WHo actually has a metrology degree not just military experience?

[adamt]

Measure,

You must be a oldtimer!  Good luck finding an Accredited cal lab that will give you a cert that is 99.73 or K=3.  Tolorances are so tight now that you are doing good to be 4 to 1 now days instead of 10 to 1.

. . . . . with a approximately 95% confidence level with a coverage factor of K=2

'~95% confidence with a coverage factor of k = 2' means 1 in 20 calibrations are possibly bogus! In the old days (e.g., during the height of the US Space Program, when 99.74% or k = 3 was the norm), this would be totally unacceptable, due to the low confidence! ~2.5 failures per thousand was the norm then or about 20 times less likely than today to be erroneous!

[measure]

Measure,

You must be a oldtimer!  Good luck finding an Accredited cal lab that will give you a cert that is 99.73 or K=3.  Tolorances are so tight now that you are doing good to be 4 to 1 now days instead of 10 to 1.

. . . . . with a approximately 95% confidence level with a coverage factor of K=2

'~95% confidence with a coverage factor of k = 2' means 1 in 20 calibrations are possibly bogus! In the old days (e.g., during the height of the US Space Program, when 99.74% or k = 3 was the norm), this would be totally unacceptable, due to the low confidence! ~2.5 failures per thousand was the norm then or about 20 times less likely than today to be erroneous!

I guess I am an "old timer," in somebody's book. I remember when a 'digital readout' was a vertical row of numbers, each individually backlit (depending on the input frequency), with an incandescent bulb (HP 524A counter). Or the very first digital multimeter commercially produced, employing a servo motor to spin what was essentially a clone of a car odometer as a means to indicate the input voltage (Non-Linear Systems X-1). Or using the K-3 pot (L&N 7553) to measure DC voltage at the then unheard of uncertainty of ±0.01%! What has changed in the metrology world? Now we're all statisticians!

[Hawaii596]

I don't have time to read the thread to see how it wandered to the above topic area.  But when I worked at RCA Automated Systems, there was an elderly gentleman (he may still be alive, so out of respect for his privacy, I won't mention his name).  I remember he had run a high level research department.  He used to show us his patent folder (it was really full - so the guy was a true genius type).  His was one of the names on the patent for LORAN-A at RCA.  His was the name on the patent for the original rotating ball flow meter on the old fashioned gas pumps of yesteryear.  But the relevant point for this thread was that he had a Bachelors degree from George Washington University in Metrology Engineering, which I don't believe they have offered in a few decades.  Really cool guy.  He lost his department in the 70s when he refused tofalsify time sheets.  They gave him a desk in the calibration lab, at a huge aerospace R&D site with nearly 20,000 instruments in the database.  Every time someone bought new test equipment, he had to approve it and he reviewed what model was being bought to try and standardize where possible and avoid unnecessary duplication.  Great lab to work at, but long gone.

[IRAET]

Colleges are beginning to consider our military education a degree. The best advice is to pursue an EE, physics or ME degree if right out of military and you think you need degree to become employed.
In industry to stamp a drawing and approve a P&ID print a PE is required, that takes years of apprenticeship under a PE (professional engineer).Jr. ME and EE are only CAD operators in most companies. If you want to get dirty and actually build something Electrical Controls trade is a good place to start.
What I look for with a contractor for automation or instrumentation is ISA background or Electrical I&E experience with a Journeymans license. Many degreed EE' s are not worth it. Military training is best for some types of calibrations and especially the difficult working conditions surrounding field measurement. My employers consider me degreed as well as our local college. I am a Navy ET, Master Electrician, they call me a field or Service Engineer in the instrument and measurement industry. I have taught in college, upper level classes and I have been employed or contracted in the measurement industry for past 20 years.  If you know how to read a manual and can turn a screw driver in correct direction understand troubleshooting; basic logic and can write a letter on a computer you dont need degree. With military calibration background you can...Get to work! The frat boys in charge rarely know what side of the earth the sun comes up on they need your help.

[CalLabSolutions]

hmm.. 6% with a degree.. I am going to start telling people I am part of the 6% precenters.. Not quite as cool as being on of the 1% precenters but hey, what geek club is ever cool.

[griff61]

hmm.. 6% with a degree.. I am going to start telling people I am part of the 6% precenters.. Not quite as cool as being on of the 1% precenters but hey, what geek club is ever cool.

You have a Metrology Degree?

[CalLabSolutions]

Griff, you caught me..  No, I don't think any one offers a Metrology Degree.  Most the people I know in this industry have a Physics Degree.   

Me well I officially have a business management degree.  But I also have enough classes to have a masters degree.  University of Maryland would accept any CS class in their Business Degree program.  So I am more of a CS major with some business management classes.

Mike

[beercan]

Like many, I have an Associates Degree Applied Science, Georgia Military College.  Many associated college courses, i.e.computer programming, but none connected towards a BS.  (a lot could be made of that).  A lot has been made of having a Metrology Degree, but no one seems to really offer one.  Too many parameters involved for something very few really know what they are.

[ck454ss]

Got the Associates but havent found a 4yr program.

School I attended.  Quick and easy really for any PMEL Tech.

http://www.centralgatech.edu/catalog/section6/te/ME13.htm

[USMCPMEL]

Do you find that degree usefull? Or is it just a piece of paper? Were you able to get that doine in under 2 years?

[Skippy]

Not to belittle the work anybody has done to get their certification, whatever that may be.  I know those of us that have attended military schools worked pretty hard to get to where we are and I'm sure that people that have "attended" Central Georgia Tech have worked hard as well.  IMO the military programs are waaay better than any "degree" you can get from this esteemed facility of higher learning.  As we have all discussed in theis forum before, there is a distinct difference between commercial cal and military cal programs and I believe this program is better preperation for a commercial path.  I have never found the need to have a degree in metrology important, and I have been on both sides of the hiring process, but some school is important along with experience.  The degree isn't going to get you more money when it comes down to a job in calibration.

[ck454ss]

The degree isn't going to get you more money when it comes down to a job in calibration.

I would disagree.  It depends on where you work.  If you work as a "3rd Party Cal House" it may not make a difference but if you do cals internally for some companies a degree is the difference between being, lets say, a "Test Tech" or "Test Engineer".  In my company thats could be as much as a 40k pay difference. 

@USMCPMEL-Yes I found it usefull but much of it I already new but it has allowed me to get into many "Front Doors".  Yes you can do it in less than 2 years.  Depends on the school load you want to take.