Some things are just meant to be, apparently. Sept. 23, 2014, marked an interesting waypoint in the career of someone concerned about standards of measurement, because on that day, I became a standard reference human.

Having started working for the (then) National Bureau of Standards (NBS) almost 28 years ago, this seems to me to be a significant achievement. For those who don’t know, NBS is the predecessor to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Commerce Dept. that promotes measurement standards and conducts scientifc research. NIST is also the home of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, and the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, an interagency team with participation from all federal agencies involved in U.S. manufacturing.

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