NIST Seminars

Abstract: 

Fundamental measurement concepts are presented as applicable for any field of metrology: Who’s Who in Metrology and Accreditation, SI Basis for Measurements, Essential Elements of Traceability, Method Validation (Documented Procedures), Technical Competence (Proficiency Testing), Calibration Intervals, Measurement Assurance, Measurement Uncertainty, Calibration Certificates and Evaluations, Supplier Evaluation, and Assessing Traceability. Several sections will discuss risk management philosophies and approaches. Participants will obtain and know how to use several simple tools, job aids, and references to improve laboratory operations.  This session is applicable for participants new to metrology, new to metrology management, as a refresher of fundamental concepts with a high level view, or for anyone responsible for providing on-the-job training to new metrologists to help identify key concepts and prepare someone new to metrology for a successful career. 
 
Activities and quizzes are integrated into each module with full participation expected. Participants must bring 4 documents that will be integrated in evaluation activities:  1) an example of a calibration certificate from their own laboratory (redacted if needed), 2) a calibration certificate from a supplier/vendor, 3) the laboratory Scope for the participant’s laboratory and 4) the laboratory Scope from the supplier/vendor of the certificate brought as item 2.  Specific NIST OWM procedures that are referenced are posted here (https://www.nist.gov/pml/weights-and-measures/laboratory-metrology/calibration-procedures) and include: GMP 11, GMP 13, GLP 1, SOP 1, SOP 29, and SOP 30; pre-work reading and familiarity is a good idea.  
 
Note: this is a two-day course, with no specific measurement applications, and while similar to, it is not in alignment with the NIST OWM 5-day Fundamentals of Metrology seminar, is not a substitute for the successful completion of that seminar and will not meet subsequent course pre-requisites (such as the NIST Mass Seminar or Volume Seminar). See the full course, Table of Contents and examples of detailed learning objectives for overlapping topics that will be covered here: http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/labmetrology/fundamental-metrology.cfm. 
 
At the end of this session, participants will be able to: identify and use reference materials to ensure quality, accurate, and traceable measurement results; explain highlights and key concepts of each topic to each other and to your managers and demonstrate how these topics fit in to a management system using ISO/IEC 17025:2017 as the basis.

Seminar Developers Biography: 

Micheal Hicks serves as Program Leader of the Laboratory Metrology Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Physical Measurement Laboratory, Office of Weights and Measures Division.  He received training in Metrology with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where he worked in the Standards Laboratory in Sterling, VA for the National Weather Service (NWS).  He has a B.S. degree in Mathematics and a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences.  He is a published author in several peer-reviewed journals in the use of observing methods to measure atmospheric conditions.  As Program Leader of the Laboratory Metrology Program, he supports the mission of ensuring the uniformity and traceability of the US legal metrology system to the international system of units (SI) by providing metrology training and proficiency testing opportunities and Recognition (i.e., Accreditation) to legal metrology laboratories. 

contact: Micheal Hicks, micheal.hicks@nist.gov 

Mr. Ruefenacht has specialized in metrology for nearly 30 years.   He received much of his metrology training at the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) and is currently a part-time instructor at NIST on topics of measurement science, measurement traceability, and measurement uncertainty. Mr. Ruefenacht is an ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation lead and technical assessor and is also coordinating, analyzing, and reporting proficiency testing for NIST. Mr. Ruefenacht is a contributor to numerous national and international technical standards, including accreditation body policies and guidance documents.  Additionally, he is an instructor for NIST OWM technical measurement parameters and ASCLD/LAB forensic metrology and uncertainty seminars and courses.  He also teaches principles of measurement uncertainty and measurement assurance techniques at various international conferences and forensic laboratories. Mr. Ruefenacht serves as a consultant to Scientific Working Groups (SWG) and to various accreditation bodies. Mr. Ruefenacht resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.  He is actively involved as a volunteer in nonprofit organizations and is an internationally recognized assistance-dog and canine scent-discrimination trainer. 

