NCSLI Symposium to Focus on Metrology Education
Martin Rowe, Senior Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 7/21/2005 9:05:00 AM
Is the metrology profession in trouble? According to conventional wisdom in the industry, it is.
To address the issue, the NCSL International 2005 Workshop & Symposium (Washington, DC August 6-12, www.ncsli.org/conference) will give extra attention to metrology education and will solicit input from the metrology community on where the problems lie. With the symposium approaching, I spoke with Gary Jennings of Northrop Grumman, the director of the NCSLI 2005 conference portion of the symposium and with NIST's Georgia Harris, NCSLI VP for education and training, to learn more about how this year's symposium is addressing the education issue.
On August 6, 7, and 12, the NCSLI Workshop and Symposium will feature 20 tutorials on topics such as fundamentals of temperature measurements, uncertainty, and lab management. August 8, 9, 10, and 11 will feature technical sessions on the latest topics in metrology and calibration. "We want to provide engineers with information and training," said Jennings, "so that engineers will feel they need to attend."
The boost in education and training comes from the belief that the metrology profession is losing critical experience. As Harris noted, "Longtime metrologists are retiring and few young engineers enter the profession. The average age of engineers and technicians in the calibration field is rising, which is a trend in the engineering field as a whole."
To address the problem, Harris and others are developing a strategic roadmap for metrology education and training. To gather information, the NCSLI will have a kiosk at the symposium where attendees can have their say. "At the conference, we will try to gather input on critical drivers," said Harris. "We have surveys where people can answer questionnaires and make suggestions. We're also looking for agreement or disagreement on what people think are the important issues in metrology education."
The surveys are based on presentations given at the 2005 Measurement Science Conference (www.msc-conf.com) and at a 2005 NCSLI board meeting. A loss of talent has come up frequently as a topic at these two meetings, and the survey should provide NCSLI with a better understanding of the problem.
NCSLI's overall goal is to make sure that it meets the metrology community's educational needs. For example, the NCSLI plans to increase its metrology and standards outreach so that managers and the general public understand the need for calibration. The symposium will also have four sessions relating to education, and in one of those, Harris will discuss the strategic roadmap.
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