National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

NIST, founded in 1901, is a non-regulatory federal agency within the Department of Commerce.

NIST's mission is 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.

Open Data

NIST Public Access Plan

In response to the Memorandum from the Executive Office of the President to the Heads of 

Executive Departments and Agencies: Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded 

Scientific Research, dated February 22, 2013, NIST developed a Public Access Plan that was 

approved by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) in December 2014. NIST phased in its public access plan, 

beginning with intramural and moving to extramural research. All public access requirements 

are now implemented. Within the constraints of its mission and funding, NIST staff are 

required to provide public access to the results of federally funded research under a set of NIST 

directives that went into effect in 2015. Language requiring provision of public access to 

scientific research results is now included in all agreements for research supported by NIST 

through grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, or other awards, including research 

conducted at joint institutes and federally funded research and development centers, as they 

come up for renewal. The plan and public comments are available as NISTIR 8084. NIST’s 

Public Access Policy, which was derived from the plan, is available at 

https://www.nist.gov/open.

Improved Access to Publications and Archival Materials

NIST has partnered with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use the PubMed Central 

(PMC) repository system to provide public access to full-text peer-reviewed scholarly 

publications authored by NIST staff, leveraging the well-established search, archival, and 
dissemination features of PMC. NIST Technical Series publications are available through the 

Government Publishing Office’s (GPO’s) govinfo.

NIST, formerly the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), has worked with The Internet Archive

under an arrangement with the Library of Congress to digitize over 20,000 technical reports 

the agency has published over the last 100+ years. The digitization of this collection of 

NBS/NIST technical publications will be completed by the end of fiscal year 2018. As the 

publications are digitized, they are made accessible to the public through appropriate sources:

• GPO govinfo, https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/nist

• WorldCat, https://www.worldcat.org/

• The Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/NISTresearchlibrary

• Internet search engines. 

Photographs and other materials portraying NBS/NIST history are made available to the 

public through the NIST Digital Archives, https://www.nist.gov/digitalarchives. Information 

about and images of the scientific instruments and other artifacts in the NIST Museum 

collections are also accessible to the public through this site. 

Improved Access to Research Data

When the OSTP memo was released in 2013, NIST had an existing infrastructure to support 

review and release of publications, but did not have an analogous infrastructure for data. To 

enhance NIST’s ability to store, exchange, and disseminate NIST research data with external 

stakeholders and the public, as well as between NIST technical staff and their immediate 

collaborators, NIST has made fundamental and foundational improvements to its data 

management infrastructure. NIST has developed a tool for data management that helps create 

specific plans for storing, archiving, and accessing research data. NIST’s enterprise data 

inventory, which functions like a card catalog, can link to a data management plan (DMP) and 

upload datasets to a secure repository in the cloud, assign Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), 

and allow review and approval prior to release of information to the public. Information about 

available data is sent to data.gov. NIST research data is accessible through links on data.gov, 

the “card catalog” for government data, and through a portal on NIST’s website. 

Recognizing the importance of collaboration for scientific research efforts, NIST’s CIO has 

authorized the use of several collaboration tools for sharing information with internal and 

external colleagues. Most recently, the NIST CIO introduced a streamlined authorization 

process for NIST organizational units seeking to use additional collaboration tools. Staff now 

have access to lists of tools that are available and those in the assessment and authorization 

process via an internal website, making the process more transparent.
Configurable Data Curation System

The NIST Configurable Data Curation System (CDCS), a platform developed to support the 

Materials Genome Initiative discussed below, provides a means for capturing and transforming 

materials data into a structured format that is XML-based and amenable to transformation to 

other formats so that the data can be shared across academia, the government, and industry. 

The platform was developed for materials data (Materials Data Curation System, MDCS), but 

is now also deployed as the NIST Materials Resource Registry (NMRR) as well as the 

International Metrology Resource Registry (IMRR), a tool for National Metrology Institutes 

and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) to provide federated discovery 

and access to the world’s knowledge about the science of making measurements.

Proactive Disclosure

To the extent feasible and consistent with law, agency mission, resource constraints, U.S. national, 

homeland, and economic security, NIST promotes the availability of results of federally funded 

research in publicly accessible repositories.

