Devereaux and Thatte are recognized for their leadership in establishing NIST's first-ever collaboration with key industry, academic and government stakeholders whose mission is to support safe food production. Until last year, MEP Center assistance for the food industry focused on process improvement and productivity enhancement rather than food safety. Devereaux and Thatte were instrumental in creating and executing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance, and their leadership is spearheading the coordination and training of MEP Center manufacturing experts in support of the food and beverage industry across the MEP National Network™.