William A. Wildhack Award

The Wildhack Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of metrology and measurement science, consistent with the goals of NCSL International.

The award was established in 1970 in honor and recognition of William Wildhack, a long-time employee of the U.S. National Bureau of Standards, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Mr. Wildhack was not only very instrumental in the founding of the NCSL, but also, through his wisdom, his leadership, his dedication and foresight, he helped shape the organization during its early formative years.

The award carries an honorarium and includes a bronze and silver medallion bearing the likeness of Mr. Wildhack. This year's recipient is the 35th individual to be so honored.

2005 William Wildhack Award Winner

Dr. Richard Pettit

Dr. Richard Pettit, recently retired from a career at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque , NM , has received the 2005 William Wildhack Award from NCSL International. It is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of metrology and measurement science, consistent with the goals of NCSLI. The award was presented August 8, 2005 at the organization's annual Workshop and Symposium in Washington , DC , by Past President Dave Agy, who chaired the selection committee.

Pettit's award was based on his more than 20 years of service to NCSLI in its management ranks, his contributions to the technical successes of NCSLI, his excellent management of the NCSLI conference technical program, and his considerable industrial accomplishments in the field of industrial metrology, including numerous technical publications.

The 2005 Wildhack award is presented to Dr. Richard Pettit by
Immediate Past President Dave Agy

As Immediate Past President, it is my great pleasure to present the 2005 William A. Wildhack Award. This Award is the highest honor of the NCSL International and is given to an individual or group of individuals for outstanding contributions in the field of Metrology. The contributions may be in any appropriate form including oral presentation, conference paper, technical or administrative innovation or accomplishment, and outstanding leadership to NCSLI.

The purpose of the award is to provide incentive for and recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of Metrology and, in particular, contributions that are consistent with the goals and objectives of the NCSL International.

Let me say that this part of my NCSLI board career is one of the most gratifying, in that this award is peer recognition of an individual's accomplishments in the field of metrology. And, as in past years, there were several deserving candidates this year. At this point in the presentation, if we've done a good job, the recipient doesn't know that they are about to get the award! However, the next couple of sentences ALWAYS give it away.

Although this year's recipient is a registered quality engineer, his degrees are in physics, go figure! In 1966 our recipient received a Bachelors in Eng. Physics, from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D., in Applied Physics, from Cornell University in 1971. He then joined the technical staff at Sandia National laboratories in August 1971 in the High Temperature Science Division. Activities & awards include:

• Department Of Energy Solar Thermal Technology AWARD (1981).
• Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), ASQ, 1992.
• Materials Editor, Solar Energy Engineering, 1982-1986.
• Member American Association. for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Member American Physical Society (APS)
• Member, American Society for Quality Control, 1992-present

In April, 1986, he was promoted to manager of Sandia's Primary Standards Laboratory overseeing electrical metrology, a position he held until his retirement last year.

As an aside, he was appointed to this position on April Fool's day in 1986!

He has been involved in NCSLI Activities for more than 20 years in NCSLI; major activities include:

From 1994-1998, he served as Chair of the NCSLI Intrinsic/Derived Standards Committee. During this time, he developed and published a "Catalogue of Intrinsic and Derived Standards" that documented the important properties, and associated literature references, for these standards. In addition, two new RISP's were published: (1) "Triple Point of Water Cell" and (2) "Quantized Hall Resistance." Finally, the "Array Josephson Junction" RISP was updated.

Dick, oops did that give it away, has served as Vice President of Measurement Science and Technology from 1998. During his tenure, the Chemical Metrology Committee was started, with the assistance of Klaus Jaeger and Tom Ouimet. The committees reporting to him published a RISP detailing the calibration of deadweight pressure gauges (RISP-4); developed a definition for the term "Intrinsic Standard" ;developed a standard "Certificate of Participation" for laboratories that participated in NCSLI sponsored interlaboratory comparisons; published a "Guide for Interlaboratory Comparisons" (RP-15); and published a RISP titled "Two-Pressure, Two-Temperature Humidity Generator" (RISP-5).

He served as NCSLI Workshop and Symposium "Technical Program Chair" for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 conferences. This activity involved setting up a Technical Review Committee for rating of all unsolicited abstracts and then organizing the top rated abstracts into compatible technical/quality sessions. He also maintained maintain a list of "Reserve Papers" that were used as replacement talks for speakers who could not attend the conference. Starting in 2002, he assisted the NCSLI Business Office in the development of a web-based system for the submission of both abstracts and manuscripts electronically. During his tenure, the submission of manuscripts has improved each year to a level of over 85%.

As manager in the Sandia Primary Standards Laboratory (PSL), he encouraged several PSL staff members to become involved in NCSLI activities, including: Tom Wunsch, currently VP of Operations & Stu Kupferman, who served as Chair of the Publications Committee for many years until his retirement.

He was a charter member of the National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation (NACLA) representing the Dept. of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA). He served on the Board of Directors for 2 years and was responsible for the development of the NACLA Quality Manual. In addition, by working with NNSA quality managers, he was successful in having DOE/NNSA officially accept the use of calibration laboratories that are accredited by a NACLA recognized accreditation body. The DOE/NNSA was the first US Federal Agency to adopt this policy, which is saving them 10's of thousands of dollars each year. He also has assisted in working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in order to obtain their acceptance of accredited calibration laboratories in specific situations.

An uncommonly well-published scientist, Dick has written over 80 technical papers on a variety of subjects, including critical phenomena, optical measurement techniques, solar properties of materials, optical modeling of solar collectors, etc. In the area of metrology, he has authored papers on issues in maintaining intrinsic standards, uncertainty analysis in mechanical testing, process measurement assurance, and the uncertainties associated with multifunction calibrators. He also contributed an uncertainty example on optical measurements for the NCSLI publication titled "Determining and Reporting Measurement Uncertainties."

Since his retirement from Sandia National Labs in 2002, Dick continues to live in Albuquerque with his wife, Ellen. They have two married children, William and Elizabeth, and two grandchildren, a girl, 8, and boy, 3. Based on his NCSLI volunteer duties above, it seems clear that the Laws of Physics would give him little time for hobbies, but he does enjoy gardening, camping, bicycling, and photography. He and Ellen also enjoy traveling, and they have hosted several foreign exchange high school students over the past 20 years.

Past William Wildhack Award Winners