The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has been invaluable to the U.S. measurement industry by developing calibration techniques for equipment used for large volume portable metrology. The United Kingdom’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has made a further commitment to address the lack of training in dimensional metrology. The NPL has developed a multilevel training program dedicated to this goal and is currently looking for a way to bring the training to North America. The Coordinate Metrology Society’s (CMS) successful collaboration with NIST and NPL has helped to link industry concerns with the researchers who refine our understanding of measurement science. In 2011, CMS plans to expand practical knowledge sharing by forming a liaison relationship with The National Conference of Standards Laboratories International.

The CMS Certification Committee is currently working to assemble an Academic Subcommittee composed of faculty from universities, community colleges, and trade schools who have coursework, research, laboratories, or industrial outreach programs related to industrial metrology or 3-D imaging. Pat Hammett, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute Automotive Analysis Division, has agreed to lead this effort.  The CMS Academic Subcommittee’s first meeting will be held at the 2011 CMSC, coming up in July 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona.

The committee is tentatively planning to host a poster presentation session for academic programs and will offer a monetary and publishing prize for the best presentation.  A call for poster presentations will be released soon with details on the event.  If you are interested in participating in the CMS academic subcommittee, please contact us at education@cmsc.org.

CMS members have a global influence on the advancement of metrology! On the second day of the 2010 Large Volume Metrology Conference in the United Kingdom, four of the five presentations were previously presented at CMSC 2010, including three white papers that were published in the Autumn issue of The Journal of the CMSC.

Through our collaborative efforts, the Coordinate Metrology Society has the opportunity to continue to positively influence the large scale metrology industry. Lend your voice to the discussion by joining our fine organization.  We also encourage you to submit an abstract in our upcoming “Call for Papers” to share your direct technical experience with the community.