers of well-educatedand well-trained staff in the measurement sciences in our calibration and testing laboratories, and that wehave engineers and scientists with a solid foundation in and understanding of the measurement sciences.

Bibliography


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1. NCSLI Strategic Roadmap for Metrology Education and Training, Serving the World of Measurement: Meeting Education and Training Needs of the Future, 2005 Workshop andSymposium, G. Harris, TU http://www.ncsli.org/current_events/ncsli-strategic-roadmap-metrology-training-education.pdf UT

2. NCSLI Education Liaison Outreach, 2007 Measurement Science Conference, 2007 NCSLI Workshopand Symposium, P. Smith, See excerpt: Next Generation Outreach Outline, Appendix A

3. Metrology: The Science of Weights and Measures, 2005. Butler County Community College, P.O.Box 1203 Butler, PA, 16003-1203.

4. Metrology Education and Training NCSLI Taking the Initiative, Cal Lab , The International Journalof Metrology, Oct-Nov-Dec 2007, C. Grachanen pp. 31-33. Article also included in The Standard ,Vol. 21, No. 4, The Newsletter of the Measurement Quality Division, American Society for Quality,December 2007, C. Grachanen pp. 9-10.

5. You Can Be a Metrology Ambassador! Metrologist , January 2008, C. Grachanen, pp. 22-24.Appendix B.


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Appendix A: Next Generation Education Outreach Measurements, Metric, Standards, and Quality (updated 2008)

A. Outreach to Career Counselorsa. Career Awareness Campaign- career vignettes, aptitude and interest survey for students

(Would I Like Metrology?), student profiles (college age), expert profiles, job profiles, linksto schools with metrology programs, web forums and chats with selected experts; distributedprinted media to schools, libraries, counselors

b. Define/Describe Career Paths (build on SOC/OOH); add career profile into careerpublications and journals (e.g., NSTA All in a Days Work)

c. Create career fair resources and other multimedia tools to encourage study in these areas:posters, interactive CDs (video game element), video updates (work with Marketing team)

d. Dovetail with other career pathway outreach efforts where there is overlap with measurementscience (e.g., medical, nursing, pharmaceutical)

B. Outreach to Elementary, Middle, and High School Students (different materials for each level)a. In areas of math/scienceb. Provide teacher tools; focus on real world applicationsc. Talk to schools have sample lesson plans for modules, presentations, hands-on experiments,

props, and stories to share; create an on-line pool of presentations that measurement peoplecan share with each other and use; have a speakers bureau of willing metrology professionalsthat can be contacted; Measurement theme kits that can be donated to schools libraries orscience/math departments that contain all supplies and lesson plans needed for hands-onclassroom activity [could also be for individual study]

d. Help with science fairs mentor students interested in measurements; create examples andmodels and topic lists

e. Offer open houses and tours in laboratoriesf. Provide instructional opportunities and industry/government internships for teachersg. Create table-top displays that can be used for career daysh. Have school partnership programs (adopt a school); after school science projects and family

science nights

i. Develop a NCSLI National Science Fair Best Measurement Award j. Outreach to alternative education venues frequented by target groups such as regional science

centers, libraries, and museumsk. Target science and math magnet schools or other career academy programsl. Measurement Bus- traveling interactive laboratory; learn by doingm. Focus efforts by region; follow cohort of students through consecutive school years to

reinforce exposureC. Outreach to Vo-tech, Community Colleges & Universities

a. Promotion of metrology programsb. Sharing of curriculum content, texts, and resources among metrology programs; identify best

practices and text books; benchmark program content (assessment and feedback); create alist-server for dialog among schools, scholarship providers, industry liaisons

c. Embed metrology concepts into Engineering, Physics, and Technical Management coursesand programs; assess gaps; (look to Mexicos Centro Nationale de Metrologia (CENAM) fora model); link with other organizations such as teachengineering.org

d. Provide talks to engineering students about measurements and standardse. Offer internship programs; create a model internal mentoring program that corporations and

government can adopt; internship projects should feed into NCSLI annual conference (e.g.,poster session)

f. Create Professional Development opportunities for teachers; Two components: Year roundenrichment and summer residential/externship (secondment)


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g. Outreach to Institutions with Teacher Education Programs (easier to integrate new curriculummaterial to novice teachers)

D. Liaison Program.a. Link with standards organizations (e.g., ANSI, ASTM, ICES) to provide free standards to

students and schools; include link on websites; StandardsLearn.org (free, interactive, on-linetraining about standards); Indicate to ANSI the areas of expertise where we would be willingto serve as a metrology standards resource to university programs

b. Link with Federal agencies that have education outreach programs to focus on our needs andcollaborate on efforts (e.g., NASA, NOAA, NSA, EPA, USDA, NSF)

c. Link with teacher and educational associations to focus needs and collaborate on outreachefforts (NSTA, PLTW, SACNAS, ASEE, AAPT, IEEE, ISA, STEP, ASME, U.S. ScienceOlympiad)

E. Scholarshipsa. Jointly promote scholarship availabilityb. Provide scholarship resources to schoolsc. Link with MSC and ASQ/MQD to sponsor the Simmons Scholarshipd. Provide scholarships for donated funds; use those we have alreadye. Promote scholarship winners widely

F. Conferencesa. Offer student paper sessions with sponsored registration; provide an opportunity to publishb. Offer poster sessionsc. Offer a discounted or free attendance for studentsd. Have a mentoring program for student attendeese. Offer exhibit space to highlight programs

G. Section Meetingsa. Identify instructors/professors of courses/programs and invite them and their students to

region/section meetings; sponsor registration if there are feesb. Invite students to talk at local meetings

H. Membershipsa. Offer a free individual membership to students graduating from a supported program

(graduation gifts/packages)b. Promote the student memberships through marketing encourage posting of resumes from

graduatesI. Grants

a. Create models of partnership for developing courses/coursework or doing collaborativeresearch studies and obtaining funding

b. Get Federal support for outreach efforts in math/science/engineering that can be directed tomeasurements

c. Find ways to contribute equipment to schools (shipping costs are issues)J. E-Learning Opportunities

a. Develop basic age-appropriate materials in metrology that can be accessed on line forstudents and for instructors; link to other teacher-tool portals

b. Web forums and chats with selected expertsK. Corporate Sponsorship Activities

a. Internshipsb. Teacher Sabbaticals (summer development opportunities)c. Research Opportunities for students

Documents

The Standard 16 Dec08