2016 Allen V. Astin Measurement Science Award

The group is recognized for creating a mise en pratique for mass, essentially a suite of procedures, standards, and instruments that will replace the US Standard Kilogram as a means of disseminating mass. The mise en pratique encompasses all aspects of US mass infrastructure from science to service: from accurately measuring the Planck constant with a watt balance, to deriving a standard mass in vacuum from the Planck constant, to transporting the standard to instruments for practical use in air. In a multimillion-dollar effort spanning 4 years, the team delivered this complex new national infrastructure on time for the international Pilot Study of the New Kilogram, the first-ever key comparison of mass derived by different national metrology institutes from fundamental constants.