VISITING COMMITTEE ON ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY (VCAT or Committee)

MINUTES OF THE JUNE 9th, 2020

WEBINAR MEETING

ATTENDANCE:

Visiting Committee 

Members Attending

Adler, Allen

Alexander, Jay

Cerf, Vinton

Fischer, George

Garvey, Michael (Mike)

Ishak, Waguih

Jackson, Keoki

Kaler, Eric

Khan, Mehmood

Ku, Katharine

Prafullchandra, Hemma

Sizer, Theodore (Tod)

Vasko, David (Dave)

Wasserman, Gail

Designated Federal Officer 

Shaw, Stephanie 

NIST Leadership Board 

Bahar, Mojdeh

Boehm, Jason

Brockett, Del

Brown, Essex

Copan, Walt

Dimeo, Rob

Dowell, Marla

Fangmeyer, Robert

Harary, Howard

Jenkins, George E.

Kimball, Kevin

Kushmerick, James

Lin, Eric

Mackey, Liz

Molnar, Mike

Olthoff, Jim

Romine, Charles (Chuck)

Sastry, Chandan

Thomas, Carroll

Vaughn, Robert (Skip)

Wixon, Henry

NIST Staff 

Acierto, Linda

Andrade, Dorianna

Barbosa, Nicholas

Baxter, Laura

Beers, Kate

Bender, Avi

Brunner, Zahraha

Carnahan, Lisa

Clark, Tammy

Claussen, Monica

Devereaux, Doug

Dohne, Kirk

Evans, Heather

Fronczek, Lisa

Gayle, Frank

Gillerman, Gordon

Gloster, Gerald

Goldstein, Barbara

Greene, Kristen

Hain, Toby

Hanna, Nancy

Hardis, Jonathan

Healy, Bill

Hoffman, Elizabeth

Huergo, Jennifer

Hughes, Sarah

Ivester, Rob

Jungbluth, George

Kauffman, Leah

Keys, Mirta

Lagas, David

Lawson, Jeremy

Lyford, Chancy

McBride, Tim

McIntyre, Kevin

Nist, Jennifer

Pacelli, Mary

Porter, Gail

Poster, Dianne

Ratcliff, William

Reidy, Kari

Rimmer, Kate

Rogers, Kelley

Rudnitsky, Robert

Saundry, Claire

Sberegaeva, Anna

Schiller, Susannah

Schufreider, Jim

Seiler, David

Shyam-Sunder, Sivaraj

Silverthorn, Courtney

Singerman, Phillip

St. Pierre, Jim

Stine, Kevin

Sullivan, Suzanne

Tabassi, Elham

Tarlov, Michael

Thatte, Dileep

Vallone, Peter

Vanek, Anita

Vickery, Ben

Voorhees, Ellen

Walker, Marlon

Wilkinson, Richard

Williams, Carl

Wollman, David

Yekyung, Kim

Zimmerman, Neil

Others

Ambrose, Mitch – American

 Institute of Physics

Doster, Kim – Office of Science 

 and Technology

Cassady, Amber – Lewis-

 Burke Associates, LLC

Del Conte, Bonnie –

 CONNSTEP

Droegemeier, Kelvin – Office 

 of Science and Technology

Duman, Leila – American 

 Chemical Society Office of 

 the Secretary and General

 Counsel

Gross, Jordan – DJI 

 Technology

Howe, Matt – CONNSTEP

Kratsios, Michael – Office of 

 Science and Technology

Lavine, Andrew – Duke 

 University

Lee, Kelvin – NIIMBL

O’Donnell, Michael – Iowa 

 State

Shore, Justin LP – Firstnet 

 Authority, DOC

Suzuki, Takashi – Blackberry 
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Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Call to Order - Dr. Alan Adler, VCAT Chair

Dr. Adler called the meeting to order at 10:25 a.m., reviewed the meeting logistics and took roll call. Dr. Adler

turned the meeting over to Dr. Copan to introduce the first speakers.

SESSION I: NIST UPDATE

OSTP Overview—Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier, Office of Science and Technology 

Policy Director; and Michael Kratsios, Chief Technology Officer of the United 

States

Dr. Copan introduced Dr. Droegemeier and Mr. Kratsios, thanking them for their good work. Dr. Droegemeier 

began by emphasizing the importance of reopening and reinvigorating the research enterprise, reminding the 

Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT) of the extraordinary advances made during the crisis, like 

fast tracking clinical trials and bringing the community together to pool resources. He mentioned there are 

personnel and facilities issues facing the government and universities on reopening, as well as unique 

challenges facing international scientists and researchers. COVID-19 has hit communities disproportionately 

hard, and that requires attention. He emphasized the need to leverage the lessons learned to ensure the U.S. 

is not only a resilient research enterprise but a much stronger and more effective research enterprise.

