NIST Laboratory Programs Strategic 

Planning

Laurie E. Locascio

Acting Associate Director for Laboratory Programs
American Innovation and Competitiveness Act Requirement

(a) The Director of NIST, acting through the Associate Director for 

Laboratory Programs, shall develop and implement a comprehensive 

strategic plan for laboratory programs that expands-

(1) interactions with academia, international researchers, and 

industry; and

(2) commercial and industrial applications.

(b) To advance, through cooperative efforts among industries, universities, 

and government laboratories, promising research and development 

projects, which can be optimized by the private sector for commercial and 

industrial applications, the comprehensive strategic plan shall-

(1) include performance metrics for the dissemination of fundamental 

research results, measurements, and standards research results to 

industry, including manufacturing, and other interested parties;

(2) document any positive benefits of research on the competitiveness 

of the interested parties described in paragraph (1);

(3) clarify the current approach to the technology transfer activities of 

NIST; and

(4) consider recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences.
Overarching Goal of NIST Strategic Planning

• Shape the NIST of 2027

• Identify high-level priorities to best position NIST in 10 

years

• Including what we will do, and how we will do it to 

maximize chances of our success
Why Now?

• We want to be purposeful and focused in an ever changing 

landscape of both federal funding and technical 

opportunities
Pre-work

• Technical landscape scan

• Interviews with NIST Senior 

Leadership

• Interviews with “Friends of NIST”

– Former NIST Directors

• Arati Prabhakar

• Bill Jeffrey

• Pat Gallagher

• Willie May

– Former VCAT members

• Vint Cerf

• Darlene Solomon

Interviews explored:

– Major Opportunities

– Risks

– Areas for investment, 

divestment

– NIST culture

– Leadership

– Indicators of success

– Advice to Commerce Secretary 

Ross
Thought Leader Panel

Paul Cohen

DARPA Program 

Manager, 

Information 

Innovation 

Office (I2O)

• Dean, School 

of Computing 

and 

Information, 

University of 

Pittsburgh

Drew Endy

• Associate 

Professor of 

Bioengineering, 

Stanford 

University,

• One of initial 

founders of 

IGEM 

(internationally 

genetically 

engineered) 

competition

Dean 

Garfield

• President & 

CEO, 

Information 

Technology 

Industry 

Council

Mike 

Holland

• Executive 

Director, 

Center for 

Urban Science 

and Progress, 

New York 

University

Lisa Porter 

• Executive Vice 

President, IQT 

Labs, In-Q-Tel 

• Former IA

6
Thought Leader Panel
Technical Opportunities: Areas for Growth

• Bioscience

• Quantum Science

• Internet of Things

• Data and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning

• Systems-level Thinking

• Democratization of Measurement

“Vertical” 

Capabilities

“Horizontal” Capabilities
Past Three Year Programmatic Plans

• Plans for development of 

capabilities and priorities

prepared in Labs and 

discussed and collated at 

the NIST level

• Approach takes advantage 

of all the expert thinking in 

the Labs but misses that 

last step of commitment 

and buy-in across NIST
Priorities ID-ed in previous Three Year Plans- from 2009-

‘09-’11 ‘10-’12 ‘11-’13 ‘12-’14 ‘13-’15 ‘14-’16 ‘15-’17 ‘16-’18

Manufacturing

Energy

Environment

Information Technology

Health Care/Bio

Physical Infrastructure

Disaster Resilience

Forensic Science

Cyber-Physical Systems

Advanced Communications

Safety in commerce

‘17-’19

11 priorities identified
• Increasingly complex models

• Tools for handling large databases

• Systems analysis

• Complexity of engineering decision 

making; robotics

• Man-machine interactions; human 

factors

• Sensors on a chip

• Biotechnology

Trends ID-ed in historical plans
Recent priorities reflected in budget requests

NIST Laboratory Budget Initiatives (Requests) by Fiscal Year 

future computing

NCNR fuel

advanced sensing 

for manufacturing

advanced 

communications

lab to market

engineering 

principles for 

biomanufacturing

FY 

2017

advanced 

manufacturing

advanced 

communications 

cybersecurity

disaster resilience

smart cities

quantum 

information 

science

NCNR fuel

lab to market

FY 

2016

cyber physical 

systems (CPS)

