2007-2008 Recipient
Timothy F. Chereck
Central Georgia Technical College 
 
Mr. Chereck is pursuing an Associate's degree as part of a career change from that of industrial electronics technician to metrologist. In his former career, he was increasingly made aware of the importance of metrology to manufacturing, and that made this path a natural one for him to take:

"In my many years as an Industrial Electronics Technician, quality and measurement have been constantly present. Whether or not one is quality conscious, the demands of the position require you to adhere to the principles at play in your work environment. In each area of each facility I have performed in, quality, and its measurements, were tailored to fit the needs of what was produced. And when the quality wasn't up to par, production would slow, or stop, until I, or one of my associates, had corrected the malfunction. While my technical training had focused on repair, much of my "On the Job" training was on functionality of machines that were actually running. That is to say, machines that could run, but not run a quality product. As I progressed through my career and worked on higher and higher speed equipment, this became an ever increasing part of my focus on a daily basis. Keeping my machines in line with quality expectations was something I became familiar and adept at. These included weight, length, percent ventilation, density, and count measurements. Sometimes a correction would be as simple as a few keystrokes. Other times it could require in depth analysis with a high speed camera to catch the malfunction or tracking with a multi-line graph to catch the glitch. Or worse yet, a complete retiming of a machine, which could take a full day mechanically. And another day for electronic timing. All of which would be necessary for proper functioning. All of which require precision measurement, with good old fashioned micrometers, oscilloscopes, and precision weight classifiers.

"As I go forward now with my Academic career, I find that some of the things I had learned in the School of Hard Knocks were principles that are taught in my Metrology courses. Application of these principles will be easier for me than it may be for others who haven't yet experienced life in the manufacturing world. And as not all Metrology careers are in the manufacturing arena, maybe I'll be stepping into something completely new when I have completed my training. And step into a new arena, with new challenges, and to take all myself to an unexpected realm of possibilities."