Dr. Jerry Messman

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Jerry has been involved in various spectrometric aspects of analytical chemistry and metrology throughout his entire professional career beginning about 35 years ago with the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). While at NBS, Jerry was privileged to have worked in the prestigious Ted Rains group where he participated in the certification of elemental compositions of at least 75 different Standard Reference Material (SRM) artifacts. Jerry will always be indebted to his first hiring manager and NBS Division Chief at the time, Dr. Linus Barnes, who gave the young man a special opportunity to work with and learn from Ted Rains, a world-renowned expert in analytical sample preparation and atomic absorption spectrochemical analysis. While in the Rains group, Jerry also benefited greatly from the valued friendships and mentorships of Dr. Michael Epstein and Dr. Robert Burke.

During his tenure at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Jerry was responsible for rejuvenation of the high-accuracy spectrophotometric standards program in the Chemical Sciences and Technology Laboratory. While in this position, and under the mentorship of Dr. Radu Mavrodineanu, Jerry directed the certification of hundreds of transmittance SRMs (including the SRM 930 series, the SRM 1930 series and the SRM 2031 series), a new lot of the consumable SRM 931 series absorbance standard, and a new lot of the SRM 2034 series wavelength standard.

Jerry is a professional member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and CITAC, an acronym for the Cooperation on International Traceability in Analytical Chemistry (www.citac.cc). While CITAC membership is dominated by NMI governmental representatives, Jerry holds the distinct honor of being one of the very few CITAC representatives from a commercial company.

 

Dr. Struempler & Dr. Messman

Dr. Struempler & Dr. Messman

Jerry’s professional accomplishments and passion for his scientific work in analytical chemistry and metrology did not happen by chance, but can be readily traced to his professional roots at Chadron State College. While deciding to attend Chadron State College with the opportunity to play collegiate baseball, Jerry learned a couple of years later that a much larger force was in play there when he took his first analytical chemistry course and met for the first time Dr. Arthur W. Struempler. Pictured here with Dr. Struempler (left), his first analytical chemistry professor and professional mentor, Jerry quickly learned from him the real world of analytical chemistry and the necessary traits that would be required for success in this exciting scientific field. It is no coincidence that Dr. Struempler’s memory remains strong with Jerry today and going forward. Stranaska Scientific LLC owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Struempler. Thank you, Art!