NIST has begun an initiative to make NIST directives of significant public interest available on 

our website.

Privacy

NIST follows departmental guidance from the Office of Privacy and Open Government. NIST’s 

privacy program is described at https://www.nist.gov/privacy, and Privacy Impact Assessments 

are available through a link on that site and at http://www.osec.doc.gov/opog/privacy/NISTpias.html.

Whistleblower Protection

The NIST follows departmental guidance from the Office of Inspector General. 

Websites

Several years ago, as part of an effort to expand dissemination of its research results, NIST 

implemented a content management system (CMS), which included access to an improved 

database of research papers authored or co-authored by NIST researchers. Content is “tagged” by 

topic, enabling the public to subscribe to receive new information posted on the website on specific 

topics of interest such as nanotechnology or energy-related research. Currently, there are more 

than 240,000 subscribers who receive information on approximately 108 different topics. The 

NIST website also includes several blogs that allow members of the public to comment or ask 

questions about posted articles and the CMS includes icons to easily share content from the NIST 

site with social media websites. 
NIST has migrated its central web pages from a proprietary CMS to Drupal, an open source CMS. 

The website allows greater flexibility in the functionality of NIST internal and external web pages. 

It is hosted in6 the cloud, which allows NIST to meet the public’s current and future needs.

In 2016, NIST launched a new blog, Taking Measure. Through this blog, we write about trends in

measurement science and technology, and discuss why we do the work that we do (and why we 

like it so much).

NIST has created sites on YouTube (more than 8,500 subscribers, more than 1.8 million video 

views), Facebook (more than 63,000 “followers”), Twitter (more than 41,000 “followers”), 

LinkedIn (almost 26,000 followers), and Instagram (more than 450 followers since launching in 

August 2017). To ensure that as many people as possible benefit from NIST’s work, news of major 

research results posted on the NIST website is routinely announced through these additional social 

media sites.

Open Innovation Methods 

NIST uses prizes and challenges to stimulate engagement to solve ambitious problems in support 

of the NIST mission. Many long-standing NIST programs have created challenges by leveraging 

NIST authorities (e.g., the NIST Organic Act and Federal Information Security Management Act) 

to bring people together to showcase to one another; others have a winner who receives public 

recognition. Examples of recent and ongoing challenges include: 

Global City Teams Challenge

NIST Transactive Energy Challenge

Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization

Text Retrieval Conference (TREC).

NIST prize competitions, involving the award of cash prizes to winners under Prize Competition 

Authority (15 U.S.C. 3719, as amended), are managed through NIST’s Program Coordination 

Office. Prize competitions are announced on challenge.gov and program websites. Prize 

competitions completed or in progress include:

Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition (ARIAC)

2018 Reusable Abstractions of Manufacturing Processes (RAMP) Challenge

The Unmanned Aerial Systems Flight and Payload Challenge

Virtual Reality Heads-Up-Display Navigation Challenge
NIST The Future of Public Safety Technology 100k Video Series

NIST Virtual Public Safety Test Environment Challenge

Face Recognition Prize Challenge (IARPA Challenge run by NIST) 

PerfLoc Prize Competition

2017 Reusable Abstractions of Manufacturing Processes (RAMP) Challenge

Federal Impact Assessment Challenge

Nutrient Sensor Action Challenge (EPA challenge supported by NIST)

Reference Data Challenge 

Access to Scientific Data and Publications

NIST provides public access to scientific data through data.gov as well as a data portal on NIST’s 

website. Publications are available within 12 months of publication through the National Institutes 

of Health’s PubMed Central at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/funder/nist/ and through the 

Government Publishing Office’s govinfo at https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/nist.

Open Source Software

Most programming code written at NIST is developed as part of our research programs and is 

developed to address specific and unique mission-related research problems. We openly share this 

software through public Github repositories for potential re-use by our stakeholders, including 

other researchers, and so that our research processes are fully open and transparent.

Spending Information

NIST spending information is available at https://www.nist.gov/about-nist/ourorganization/budget-planning and is embedded in Department of Commerce information on 

USAspending.gov.

