SAMEP

STRANASKA ANALYTICAL METROLOGY EDUCATION PROGRAM

Stranaska Scientific LLC has leveraged its unique NIST heritage to earn its current reputation as a world-wide industry expert and critical thought leader in analytical spectrophotometric metrology. The company’s longtime commitment to scientific metrological outreach is realized through the Stranaska Analytical Metrology Education Program (SAMEP).

The term ‘analytical metrology’ was coined more than 25 years ago by Dr. Jerry Messman, the company’s founder and current managing director, to reflect the synergism of analytical measurement science and chemical metrology in science and engineering. Analytical metrology, which may also be defined as the analytical science of chemical measurements, is a logical extension of chemistry and mathematics involving qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis. Measurement and metrology play an important integral role especially in analytical chemistry as it applies to fundamental and applied research studies and chemical testing around the world. The need for accurate and valid analytical measurements becomes intuitively obvious when considering the ramification of the results of testing throughout our society: testing of clinical specimens (blood draws and diagnostics), forensic evidence (gunshot residue), roadside breath alcohol, environmental sampling (fracking and greenhouse gases), food safety, nutritional label information, safety and health dangers of vaping, and many other examples.

SAMEP was conceived more than 20 years ago to help support the company’s core spectrophotometric measurement services and standards business. Originally, SAMEP focused only on professional adult continuing education and training, specifically in the development of specialized short courses and tutorial workshops intended for calibration technicians and engineers in the FDA industry. During this time, SAMEP maintained a relatively low national profile while serving mostly as a secondary business interest. <continue reading>

In recent years, the glaring need to address the critical shortage of laboratory analysts and calibration technicians that are verifiably credentialed in analytical spectrophotometric metrology has prompted the immediate need to evaluate all aspects of the original SAMEP mission. The perceived shortage applies not only to FDA-regulated laboratories, but also to quality control (QC) and testing laboratories in nearly every other technical industry. As such, the company has now introduced an innovative academic track, which has a privatized grassroots aspect, that augments the original professional track of SAMEP. The separate SAMEP tracks are distinctive in that their objectives, goals, models for implementation, and funding mechanisms differ significantly.