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 37th individual to be so honored.

2007 William A. Wildhack Award Winner

Dr. Charles D. Ehrlich

Chuck started at NIST in November 1984. He began his career at NIST in the vacuum group, and established a Leak Standards Calibration Service, for which he was awarded a Department of Commerce Bronze Medal. In 1987 he became Group Leader of the NIST Pressure Group. For the past eleven years, he has spent most of his time working on international legal metrology issues, first as Deputy Chief and then Chief of the NIST Technical Standards Activities Program, and later as the Group Leader for the International Legal Metrology Group.

For over seven years he has served on behalf of the U.S. Department of State as the U.S. member of the International Committee on Legal Metrology, which is the oversight body of the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML). He currently serves on the OIML Presidential Council, representing U.S. stakeholder interests.

He was instrumental in the development and acceptance of the OIML Mutual Acceptance Arrangement (MAA), which provides a framework within which OIML member countries can confidently accept test data from other OIML member countries’ laboratories when approving new devices for regulatory applications. An historic moment occurred in July 2006, when the U.S. representative signed a Declaration of Mutual Confidence, officially becoming a participant in the MAA. The significance of the MAA is that, for the first time, manufacturers of regulated weighing and measuring instruments will be able to apply for recognition in one country, and use the test data from that application to receive recognition in one or more other countries that are signatories to the MAA. In short, the MAA provides the manufacturer’s objective of “one test, accepted worldwide”.

Other international work includes his long time membership on the International Bureau of Weights and Measures’ (BIPM’s) Joint Committee on Guides for Metrology Working Group 2 that is responsible for the International Vocabulary of Basic and General Terms in Metrology (VIM). Director of the BIPM, Andrew Wallard, wrote to the NIST Director this spring, praising the work of Chuck. In Wallard’s own words, he “did this by a mixture of impeccable technical rigour as well as by the force of his personality and an ability to get on with all concerned.” He is also a member of the JCGM Working Group 1, which is responsible for the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM).

He has been a long time participant in NCSLI activities, including co-chairing the Recommended Practices Committee on Deadweight Pressure Gauges for ten years, and serving as the liaison delegate to OIML for the past 8 years. He has reported regularly to the membership of NCSLI on the status of both the VIM and the GUM, and he won Best Paper Awards in 1997 and in 2006.

He has authored or co-authored over 45 technical publications, and he has presented over 65 talks during his career. He received the Woodington Award from the Measurement Science Conference in 1999.