Transparency

NIST strives to be consistently open and transparent in its interactions with the public and news 

media. Information from and about NIST is available on analytics.usa.gov, cfda.gov, 

challenge.gov, data.gov, grants.gov, ITdashboard.gov, labs.data.gov/dashboard, usa.gov, 

USAspending.gov as well as on the NIST website and social media, and in news releases, 

publications, and reports. In some cases, NIST information is embedded in Department of 

Commerce information.
NIST implements the Department of Commerce Public Communications Policy, which includes 

explicit approval for research staff to talk with the news media and the public directly – without 

prior permission from the Public Affairs Office – about the results of their peer-reviewed research.

NIST Public Affairs Office regularly offers communications training to its research staff, including 

describing this portion of the policy, to ensure that they are committed to broadly disseminating 

NIST results to a wide variety of audiences. Plain language training is available online and through 

mentoring and in-person training of NIST employees. 

NIST provides a dedicated referral service for phone and email public inquiries during all business 

hours to ensure that any member of the public may request assistance in locating specialized 

technical reports or experts or in resolving customer services concerns they may have. The NIST 

website “Contact Us” page includes several different ways for the public to obtain help with many 

different types of inquiries. The Public Inquiries office strives to answer general NIST inquiries 

within 24 to 48 hours. 

Public Notice

The NIST follows departmental guidance from the Office of Public Affairs. 

Records Management

NIST manages its records in accordance with the National Archives and Records Administration 

(NARA) and Department of Commerce regulations, ensuring that records are economically and 

effectively created to meet business needs, kept long enough to protect rights and assure 

accountability, and preserved and available for future generations. Records are retained in 

accordance with NARA-approved records schedules. NIST’s records management directives are 

clear and concise, conveying records management requirements and responsibilities to all NIST 

staff. The directives were updated in December 2016.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests

NIST responds to Freedom of Information Act requests in accordance with Department of 

Commerce regulations and Department of Justice guidance. NIST emphasizes the importance of 

transparency of its operations and regularly performs discretionary releases of documents and 

information that could qualify for exemption from release, but for which there is no foreseeable 

harm. The NIST FOIA Office works collaboratively with NIST Operating Units to obtain 

information in response to requests in a timely manner and to encourage proactive disclosure of 

information.

Congressional Requests
NIST follows Department of Commerce guidance from the Office of Legislative and 

Intergovernmental Affairs. 

Participation

NIST has a rich history of connecting our technological advances to the American economy 

through interactions with stakeholders and the public, some of which are described in an Annual 

Report on Technology Transfer. Technology transfer plays an important role in the Department of 

Commerce’s mission to promote job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and 

improved standards of living for all Americans. NIST works in partnership with academia, 

businesses, state and local governments, other federal agencies, and communities to promote 

innovation and improve the nation’s overall competitiveness in the global economy. 

To increase citizen involvement in the development of standards to address new technological 

challenges, NIST has reached out to stakeholder communities to convene workshops at key 

locations around the country, organize diverse stakeholder groups, and establish consensus‐

developing organizations. This strategy has been used successfully for developing standards 

frameworks for the smart grid sector, critical infrastructure cybersecurity, disaster resilience, and 

forensic standards. 

Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity

Starting in 2013, NIST worked with stakeholders to develop a voluntary framework – based 

on existing standards, guidelines, and practices – for reducing cyber risks to critical 

infrastructure. The first version of the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure 

Cybersecurity was released on February 12, 2014. Since then, NIST has collected user 

feedback and experience through Requests for Information and public workshops. NIST also 

facilitated working sessions on specific technical areas that will be used to enhance the 

Framework in the future. A second draft of the proposed update to the Cybersecurity 

Framework that discusses further integrates cybersecurity supply chain considerations, identity 

and access management approaches, and ways for organizations to self-assess cybersecurity 

risk was released in December 2017.

