Quality professionals across NASA can benefit from the agency-wide organizational membership in the American Society for Quality (ASQ). The membership provides employees access to quality resources, professional development opportunities, benchmarking tools, member pricing and connections to the broader quality community.

“Quality professionals play an essential role in building confidence that NASA’s missions can achieve their objectives,” said Don Brandl, Quality Assurance Program Executive at the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance. “ASQ supports that role by connecting our workforce with valuable expertise, professional development and proven practices from the broader quality community.”

NASA employees who create a new ASQ account or link an existing ASQ account to NASA’s organizational membership can access a range of resources and benefits, including:

• Case studies, benchmarking studies and industry research
• Quality-related news through Quality News Today
• Webcasts, ASQTV content, topic bundles and electronic newsletters
• Electronic access to publications such as:
• Quality Progress
• Journal of Quality Technology
• Quality Management Journal
• Quality Engineering
• Lean & Six Sigma Review
• Software Quality Professional
• Technometrics
• Access to ASQ quality tools and resources
• Limited access to myASQ for networking, learning opportunities, professional discussions, events and Quality Body of Knowledge content
• Member pricing on ASQ training, books, standards, conferences, events, certification examinations and certification preparation materials

NASA employees may also use ASQ’s Insights on Excellence benchmarking research and assessment tool. Inspired by the Baldrige Excellence Framework, the tool addresses areas such as leadership, strategy, customer needs, workforce, operations, technology, organizational results, barriers and disruptors and cost of quality.

ASQ Certifications

ASQ certifications provide formal recognition that an individual has demonstrated proficiency in a defined quality-related body of knowledge. Certifications relevant to NASA’s quality workforce include:

• Calibration Technician
• Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence
• Quality Auditor
• Quality Engineer
• Quality Inspector
• Reliability Engineer
• Supplier Quality Professional

A complete list of available certifications and certification preparation resources is available through ASQ’s certification catalog. NASA employees linked to the organizational membership receive member pricing on certifications, certification preparation and training.

Certifications may also support professional development objectives and provide credit toward training programs such as the NASA Safety and Mission Assurance Technical Excellence Program (STEP). Employees should visit My STEP for information about certifications that may provide credit within the STEP curriculum.

How to Access the Resources

Ready to create an account or link an existing account? Follow the steps provided on page 3 of the “ASQ Organizational Membership” document for NASA’s corporate membership.

Questions may be directed to Don Brandl or Valle Kauniste, Office of Safety and Mission Assurance Supply Chain Risk Management Program Manager.