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Happy 4th of July from the Office of Weights and Measures! OWM is pleased to showcase a number of new initiatives, publications, and ongoing technical projects and personnel updates in this issue of Measurement Matters. We welcomed our new NIST Director and Honorary NCWM President; found ourselves in the news, being mentioned by The Late Show TV Host Stephen Colbert; welcomed back in-person Regional Measurement Assurance Program (RMAP) training; and we're excited about an upcoming Digital NIST Stakeholder Workshop and more!
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Welcome to our New NIST Director and Honorary NCWM President
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Laurie E. Locascio as the 17th Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Under Secretary for Standards and Technology for the U.S. Department of Commerce. As the NIST Director, Dr. Locascio will also serve as the Honorary President for the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM).
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Investigating Coriolis Mass Flow Meters as Field Reference Meters – Compressed Natural Gas
ommercial metering systems are ubiquitous in the commercial marketplace (to dispense liquified products, from gas and water to food products and agricultural chemicals). Customers and businesses alike rely on these meters to monitor and deliver their products consistently over time and across a range of locations.
NIST OWM has been working with the State weights and measure programs to explore the use of “master meters” or Coriolis mass flow meters as the next generation of field test standards.
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In the summer of 2021, the NIST Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) partnered with the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) and States to develop a national survey on 20 lb cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or propane. Since the survey’s launch, over 20,000 LPG (propane) 20 lb cylinders have been tested...
 Digital NIST Stakeholder Workshop
NIST is anticipating future trends in metrology with the Digital NIST project. This will modernize transmission methods for calibration certificates and SRM Certificates of Analysis and may have future implications for our customers. NIST would like your input on your prospective calibration services and instrumentation needs as we develop solutions. We invite stakeholder participation in an upcoming workshop to help in the development of digitalization solutions.
Regional Measurement Assurance Program (RMAP) Returns to OWM’s In-Person Training
The NIST OWM’s Laboratory Metrology Program resumed in-person Regional Measurement Assurance Program (RMAP) training events after more than two years. Annual in-person RMAP training events have been a long-standing NIST OWM activity to support State Weights and Measures Laboratories, dating back to the 1990s. Participants from the Southeastern Measurement Assurance Program (SEMAP), Western Regional Assurance Program (WRAP), and Northeastern Measurement Assurance Program (NEMAP) were able to gather in their regions, network, share experiences, and receive training in various metrology topics.
NCWM Annual Conference Report Available Online
The Report of the 105th & 106th National Conference on Weights and Measures is available online here. The archive of past NCWM Annual Conference Reports is also available online here.
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OWM in the News |
 OWM Featured on CNN Podcast and by Stephen Colbert of The Late Show
CNN’s Margins of Error podcast recently published an episode titled “Why Americans Won’t Give an Inch on Metric”. Host Harry Enten “goes the extra ‘yard’ to find out why the United States is one of the few countries that hasn’t gone metric”. OWM’s own Elizabeth Benham, Metric Program Coordinator, was featured in the program. Click here to listen to or see the transcript of the podcast episode!
The Late Show TV Host Stephen Colbert, during a Paramount advertiser’s event at NYC Carnegie Hall this past May, mentioned OWM in a bit of good fun sarcastic humor targeted at his employer. In poking fun at what he finds to be a boring lineup of shows with government acronyms, he mentioned NIST OWM as a potential fit to the lineup of shows: “And coming this fall, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Office of Weights and Measures as you have never seen them before in NISTOWM when the scales of justice need balancing, just you wait.” While the work isn’t boring to us, we don’t mind the mention! Read more about the event recap and remarks here.
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OWM Staff Highlights |
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OWM Welcomes New Associate, Jan Konijnenburg
Jan joined the Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) in April 2022 as an associate in the position of scientific engineer, where he assists with the work on field reference meters. Jan collaborates with and provides support to the NIST OWM technical staff in the development of standards, test procedures, and training materials and provides technical guidance to weights and measures officials, industry, and the public sector to facilitate the uniform adoption and implementation of legal metrology standards in the U.S.
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OWM Welcomes NIST Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow
Travis White Jr., “TJ,” is a college student currently studying Mechanical Engineering at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. TJ is working a full-time “virtual” schedule during the Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) internship with research advisor, Elizabeth Benham, to develop and publish Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) resources focused on the International System of Units (SI) and measurement science.
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