Charles H. Romine

Director, ITL

June 13, 2017

1
Cultivating Trust in IT 

and Metrology

through 

measurements, 

standards and testing

ITL’s Purpose

Why

How

What
Influencing a Multi-Trillion Dollar Industry

Cybersecurity

Digital Library of Mathematical Functions

Health IT

Information Retrieval

Internet Resilience

Uncertainty Quantification

3
What Keeps Me Up at Night?

4

Fundamental 

research in 

mathematics, 

statistics, and IT 

Standards 

development 

and 

technology 

transfer

Applied IT 

research and 

development
Fundamental Research

 Develop the Foundations of Measurement Science 

for IT

 Develop the Foundations of IT for Measurement 

Science

Strategic Goal: Develop the essential foundations of computer 

science, mathematics, statistics, and physical science that 

contribute to NIST’s role in IT and measurement science. 

5
Applied Research

 Accelerate the Development and Adoption of Emerging 

Information Technologies

 Address National Priorities through IT Research and 

Tech Transfer

 Strengthen Measurement Science through Mathematics, 

Statistics, and Computing

Strategic Goal: Accelerate IT innovation through the development and 

application of measurements and related technology and tools. 

6

©Nick Macintosh
Standards Development & 

Technology Transfer

 Catalyze the Development of IT Standards

 Build Communities of Interest in IT Priority Areas

 Collaborate (Academia, Industry, Agencies) in IT, other 

sectors

 Effectively Communicate ITL’s Research Results 

 Promote Open Data Access

Strategic Goal: Ensure the products of our research are available to 

all to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness, enhance 

economic security, and improve our quality of life. 

7
Priorities in 2015

8

Software 

Defined 

Networks

Cryptography Big Data

Privacy Software 

Assurance

Metrology for 

Scientific 

Computing

Fundamental

Applied Standards
Drivers for Priority Changes 

- Fast pace of technology

- Cybersecurity

- 2015 Cybersprint

- 2016 Presidential Executive Order establishing Commission on Enhancing 

National Cybersecurity

- 2017 Presidential Executive Order on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of 

Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure

- Future Computing Technologies and Applications

- 2015 Presidential Executive Order on Creating a National Strategic 

Computing Initiative

- Artificial Intelligence

- National Science and Technology Council

- Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence

- National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan

- VCAT Recommendations

9
2015 VCAT Recommendations

 Continue maintaining close partnerships with 

industry, standards and academic partners, both 

domestic and international. 

 Expand collaboration and engagement with small to 

mid-size organizations

 Develop stronger ties with IT innovation hubs across 

the country

 ‘Lead by example', and remain a world-class IT 

organization

 Grow technical capacity necessary to address the 

emergent challenges of IoT/CPS area

10
Collaborations Across Industry, State/ 

Local Governments and Academia

 Big Data Public Working Group

 Joint Center for Quantum Information and 

Computer Science (QuICS)

 National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence

 National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education 

Working Groups

 Organization of Scientific Area Committees for 

Forensic Science

 Standards Developing Organizations

11
Key External Stakeholders

12
International collaborations

Joint Committee 

for Guides in 

Metrology

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Priorities in 2017

14

Internet of Things

Future 

Computing 

Technologies and 

Applications

Artificial 

Intelligence

Fundamental

Applied Standards
Goals for 2017 Priorities

 Cybersecurity

 Cultivate trust in the digital economy

 Provide expert guidance to help protect IT infrastructure

 IoT (multi-laboratory activity)

 Cultivate trust in IoT by accelerating development of measurements, standards, and guidance

 Reliable Computing

 Cultivate trust in computing by developing new IT-based metrology

 Future Computing Technologies (multi-laboratory activity)

 Cultivate trust in large-scale computer simulations and data analytics

 AI (multi-laboratory activity)

 Cultivate trust in AI by building an infrastucture for rigorous AI 

system-level testing

15
Possible Future Priorities

(2018 and Beyond)

 ADLP Strategic Planning Offsite

 Data Science (horizontal, cross-cutting, multi-laboratory)

 Open repositories

 Data analytics

 Testing and evaluation

 Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning

 Understanding performance

 Detection of bias

 Detection of compromise

 Improving software reliability through Software Metrology

 Cultivating trust in metrology through Uncertainty 

Quantification (applied mathematics, statistics)

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Questions for the VCAT

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 Do you agree with the horizontal approach to data 

science?

 How can we maintain balance between cybersecurity 

and other IT priorities?

 What questions should NIST address in IoT that we 

have not asked?

 Are the possible future priorities the right ones? What 

are we missing?
Backup Material

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Funding Trends ($M)

19

*2017 Estimated to year end expenditure

**2018 President’s Budget Proposal

$0

$20

$40

$60

$80

$100

$120

$140

$160

$180

2015 2016 2017* 2018**

STRS Base STRS Non-Base Other Agency Other TOTAL
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Cybersecurity

Artificial 

Intelligence

Software Defined 

Networks

Cryptography

Big Data

Privacy

Software 

Assurance

Metrology for 

Scientific 

Computing

2015 Priorities

2017 Priorities

Future 

Computing 

Technologies and 

Applications

Internet of Things

Fundamental

Applied Standards

Reliable 

Computing