OWM Honors RMAPs Proficiency Testing Coordinators' Contributions

The OWM Laboratory Metrology group operates an ISO 17043 compliant Proficiency Testing (PT) program that assesses the effectiveness of the metrology training efforts for the state laboratory participants and the traceability of the state metrology laboratories to the SI through NIST. Participants of the PT program include federal and commercial laboratories across the U.S., in addition to state legal metrology laboratories.

OWM acknowledges the hard work of the many regional volunteers of the OWM PT program. In particular, OWM showed gratitude to the PT Coordinators during this year's NIST Handbook 143 Annual Regional Measurement Assurance Program (RMAP) meetings from March to September 2023. The role of the PT Coordinator is a highly important one -- the metrologist is responsible for planning, guiding, and coordinating a group of fellow metrologists to facilitate the movement of proficiency test artifacts across a region and gather resulting calibration certificates for statistical review and reporting. The coordinators also provide informal mentorship and guidance to proficiency test participants. They are able to exchange ideas and learn different processes and reporting formats from participating labs. NIST OWM Laboratory Metrology program is grateful for their assistance-in-kind to the program, as the PT program would not flourish without their cooperation and dedication.

At the RMAP meetings, the OWM Laboratory Metrology program was able to provide Certificates of Appreciation to the 2023 PT coordinators, as they played a critical role in the concurrence of 16 PTs across the country with 13 being completed and reported on during the RMAP meetings. The PTs conducted consisted of various mass and volume echelons and other parameters such as stopwatch and tuning fork calibrations. There was a total of 9,908 evaluation points with a success rate of 99.36 %.

We are most appreciative and proud of the PT Coordinators listed here by RMAP region and meeting schedule. Congratulations on your achievement!