The Expanding Role of Partnerships 

in the Delivery of NIST’s Measurement Science Mission 
Measurement Science is Core to NIST

2

NIST's mission

To promote U.S. innovation and industrial 

competitiveness by advancing measurement 

science, standards, and technology in ways that 

enhance economic security and improve our quality 

of life.

NIST's vision

NIST will be the world's leader in creating critical 

measurement solutions and promoting equitable 

standards. Our efforts stimulate innovation, foster 

industrial competitiveness, and improve the quality 

of life.

NIST's core competencies

•Measurement science

•Rigorous traceability

•Development and use of standards

Image: Creative Commons License
Institutional Characteristics

• NIST is primarily an intramural lab research 

organization

• Requires dedicated infrastructure and staff

• NIST’s organizational structure is relatively static

• The last major reorganization took place in 

2010 (22 years after the last major change)

• NIST remains largely discipline-based

• NIST labs have broad autonomy within respective 

scopes

• Must still maintain core activities 

(measurement traceability, etc.)

“(...) the Bureau’s hands-on 

experimental capability is the 

primary basis for its reputation and 

usefulness. The laboratory focus is 

also reinforced by the unique 

expertise and facilities required by 

the basic mission and by the 

Bureau’s role as an objective, 

independent third-party.”

Long-Range Plan of NBS, 1981

What is the role of partnerships in a scientific institution like NIST?
Growth in 

Partnerships

1962: JILA founded with Univ. CO 

1987: CARB founded with Univ. MD 

Today: Mix of institutes, centers, and other mechanisms • Centers of Excellence • Joint Institutes • Grants Programs • Frameworks • Consortia • Prize Competitions • Products & Services Image credit: JILA
NIST Joint Institute and Center Locations

Joint Institutes and Centers

NIST Centers of Excellence

National Cybersecurity Center of 

Excellence

Institute for Bioscience & 

Biotechnology Research

Hollings Marine Laboratory

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Joint Initiative for Metrology in 

Biology

NIST Kauai HI WWVH 

JILA

Gaithersburg, MD

Boulder, CO

NIST Ft. Collins CO WWV

Joint Institute for Quantum 

Computer Science

Joint Quantum Institute

Atomic Clock Signal Stations 

Advanced Materials

Forensic Science

Disaster Resilience
National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (est. 2012) 

NCCoE is the Department of Commerce’s first Federally Funded Research and Development 

Center established in partnership with the State of Maryland and Montgomery County, MD

Advantages :

• Creation of practical cybersecurity solutions for 

specific industries 

• Facile collaboration with industry and 

academia 

• Can work with other NIST programs (e.g., 

Industrial Control Systems cybersecurity 

research with EL) 

Challenges:

• Balance of NCCoE engagement with NIST vs. 

Work for Others 

• Minimizing administrative burdens on partners 

and collaborators

• Evolving process and products to keep pace 

with a changing cyber landscape 
Centers of Excellence Program (est. 2013) 

Advantages :

• Close partnership and access to concentration of 

world-class expertise, data, access to facilities

• NIST can expand in new fields with great potential 

but possible risks without developing formal inhouse capabilities 

• Visible focus on priority NIST efforts

Challenges:

• Takes time to establish productive relationship

• Requires significant oversight and continued 

engagement by NIST program managers

• Sustainability after ten years of NIST investment

Research partnerships with leading universities in materials science, resilience, and forensic 

science, supported with up to ten years of funding 

Advanced Materials 

Lead: Northwestern University (Chicago, IL)

Est. 2013, renewed for 5 yrs. in 2019 

Community Resilience

Lead: Colorado State University (Ft. Collins, CO)

Est. 2015, renewed for 5 yrs. in 2020

Forensic Science

Lead: Iowa State University (Ames, IA) 

Est. 2015, renewed for 5 yrs. in 2020
Joint Institutes & Centers

Advantages:

• Access to expertise/facilities; proximity to NIST 

campuses (for UMD and CU institutes) 

• Ability to build long-term capabilities in 

technical areas with significant growth potential

• Provides a pipeline for future skilled workforce

• Ability to work with academia and industry in a 

flexible and effective manner

Challenges:

• Loss of NIST culture at off-site centers; 

embedded staff may not feel connected to NIST

• Difficult to disengage from commitment

Longstanding institutional commitments and embedded NIST staff with University of 

Colorado, University of Maryland, NOAA, Dept of Energy 

Image credit: Baxley/JILA

Image credit: NIST

Image credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Grants Programs 

Grants programs funded by Congress 

support NIST’s mission in various research 

areas 

Disaster Resilience Plastics Recycling Additive Manufacturing

Credit: Dept. of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate Credit: © Earl Zubkoff

Challenges:

• Minimal engagement with NIST researchers

• Monitoring to ensure alignment with NIST

Advantages:

• Expand reach of NIST programs

• Initiate new areas of research 

• Build new partnerships 
Partnering with NIST External Programs 

Opportunities for the laboratory programs to 

leverage nationwide networks of manufacturing 

capability 

 NIST laboratory staff serve as technical advisors for 

Manufacturing USA institutes

 Joint research projects between NIST and institutes 

 MEP-Assisted Technology and Technical Resource 

(MATTR) joins MEP clients with NIST experts 

Advantages:

• Win-win for NIST programs 

• NIST labs get insights to real-world challenges 

Challenges:

• Bridging different program goals and styles 
Mechanisms of Engaging with 

Stakeholders and Customers 
Frameworks

Advantages:

• Target community is motivated to participate

• Target (industry) community has resources and 

is organized

• NIST can help drive communities forward faster

Challenges:

• NIST must have technical depth and respect in 

the community 

• May detract efforts away from research to 

convening roles 

• Increasingly a role that key stakeholders expect

Voluntary frameworks developed with extensive stakeholder engagement provide 

standards, guidelines, and practices

Cybersecurity 

Privacy

Smart Grid

Cyber-Physical Systems

Community Resilience

Big Data Interoperability

...
Consortia 

Advantages:

• NIST can align research programs and 

measurement services with community needs

• Access to small and large companies 

Challenges:

• Stakeholder expectations that NIST will address 

key needs 

• Continued management of agreements and 

funding structures to maintain some consortia 

Public-private partnerships to nurture a community and identify shared challenges

5G mM Wave 

Channel Model 

Alliance

Genome in a 

Bottle

Gene Editing Consortium

Quantum Economic Development 

Consortium

Neutron measurements
Prize Competitions 

21+ NIST challenges 

Over $4 million 

awarded 

in prizes to date

Advantages:

• Establish ambitious goal without predicting 

who is most likely to succeed

• Reach beyond the “usual suspects” 

• Inspire risk-taking by offering a level playing 

field

Challenges:

• Requires prize competition expertise and 

infrastructure 

• Sustaining the community and follow-on 

investments after competition ends 

Award prizes competitively to stimulate innovation to advance the NIST mission 
Delivering our Mission: Products and Services

Every year: 

32,000 SRM units sold 

13,000 calibrations and tests

800 accreditations of testing and 

calibrations laboratories 

1,200 Standard Reference 

Material (SRM) products

100 Standard Reference Data 

(SRD) products

600 measurement services 

Million-Pound Deadweight Machine Credit: NIST
Spotlight: COVID-19 

Measurement 

Products & Services 

Research Grade Test Material

Interlaboratory Studies 

Serology Reference Materials

Characterization 

Image credit: Adobe Stock
Final Thoughts 

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

NIST has lots of tools to partner and 

advance our measurement science mission

How should we decide when to pursue 

partnerships? What mechanisms work 

best, and for what purpose?