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Finding and using measurement science resources
Metrology (measurement science) is an interesting and unusual profession. Some practitioners design measurement systems or instruments. Others perform calibrations. Still others do basic research into underlying scientific principles.
Considering the large variety of people in the field, you can imagine how broad the subject matter is. Metrology, after all, borrows concepts from physics, math (mostly statistics), chemistry, all kinds of engineering, and even a little biology and medicine at times.
Measurements are everywhere, but measurement scientists are few. And most curricula in technical fields don't even mention metrology. How, then, do metrologists get an education? This topic is of particular interest at this time because the ASQ Certification Board recently approved the development of a certified calibration technician program and will need to identify education and training concerning the program's body of knowledge.
The well-taught metrologist
Teaching metrology, I frequently meet people with varied technical backgrounds, often in quality, who were thrust into metrology by some twist of fate. The most typical student says, "I'm the quality manager at my company, and I've just been given responsibility for the metrology activity. I'm here to find out what I'm supposed to do." These people come from diverse backgrounds in engineering, math and science and, like other professionals who become metrologists, have had very little exposure to this important technical field.
A metrologist with a broad, wellrounded education should have a strong grounding in physics and applied statistics (very similar to statistics in the quality field). He or she should also have specialized knowledge in several metrology and engineering areas-the most common being mechanical and dimensional measurements, electrical measurements, time, mass, temperature, and physical areas such as flow and pressure.
In many cases, the understanding of more...