synthetic 

biology

advanced 

materials 

manufacturing

lab to market 

forensic science

FY 

2015

advanced 

manufacturing

cybersecurity

advanced 

communications

cyber physical 

systems

NIST centers of 

excellence

health IT

forensic science

disaster 

resilience

FY 

2014

advanced 

manufacturing

NIST centers of 

excellence

forensic science

disaster 

resilience

advanced 

communications

NSTIC

FY 

2013

advanced 

manufacturing

cyber 

infrastructure

Interop 

standards for 

emerging 

technologies

energy 

efficiency & 

environmental 

impact

advanced 

infrastructure 

delivery and 

resilience

postdoc 

program

FY 

2012
Room for more growth

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

$(M) total requests 2012 - 2017

Advanced Communications

Bioscience

Resilient Infrastructure & Communities

Appropriated Not Fulfilled

Appropriated Not Fulfilled

Appropriated Not Fulfilled

NIST has made great 

progress, but there’s 

more to be done. 

• Several areas have 

yet to reach critical 

mass. 

• New areas are 

emerging
Case Studies: Bioscience and IT R&D

• In June 2015, VCAT looked at 

NIST’s Bioscience program and 

our Information Technology 

R&D

• Revisit those program areas 

– Are we making progress?

– Has the landscape changed?
Bioscience Recommendations

1. recruit bioscience research staff and increase visibility in bioscience

2. commended on refocusing of IBBR into biotherapeutics measurement; 

recommend consideration of research to support screening 

technologies for protein quality assurance and quality control

3. leverage already strong relationships with leading academic institutes 

into additional technological capacity in areas like biochemistry, 

biotechnology, and computer science

4. continued investment in the biosciences is important; VCAT will 

monitor NIST’s biosciences portfolio to ensure the research remains 

on the forefront of bioscience innovation and is relevant to the 

biotechnology industry
IT Research Recommendations

1. continue maintaining close partnerships with industry, standards 

and academic partners, both domestic and international

2. explore ways to collaborate and engage with the small to mid-size 

organizations; consider similar partnerships to NCCoE around IT 

testing for security, compliance and interoperability

3. develop stronger ties with IT innovation hubs 

4. NIST must remain a world-class IT organization; needs budget to 

utilize emerging technologies, meet the demands from other labs 

and research areas, implement best practices, and attract and 

train staff at the pace of IT innovation

5. continue to ensure that it has the technical capacity necessary to 

address the emergent challenges of (Internet of Things and Cyber 

Physical Systems) including security, privacy, reliability, and 

interoperability concerns
Organizational Opportunities: a more flexible organization

• Converging technical fields, 

rapidly evolving application 

areas require more 

flexibility

• How does NIST cross 

stovepipes?

• How does NIST start and 

stop strategic programs?
Organizational Opportunities: a more collaborative organization

• Where should we build our 

capabilities?

• Should we take risks of 

branching out into new 

locations?

• What do the next 

generation of partnership 

models look like?
NIST’s Values

• Perseverance: We take the long view, planning the future with 

scientific knowledge and imagination to ensure continued impact and 

relevance for our stakeholders.

• Integrity: We are ethical, honest, independent, and provide an 

objective perspective.

• Inclusivity: We work collaboratively to harness the diversity of 

people and ideas, both inside and outside of NIST, to attain the best 

solutions to multidisciplinary challenges. 

• Excellence: We apply rigor and critical thinking to achieve world-class 

results and continuous improvement in everything we do.
Future state

Trust in measurement 

Trust in science 

Trust in technology
We seek your input

Are the strategic priorities NIST has identified the right ones?

• Are there measurement gaps?

• Does it seem to fit in NIST’s sweet spot?

• Can we impact the field with the right investment?

Does the VCAT see any areas being more pressing than others? 

Do any topics seem to be missing? 

How can we best make these changes in the current environment? 

Do you have advice on approaches NIST should take to establishing the capabilities needed to address these needs? 

How far out should an organization like NIST be planning- what is long term?

How much of the budget is placed into high risk research in the various fields?