Navy Metrology Engineering Education Outreach: Inspiring and Educating Students about Careers in Metrology

John V. Fishell; Arman Hovakemian; Douglass Sugg; Elizabeth Gentry

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Conference: 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: June 10, 2012
Start Date: June 10, 2012
End Date: June 13, 2012
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Laboratory Exercises for Energy, Power, and Industrial Applications
Tagged Division: Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies
Page Count: 13
Page Numbers: 25.968.1 - 25.968.13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--21725
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/21725
Download Count: 614

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Paper Authors

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John V. Fishell Science and Technology Education Partnership

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John V. Fishell retired from his position as Technical Director of NSWC, Corona Division, Corona, Calif., in 2008, after 36 years of service. He holds a Juris Doctorate in Law from California Southern Law School and a B.S.E.E. from the University of Texas, El Paso, along with two certificates in management from the University of Texas McCombs Business School. Fishell has been an active participant and supporter on the non-profit Science and Technology Education Partnership (STEP) since its inception 12 years ago and a member of the STEP Board of Directors. He served as the STEP Vice-President for more than five years and was named STEP President last year. STEP has a STEM Outreach mission to inspire students to careers in STEM fields.

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Arman Hovakemian Naval Surface Warfare Center

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Arman Hovakemian, Measurement Science Department Head, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division, is the Head of the Measurement Science Department of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division, where he directs the technical operations of the Navy’s METCAL Program. The Measurement Science Department is the Scientific and Technical Agent for the Navy’s Metrology and Calibration (METCAL) program, Hovakemian attended California State University, Northridge, where he earned his bachelor's of science degree in electrical engineering in 1981. Hovakemian has taken various management and business courses at the University of Texas, Austin, as well as at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind.

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Douglass Sugg Naval Surface Warfare Center

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Elizabeth Gentry National Conference of Standards Laboratories International

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Elizabeth Gentry serves as the Metric Coordinator with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Office of Weights and Measures (OWM), Laws and Metric program, where she provides information and assistance to federal, state and local government, business, industry, educational institutions, and the public concerning the International System of Units (SI, commonly known as the metric system) and identifies opportunities for increasing the understanding and use of the SI measurement system in trade and commerce. Additional responsibilities at NIST include ensuring management system compliance to ISO/IEC 17025, General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories and NIST HB 143, State Weights and Measures Laboratories Program Handbook by 55 state and county standard calibration laboratories and serving as the NIST OWM Proficiency Testing Program Quality Manager. She is Co-editor of NIST SP 1038, the International System of Units (SI)-Conversion Factors for General Use. Gentry, as the Chair of the National Conference of Standards Laboratories International (NCSLI, a professional society) 164 Education Liaison and Outreach committee, coordinates Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education outreach to develop increased awareness of measurement science principles, metrology careers, and strategies to increase new metrologists entering the workforce. More information about metrology careers can be found at http://www.MetrologyCareers.com/.

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Abstract

Navy Metrology Engineering Education Outreach: Inspiring and Educating Students about Careers in MetrologyThe Navy’s Metrology and Calibration (METCAL) Program is essential to effective operations,important to the Navy’s acquisition processes, and critical for proper and effective equipmentmaintenance and repair. The Navy could not operate effectively without a sound METCALsystem in place. The Navy’s Metrology Engineering Center (MEC) and associated laboratoryhas a continuing need to hire engineers and scientists to engage in executing and maintaining theNavy’s METCAL system that supports the Navy worldwide. Unfortunately, it is extremely rareto find a graduating engineer or scientist that is aware of metrology. Typically, the onlyexceptions are graduates who have served in the military or worked as technicians beforeattending college.Metrology, or the Science of Measurement, is not a commonly known career field. In fact,metrology is seldom studied or discussed at any level of public or private education from gradeschool through college. The Navy’s Metrology Engineering Center and Measurement Scienceand Technology Laboratory has been involved in numerous partnerships and activities in aneffort to educate students, teachers, professors, and counselors at all levels in the educationalsystem about metrology as a career field. MEC’s STEM Outreach activities have been used tospread the metrology message along with partnering with colleges and universities.This paper will discuss many of the efforts that MEC has used to educate people about the fieldof metrology. The essence of the Navy Metrology and Calibration Program including its vastlaboratory structure will be provided as a foundation to illustrate skill sets and disciplinesinvolved generally with metrology. Then, MEC’s partnerships and other activities to educatepeople about metrology and to inspire students to consider metrology as a career field will bepresented. Specific examples of projects with professional societies and other organizationsinvolved with metrology will be highlighted. Included will be MEC’s various STEM outreachefforts highlighting metrology that align with DoD’s STEM Outreach Strategic Plan as well aspartnerships developed with local colleges and universities. The intent of the paper will be toprovide a basic understanding of metrology as an important career field, show ongoing efforts toeducate students about metrology, provide some examples of existing basic metrology resourcematerial, and inspire discussion about including metrology in early engineering and scienceclasses.

Citation
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Fishell, J. V., & Hovakemian, A., & Sugg, D., & Gentry, E. (2012, June), Navy Metrology Engineering Education Outreach: Inspiring and Educating Students about Careers in Metrology Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21725

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -         Navy Metrology Engineering Education Outreach: Inspiring and              Educating Students about Careers in MetrologyThe Navy’s Metrology and Calibration (METCAL) Program is essential to effective operations,important to the Navy’s acquisition processes, and critical for proper and effective equipmentmaintenance and repair. The Navy could not operate effectively without a sound METCALsystem in place. The Navy’s Metrology Engineering Center (MEC) and associated laboratoryhas a continuing need to hire engineers and scientists to engage in executing and maintaining theNavy’s METCAL system that supports the Navy worldwide. Unfortunately, it is extremely rareto find a graduating engineer or scientist that is aware of metrology. Typically, the onlyexceptions are graduates who have served in the military or worked as technicians beforeattending college.Metrology, or the Science of Measurement, is not a commonly known career field. In fact,metrology is seldom studied or discussed at any level of public or private education from gradeschool through college. The Navy’s Metrology Engineering Center and Measurement Scienceand Technology Laboratory has been involved in numerous partnerships and activities in aneffort to educate students, teachers, professors, and counselors at all levels in the educationalsystem about metrology as a career field. MEC’s STEM Outreach activities have been used tospread the metrology message along with partnering with colleges and universities.This paper will discuss many of the efforts that MEC has used to educate people about the fieldof metrology. The essence of the Navy Metrology and Calibration Program including its vastlaboratory structure will be provided as a foundation to illustrate skill sets and disciplinesinvolved generally with metrology. Then, MEC’s partnerships and other activities to educatepeople about metrology and to inspire students to consider metrology as a career field will bepresented. Specific examples of projects with professional societies and other organizationsinvolved with metrology will be highlighted. Included will be MEC’s various STEM outreachefforts highlighting metrology that align with DoD’s STEM Outreach Strategic Plan as well aspartnerships developed with local colleges and universities. The intent of the paper will be toprovide a basic understanding of metrology as an important career field, show ongoing efforts toeducate students about metrology, provide some examples of existing basic metrology resourcematerial, and inspire discussion about including metrology in early engineering and scienceclasses.
AU  - John V. Fishell
AU  - Arman Hovakemian
AU  - Douglass Sugg
AU  - Elizabeth Gentry
CY  - San Antonio, Texas
DA  - 2012/06/10
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Navy Metrology Engineering Education Outreach: Inspiring and Educating Students about Careers in Metrology
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/21725
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--21725
ER  -