Privacy Engineering

The NIST Privacy Engineering Program (PEP) supports the development of trustworthy 

information systems by applying measurement science and system engineering principles to 

the creation of frameworks, risk models, guidance, tools, and standards that protect privacy 

and, by extension, civil liberties. In January 2017, the PEP reached a major milestone in 

advancing the development of privacy engineering and risk management processes with the 

finalization of NISTIR 8062, An Introduction to Privacy Engineering and Risk Management 

in Federal Systems. NISTIR 8062 introduces the concept of applying systems engineering 
practices to privacy and provides a new model for conducting privacy risk assessments on 

federal systems. To develop NISTIR 8062 and understand the activities and concepts required 

for effective privacy engineering, the PEP sought the perspectives and experiences of privacy 

experts across a variety of sectors in an open and transparent process, including hosting 

workshops, soliciting public comments, and engaging stakeholders in outreach activities in a 

broad range of settings.

Continuing the series of public workshops on privacy engineering and risk management and 

building off the concepts introduced in NISTIR 8062, the PEP also hosted a June 2017 

workshop, Privacy Risk Assessment: A Prerequisite for Privacy Risk Management. 

Stakeholders communicated a need for the further integration of privacy into risk management 

and security guidance, a privacy-specific risk assessment model, and a toolset to manage 

privacy risk. The PEP is collaborating with other programs within NIST to integrate privacy 

into existing security guidance and other projects.

Organization for Scientific Area Committees

The Organization of Scientific Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC) is an initiative by the 

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) 

focused on strengthening forensic science in the United States. OSAC provides technical 

leadership to facilitate the development and promulgation of consensus-based documentary 

standards and guidelines for forensic science that are fit-for-purpose and based on sound 

scientific principles. OSAC is uniquely qualified to undertake this mission because of the deep 

and varied expertise of its members. OSAC consists of more than 560 members and 260 

affiliates representing key stakeholder groups, including practitioners, laboratory managers, 

academic researchers, metrologists, statisticians, human factors experts, accreditation and 

standards development experts, attorneys and judges. This diverse group represents federal, 

state and local agencies, academic institutions, and private sector entities from all 50 states and 

more than a dozen nations. 

OSAC continues to make steady progress toward its goal of achieving technically sound, 

consensus-based standards and guidelines. OSAC committees are working on hundreds of 

discipline-specific and interdisciplinary forensic science standards projects, have posted 

hundreds of discipline-specific baseline documents to the OSAC website, and have recently 

identified 92 research and development needs.

Community Resilience Planning Guide

NIST’s Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems

provides a practical and flexible approach to help all communities improve their resilience by 

setting priorities and allocating resources to manage risks for their prevailing hazards. Using 

the Guide can help communities to integrate consistent resilience goals into their 
comprehensive, economic development, zoning, mitigation, and other local planning 

activities that impact buildings, public utilities, and other infrastructure systems. The Guide 

was released in late 2015 and is being supplemented by Guide Briefs with more information 

on supporting methods and best practices. 

Big Data Public Working Group

Big Data is another important area in which NIST is leading public participation in standards 

development. Although there is broad agreement about the remarkable potential of "Big Data" 

to spark innovation, fuel commerce, and drive progress, the rate at which data volumes, speeds, 

and complexity are growing is outpacing scientific and technological advances in data 

analytics, management, and transport. 

NIST is leading the NIST Big Data Public Working Group (NBD-PWG) to develop consensus 

definitions, taxonomies, reference architectures, and technology roadmaps to accelerate the 

deployment of robust Big Data solutions. The NBD-PWG, open to the public with active 

membership from industry, academia, and government, has five subgroups that have developed 

the NIST Big Data Interoperability Framework (NBDIF). The goal is to create vendor-neutral, 

technology- and infrastructure-agnostic systems to enable data scientists to perform analytics 

processing for their given data sources without worrying about the underlying computing 

environment. The NBDIF will be released in three versions, which correspond to the three 

stages of the NBD-PWG work with respect to the NIST Big Data Reference Architecture 

(NBDRA). In Stage 1, we identified the high-level NBDRA key components (seven volumes 

were published on September 16, 2015). In Stage 2, we drafted the general interfaces between 

the NBDRA components and enhanced Version 1 content (two new volumes added, under 

review for publication). For Stage 3, the aim is to validate the NBDRA by building Big Data 

general applications through the general interfaces (under development). All NBDIF 

documents are available at https://bigdatawg.nist.gov/. 

