Two area residents, W. Tyler Estler, a supervisory physicist from Germantown, Md., and Yun Hsia Queen, a chemical engineer from Adamstown, Md., jointly share the Allen V. Astin Measurement Science Award presented by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Estler and Queen, who both work in NIST's Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, developed the world's most accurate angle calibration system, designed to meet the needs of U.S. defense and manufacturing communities. In developing the system and introducing it into service, they have improved reference measurements of the international standard unit of the angle by two orders of magnitude. Their work also has given NIST a world-class automated measurement capability and has provided U.S. manufacturers of indexing tables with a major technological advance. At the same time, they provided the most demanding users of angle measurements--such as the U.S. Air Force and manufacturers of optical-tracking equipment--with means to evaluate performance of their state-of-the-art systems.
The Astin Award was established by NIST in 1984 in honor of the institute's (then the National Bureau of Standards) fifth director. It recognizes outstanding achievements in the advancement of measurement science or in the delivery of measurement services.
As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.
