(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded $34.12 million in grants for measurement science and engineering research.

(Labsphere: North Sutton, NH) -- Luminescent materials are extremely important components in many applications, including solid state lighting and medical imaging and diagnostic systems.

(Flow Dynamics: Scottsdale, AZ) -- Flow Dynamics Inc. a global provider of primary standard, NIST-traceable flow calibration equipment and services, will conduct liquid and gas flow measurement training classes during April at its facility in Scottsdale, Arizona.

(UL: Northbrook, IL) -- Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), a world leader in product safety testing and certification services, announces that it has acquired Compliance Certification Services (CCS) of Fremont, California.

(TQRF: Toronto) -- Join Total Quality Research Foundation Canada (TQRF) and other organizations for The Second Canadian Quality Congress in Toronto, Canada, on Aug. 23-25.

(RITA: Washington) -- The nation’s largest airlines set a single-month record in November for on-time performance for the nearly 15 years that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has collected comparable data, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released Jan. 7 by DOT.

Besides penning a column periodically for Quality Digest Daily, I also write for a number of other newspapers and publications.

(Mitutoyo America: Aurora, IL) -- Mitutoyo America Corp. announces availability of the new QuantuMike line of micrometers.

In the first column of this three-part series, I reviewed an interview that was conducted in 1988 with F. James McDonald, president of General Motors.