Education

NIST has several partnerships and programs related to science, technology, engineering and 

mathematics (STEM) education and workforce and business development. NIST welcomes 

postdoctoral associates identified through a competitive program administered by the National 

Research Council as well as students participating in the Graduate Student Measurement 

Science and Engineering Fellowship Program, the Summer Undergraduate Research 

Fellowship (SURF) Program, and the Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP). 

Additionally, the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) provides lab experience 

to undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students, and the NIST Summer Institute for 

Middle School Science Teachers provides instruction in cutting-edge research that is 

coordinated with a middle school curriculum.
Standards provide industries and innovators with a common language that facilitates trade, 

simplifies transactions, and enables people to work together toward greater common goals that 

cut across disciplines and borders. NIST supports the development of standards by identifying 

areas where they are needed, convening stakeholders, and providing technical and scientific 

guidance and expertise to help stakeholder groups reach a consensus. Under the Standards 

Services Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program, recipients work with NIST 

to integrate instruction related to standards and standardization into undergraduate and 

graduate curriculums at U.S. colleges and universities. 

Metrics

Performance related to open government is evaluated through quarterly metrics reported to the 

Department of Commerce on usage of websites; “posts,” “views,” and “tweets” on social 

media; and blog posts. FOIAs that have been closed are reported. Metrics are collected for 

numbers of purchases of calibration services, Standard Reference Data, and Standard 

Reference Materials, and customer satisfaction is evaluated via surveys and customer contacts. 

The numbers of research papers, data, and code published by NIST staff are reported, as are 

the numbers of Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), patents, 

licenses, and research associates, participants, and postdocs. This information is included in 

NIST’s annual report to OMB on technology transfer, required by 15 USC 3710(f) and 

available on line at https://www.nist.gov/tpo/department-commerce.

Collaboration

To meet its mission in the face of rapidly evolving priority areas and a widening stakeholder base, 

NIST is increasingly partnering with academic, industrial, and governmental institutions. National 

priorities require the united efforts of diverse participants, and NIST has the unique convening 

power and technical independence to bring those participants together. Each year, NIST hosts 

about 2,700 associates and facility users who collaborate with its scientists. NIST works with over 

1,300 manufacturing specialists around the country to help small and mid-size manufacturers 

improve and grow. NIST has two user facilities available for both proprietary and non-proprietary

research. Access to these facilities is generally provided on a first-come, first-served costreimbursable basis. Through a Partnership Intermediary Agreement, NIST and the Maryland 

Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) work with researchers to turn promising NIST 

technologies and know-how into high-tech businesses.

In addition, NIST jointly operates research organizations explicitly established to promote the kind 

of cross-disciplinary collaborations that accelerate research results. NIST hosts as many as 100 

conferences, workshops, symposia, and other meetings annually. Many are co-sponsored with 

other federal agencies, academic institutions, professional societies, or industry groups. 

Public Safety Communications Research
NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research program (PSCR) has worked to drive 

innovation and advance public safety communication technologies through cutting-edge 

research and development. PSCR works directly with first responders and other communities 

to address public safety’s urgent need to access the same broadband communications and stateof-the-art technologies that consumers on commercial networks now expect. In February 2012, 

the enactment of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act marked an unparalleled 

push toward next-generation technologies for public safety. The legislation contained 

landmark provisions for the development and build out of the Nationwide Public Safety 

Broadband Network (NPSBN), a dedicated, interoperable network for emergency responders. 

The Public Safety Trust Fund (PSTF) was established to support the design and 

implementation of the Network. The Act charged NIST with utilizing up to $300 million of 

PSTF allocations to establish an R&D program to support the development and deployment of 

NPSBN. PSCR established the Innovation Accelerator Program to drive R&D and transform 

public safety communications capabilities. PSCR relies on its collaboration with public safety 

practitioners — fire, police, and EMS, industry, academia, and local, state, and federal agencies 

to guide R&D initiatives. PSCR works to continuously engage these communities and 

regularly communicate R&D progress and results through outreach events, conferences, and 

reports.

National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence

NIST’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) brings together experts from 

industry, government, and academia to develop and effectively transfer practical cybersecurity 

standards, technologies, and best practices to the nation’s business sectors. By accelerating 

dissemination and use of standards, best practices, and integrated tools and technologies for 

protecting information technology assets and processes, the NCCoE fosters trust in U.S. 

business sectors and improvements to the overall security of the economy. The NCCoE 

supports implementation of existing cybersecurity guidelines and frameworks, serves as a 

technical resource for both public and private sectors, and contributes to the development of 

cybersecurity practices and practitioners.

