Thomas A. Germer received a B.A. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985. In 1992, he received a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University in the field of surface electron spectroscopies and surface photochemistry. An interest in optics at surfaces led him to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he held a postdoctoral associateship from 1992 to 1995, performing research in picosecond and femtosecond time-resolved measurements of surface chemical and physical dynamics. He joined the NIST staff as a physicist in the 1995. Since then, he has led the NIST program on light scattering and diffraction from surfaces. His work has earned him the Department of Commerce Bronze and Silver awards, The NIST Chapter of Sigma Xi Young Scientist Award, and Fellow of the SPIE, and he has served as a topical editor for Applied Optics. He has published over 100 articles and has been granted two patents. He developed the SCATMECH library of scattering codes.
Joanne Zwinkels was a Principal Research Officer at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), retired since February 2020. She is actively involved in international standardization activities and served more than a decade as the NRC representative to the Consultative Committee of Photometry and Radiometry (CCPR), Chair of the Strategic Planning Working Group of CCPR, and International Convenor of ISO TC6/WG3.
From 1993 until 2023 Benjamin Tsai worked as a physical scientist at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) with research projects including the spectral irradiance scale, rapid thermal processing of semiconductor devices, heat flux, skin reflectance, UV exposure of reflectance standards, and photometry (measurement assurance program and research for luminous flux of LEDs).