Abstract: 

This NIST short course covers the propagation of measurement uncertainty using the methods outlined in the JCGM Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement from a statistical perspective. The short course will provide participants with a working knowledge of the computational methods needed to assess measurement uncertainty, hands-on experience in the application of these methods, and scientific and statistical insight into the interpretation of the results. 
 
The Hands-on Workshop on Assessing and Reporting Measurement Uncertainty is a 3-day course that will be held at the Measurement Science Conference in Anaheim, CA. The course consists of lectures, short exercises, and hands-on applications covering many aspects of the propagation of uncertainty using examples from NIST work.  
The exercises and hands-on applications will use functions for uncertainty analysis from the software package, metRology, written for the open-source R statistical computing environment. The functions can be accessed directly in R (use of RStudio is recommended), or via an Excel graphical user interface that is available as a free Add-In, metRology for Microsoft Excel . Participants should bring their own laptops, if possible. A laptop for use during the short course can be provided (sharing may be required). If you would like to borrow a laptop, please let one of the instructors know as soon as possible. All software except Microsoft Excel is free. 
 
Topics Covered

• Importance of uncertainty analysis
• Different statistical approaches for uncertainty analysis
• Essentials of the GUM approach
• Measurement functions
• Type A and Type B methods for evaluating standard uncertainties
• Degrees of freedom
• Sensitivity coefficients
• Propagation of standard uncertainties
• Effective degrees of freedom
• Expanded uncertainties
• Software for propagation of uncertainty
• Interpretation of results 

contact: Will Guthrie, william.guthrie@nist.gov 

Seminar Developers Biography: 

Will received a B.A. degree in mathematics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, in 1987 and an M.S. degree in statistics from The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, in 1990. He is currently a mathematical statistician in the Statistical Engineering Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD. Since joining NIST in 1989, he has collaborated with scientists and engineers on applied research in a wide range of areas including semiconductor and microelectronics applications, building materials and fire research and chemical science. His statistical interests include uncertainty assessment, Bayesian statistics, design of experiments, calibration, modern regression methods, and statistical computation. 

Jack B. Prothero received a B.S. in Mathematics from the College of William & Mary in 2016 and a Ph.D. in Statistics & Operations Research from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2021. He recently joined the Statistical Engineering Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology as a mathematical statistician. His research interests include object-oriented data analysis, statistical methodology, and data integration. 

Abstract: 

This seminar provides an overview and and details of time and frequency metrology. It focuses on fundamental concepts, measurement techniques, metrological traceability, and data and measurement uncertainty analysis.   

Lecture topics covered will include: 

• Fundamentals of Time and Frequency and basic terminology
• Quartz Oscillators
• Atomic Oscillators (rubidium, cesium, and hydrogen maser)
• Laboratory Instrumentation 
• Measuring Frequency Accuracy in the Time Domain
• Estimating Stability with the Allan deviation and related statistics 
• Stopwatch and Timer Calibrations
• Traceability 
• Uncertainty Analysis for time and frequency calibrations
• GPS/GNSS and GNSS-Disciplined Clocks and Oscillators
• The Network Time Protocol (NTP)
• Applications of Time and Frequency Measurements (telecommunications, electric power, stock market trading)

For additional technical information, contact Andrew Novick (303) 497-3378 or novick@nist.gov 

Seminar Developers Biography: 

Andrew Novick has worked in the Time and Frequency Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 1998 and as an engineering student employee preceding that. He is an electrical engineer and has worked with electronics for atomic clocks and measurement systems. He also manages and maintains the UTC(NIST) remote clock and oscillator calibration services and other comparisons with low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite timing and network time protocol (NTP) measurements in the Time Realization and Distribution Group. Novick also created and runs the national web clock www.time.gov and is the Quality Manager for the Time and Frequency Division and has authored or co-authored over 35 papers related to time and frequency metrology. 

Ben Pera is an engineer in the Time Realization and Distribution Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). His work is centered around system and hardware design for traceable time transfer. These activities include GNSS time transfer, TWSTFT, time over fiber, and local time and frequency distribution and measurement.