Today, the NCCoE has programs working with the health care, energy, financial services, 

manufacturing, public safety, transportation, and retail sectors. In addition, the center is 

addressing challenges that cut across sectors, including mobile device security, software asset 

management, cloud security, identity management, internet of things, data integrity, and secure 

email.

National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education

Employers are struggling to find workers who have cybersecurity-related skills. The National 

Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) is a partnership between government, academia, 
and the private sector focused on cybersecurity education, training, and workforce 

development. 

On Monday, November 13, 2017, the First Annual National Cybersecurity Career Awareness 

Week began with a kick-off event at the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. The 

event featured experts who spoke about how the cybersecurity community can effectively 

reach and encourage more students to consider a future career in cybersecurity, how career 

development strategies can be utilized for college graduates seeking to land their first 

cybersecurity positions, and how current workers can transition into this exciting field. The 

National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week Cybersecurity Challenge was also launched 

to ignite interest in cybersecurity careers by enabling participants to test drive cybersecurity 

careers with a free online cybersecurity career exploration platform.

NICE, Burning Glass Technologies, and the Computing Technology Industry Association have 

developed an interactive map, CyberSeek. Cybersecurity talent gaps exist across the country. 

Closing these gaps requires detailed knowledge of the cybersecurity workforce in each region. 

CyberSeek is an interactive heat map that provides a snapshot of supply and demand data for 

cybersecurity jobs at the state and metropolitan area levels, and career pathways for 

cybersecurity positions. CyberSeek can be used by students, educators, career counselors, and 

employers looking to identify or develop skills needed in cybersecurity careers.

Centers of Excellence

NIST has also created Centers of Excellence to provide an interdisciplinary environment where 

researchers from NIST, academia, and industry will collaborate on emerging areas of basic and 

applied research and innovations in measurement science. The first of these centers, the Center 

for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD), was established in 2013 to accelerate materials 

discovery and development; provide opportunities to transition new breakthroughsin advanced 

materials to industry; convene multidisciplinary and multi-sector communities for in-depth 

discussions; and provide training opportunities for scientists and engineers in materials 

metrology. 

Two Centers of Excellence were established in 2015 after selection through a merit-based 

competition. The Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning focuses on tools to 

support community disaster resilience. The center works on developing integrated, systemsbased computational models to assess community infrastructure resilience and guide 

community-level resilience investment decisions. The center also provides a scientific basis 

for developing resilience metrics and decision-making tools and for evaluating cascading 

effects that arise in interconnected physical and social infrastructures. 

The Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence was announced in May of 

2015. This center supports NIST’s efforts to advance the utility of probabilistic methods to 
enhance forensic analysis. Working with NIST researchers and partners from four universities 

led by Iowa State University, the Forensic Science Center of Excellence evaluates and 

solidifies the statistical foundation for fingerprint, firearm, toolmark, and other pattern 

evidence analyses, and for multimedia evidence analyses. The center also develops and 

implements an education and training program to ensure that judges, lawyers, and forensic 

science investigators can effectively decipher the results of statistical analysis on pattern and 

digital evidence.

Materials Genome Initiative

The Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) is a multi-agency initiative designed to create new 

policy, resources, and infrastructure to support U.S. institutions in the effort to discover, 

manufacture, and deploy advanced materials twice as fast, at a fraction of the cost. It can take 

20 or more years to move a material after initial discovery to the market because the discovery 

and optimization of new materials for innovative products is a time-consuming and laborious 

process, but computational design of materials has emerged as a powerful new tool for 

materials discovery and optimization. Major efforts in both theory and experiment are needed 

to provide the data that underlies successful modeling. Given its expertise in the integration, 

curation, and provisioning of critically evaluated data and models, NIST has assumed a 

leadership role within the MGI, establishing essential data exchange protocols and the means 

to ensure the quality of materials data and models. These efforts will yield the new methods, 

metrologies, and capabilities necessary for accelerated materials development. 

Partnership Facilities

In addition to the Centers of Excellence above, NIST collaborates in partnership facilities with 

academic institutions and other federal agencies. 

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Brookhaven National Laboratory is a multipurpose research institution located on the 

center of Long Island, New York. In partnership with Brookhaven, NIST develops and 

disseminates synchrotron measurement science and technology needed by U.S. industry to 

measure nanoscale electronic, chemical, and spatial structure of advanced materials.

Hollings Marine Laboratory

The Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) is a joint research facility among NOAA’s 

National Ocean Service, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, the College 

of Charleston, the Medical University of South Carolina, and NIST, with a mission to 

provide science and biotechnology applications to sustain, protect, and restore coastal 
ecosystems, with emphasis on links between environmental conditions and the health of 

marine organisms and humans.

Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research

IBBR exists to foster integrated, cross-disciplinary team approaches to scientific discovery, 

translational development and education, – and to create commercialization relationships 

and initiatives that serve the expanding economic base of biosciences and technology in 

the state of Maryland and across the country.

Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science

QuICS is a partnership between the University of Maryland and NIST to advance research 

and education in quantum computer science and quantum information theory.

Joint Initiative for Metrology in Biology

JIMB is a joint initiative between Stanford and NIST, providing standards-based research 

and innovation in biometrology. JIMB has established three consortia – Genome in a 

Bottle, the Synthetic Biology Standards Consortium, and the External RNA Controls 

Consortium – to bring together partners from government, academia and industry to 

improve the accuracy, reproducibility, and reliability of 

JILA

JILA is a joint physics institute of the University of Colorado at Boulder and NIST. (The 

institute was previously known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, but its 

current research now spans a wide range of physics topic areas).

Joint Quantum Institute

JQI is a joint institute of the University of Maryland, NIST, and the Laboratory for Physical 

Sciences.

National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network

NASTCN is partnership among National Telecommunications and Information 

Administration (NTIA), and the Department of Defense, and is organizing a national 

network of federal, academic, and commercial test facilities that will provide the testing, 

modeling and analyses needed to develop and deploy spectrum-sharing facilities.

Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office
NIST provides leadership and coordination across federal agencies with programs in advanced 

manufacturing – including the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Commerce, Education, 

Energy, Health and Human Services, and Labor, NASA, and NSF – by leading the interagency 

Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO). The AMNPO oversees the 

planning, management, and coordination of the Manufacturing USA program, which brings 

together public and private investments to improve the competitiveness and productivity of 

U.S. manufacturing through a robust network of manufacturing innovation institutes. Each of 

the fourteen Manufacturing USA institutes is a public-private partnership focusing on a 

specific, promising advanced manufacturing technology area. 

The program advances domestic manufacturing innovation by creating the infrastructure 

needed to allow domestic industry and academia to work together to solve industry-relevant 

manufacturing problems in research and development, technology transition, workforce 

training, and education. Manufacturing USA has garnered significant attention in the 

manufacturing sector; members include two-thirds of Fortune 50 U.S. manufacturers and eight 

of the ten top-ranked research and engineering universities. 

The AMNPO provides information to the public about the Manufacturing USA program 

primarily through the website, www.ManufacturingUSA.com. The website includes news 

about the program, announcements of upcoming events at the fourteen institutes, information 

about program funding opportunities, an archive of reports and policy papers, and guidance 

about how to engage with the program. The AMNPO also releases an annual report on the 

program’s performance and a triennial strategic plan. The AMNPO maintains Twitter and 

LinkedIn accounts to communicate status updates about Manufacturing USA to the public. 

Additionally, the AMNPO maintains the Manufacturing.gov website, which contains links to 

information about U.S. government programs that support advanced manufacturing. 

NIST Technology Transfer

NIST regularly works with multiple other organizations through Cooperative Research and 

Development Agreements. These agreements allow NIST to work directly with other parties 

through a public-private partnership to achieve specific scientific outcomes. In addition, NIST 

does patent and license new technologies developed in our laboratories. NIST regularly 

organizes technology showcase events to bring together innovative technologies, licensable 

inventions, research and engineering facilities, small business support resources at the federal 

and state levels, and sources of funding, all under one roof. NIST also hosts “listening sessions” 

to hear from local communities about how federal labs can contribute to economic 

development. Information on NIST technologies available for licensing is on data.gov in a 

machine-readable format for other parties to use.

NIST regularly conducts economic assessments on the results of our research programs. NIST 

economic reports and assessments are available on the NIST website at 
https://www.nist.gov/tpo/reports-and-publications. Technology Transfer partnership activities 

across Commerce are described in an annual report. A selection of NIST activities with impacts 

in industry is provided at https://www.nist.gov/industry-impacts. 

Interagency Technology Transfer

NIST has an interagency leadership role in technology transfer as delegated by the Secretary 

of Commerce. NIST has worked with other agencies to place information on all federal 

laboratory technologies available for licensing and information on available research facilities 

and equipment on data.gov in a machine-readable format for other parties to use.

As part of NIST’s leadership role, a Return on Investment (ROI) Initiative was begun in FY18. 

Working with private sector and other partners, we intend to identify critically needed 

improvements to federal technology transfer efforts. Our goal is to streamline and accelerate 

the transfer of technology from federal laboratories to promote U.S. economic growth and 

national security through innovative products and services, and new businesses and industries.

Small Business Innovation Research

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) is a highly competitive federal grant program that 

opens opportunities and encourages U.S. owned and controlled small- and mid-sized 

businesses to engage in Research and Development (R&D) with commercialization potential.

Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)

The MEP Program is a unique, public-private partnership that delivers comprehensive, proven 

solutions to U.S. manufacturers, fueling growth and advancing U.S. manufacturing. The MEP 

Centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico work with U.S. manufacturers to develop new products 

and adopt new technologies. MEP services can track with the maturity of a technology as well 

as help strengthen the business side of a company. MEP can play a pivotal role in helping 

manufacturers move from concept to market through services in areas such as product design, 

manufacture engineering, product concept testing, quality control/management, supplier 

scouting, and certification. The MEP Program serves as a bridge to other organizations and 

federal research labs that share a passion for enhancing the manufacturing community.

NIST Open Government Initiatives

The table below shows a list of initiatives for NIST.
Table 1 - NIST Initiatives

Operating 

Unit Project Status

Estimated 

Completion

NIST Improving NIST's Data Management 

Infrastructure Ongoing/Continuous _ _

Challenges Ongoing/Continuous _ _

Improving Access to Publications by 

NIST Authors Live/Operational _ _

Materials Data Curation System Live/Operational _ _

Return on Investment (ROI) Initiative In Progress December 

2018

Improve Website Information Related to 

Public Access 

In Progress December 

2018

Modernization of Standard Reference 

Data

In Progress July 2019

Make Directives of Public Interest 

Available on NIST’s Website

In Progress September 

2019

Project – Return on Investment (ROI) Initiative

Following a Request for Information (RFI) published in the Federal Register and three public 

forums, a white paper will be published that summarizes public comments and recommendations.

Project – Improve Website Information Related to Public Access

NIST has a /open page on the NIST website, with content that was initially prescribed by OSTP. 

The page currently contains documents related to our plans for providing public access to results 

of our research. We are updating that page to provide visitors with information on how to access 

the various research products that we provide: narrative publications, public data, and software.

Project – Modernization of Standard Reference Data

For more than 50 years, NIST has been making standard reference databases available for a broad 

range of chemical and physical properties for use in many scientific disciplines including biology, 

chemistry, engineering, forensics, materials science, and physics. Customer expectations for a 

“useable” data product have changed as technology has evolved. Most of the 100 databases are 
currently available as searchable tables. We are modernizing the look and feel of these databases 

and incorporating application programming interfaces (APIs) to make the databases easier to use 

and to allow access to the data through code rather than requiring users to perform multiple manual 

searches. 

Project – Make Directives of Public Interest Available on NIST’s Website

Directives that may be of public interest must be disclosed proactively under the Freedom of 

Information Act. Currently, only the NIST policy and order for providing public access to results 

of federally funded research are publicly available. NIST operations were previously coordinated 

through an Administrative Manual, and subchapters are currently being migrated to a directives 

system. As that work progresses, we will begin making directives available to the public on the 

NIST website as appropriate