On June 5, the National Science Technology Council (NSTC) held a meeting remotely, attended by NIST. A

key outcome of the discussion was the agencies’ appreciation of flexibilities granted to them by the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB), for example terms of grants and issues of audits and delays, and workplace 

flexibilities. Facility construction is an important issue because of delays and cost overruns as well as 

schedule, scope, and cost risks. Attention is being placed on this with the Department of Energy (DOE), the 

National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and other 

places that have facilities. Renovations might be needed to bring people back in to work at the facilities. 

Consideration must be given to social distancing and hand sanitizing stations when this occurs. It is extremely 

important to maintain flexibility in teleworking going forward in all these agencies so employees can be effective 

in their job and ensure their loved ones are cared for. The Administration is in the process of streamlining 

regulations and removing them if they are not effective The NIST Green Paper has been a valuable tool in

helping to capture the benefits of speed and flexibilities of authorities and policies for technology transfer. 

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has been convening presidents, chancellors, and other 

key leaders at universities to discuss policy updates that can help them work in a more productive and 

accelerated manner, and is also working closely with OMB on the yearly Research and Development (R&D)

priorities memo that should come out this summer. 

Mr. Kratsios stated the White House has been focused on an "All-America Response" working alongside the 

private sector, nonprofits, university experts, and international allies to defeat the virus. In March, OSTP

worked alongside the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Allen Institute for AI (Artificial Intelligence), Chan 

Zuckerberg Initiative, Microsoft, and Georgetown University to release the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset 

(CORD-19), announcing a call to action to the world's AI community. CORD-19 includes a comprehensive 

collection of data and coronavirus scholarly articles, and it continues to grow. 

The White House worked with Kaggle, a machine learning and data science community. Experts in AI can 

submit tools and techniques that can help summarize, analyze, and search the dataset. Mr. Kratsios shared 

that NIST played a role in the release of the dataset and call to action. He also stated that OSTP worked 

closely with NIST to launch the Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) COVID program, working with industry and 

academic leaders to apply the engagement and assessment approach of the dataset. This will help search 

engine developers evaluate and optimize their systems to query the dataset.

Mr. Kratsios said the White House announced that the United States will be joining G7 nations in agreeing to 

launch the Global Partnership for AI (GPAI). The U.S. and allies will advance AI innovations that are 
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underpinned by shared values, a respect for privacy, civil liberties, and human rights. The GPAI is a forum for 

worldwide AI experts to collaborate on trustworthiness, future of work, innovation, commercialization, with an 

initial focus on COVID, as the pandemic has shown the benefits of AI as a tool in scientific discovery and 

disease detection. Mr. Kratsios said Dr. Copan and NIST have played a huge part in the American AI initiative, 

which was launched over a year ago.

The White House joined DOE, NSF, IBM (International Business Machines), and others to launch the COVID19 High-Performance Computing Consortium a few months ago. The partnership brings the federal 

government alongside industry and academic leaders to provide researchers access for free to the world's 

most powerful high-performance computing researches in support of COVID-19 research. It has over 40

members including industry and academic partners; details are available on the consortium website 

(https://covid19-hpc-consortium.org/). Dr. Droegemeier and Mr. Kratsios welcomed the first international 

members to the consortium, the United Kingdom's Digital Research Infrastructure and Swiss National 

Computing Center. Mr. Kratsios closed his remarks emphasizing that American leadership in science and 

technology has never been more of an imperative, and the need for the government to work in partnership with 

industry and academic leaders. 

Discussion.

The group discussed the following topics:

• Research enterprise priorities of U.S. for rebuilding resilience for industries of the future;

• Preparing ahead of time for the next crisis pertaining to supply chain restoration and resilience;

• Importance of bridging the digital divide by to connect all Americans; and

• Recruiting talent to industries of the future including the skilled technical workforce.

NIST Update and Agenda Review – Dr. Walter Copan, Under Secretary of 

Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director

Dr. Copan shared the latest NIST leadership changes:

• Ms. Mojdeh Bahar replaced Dr. Phillip Singerman as Associate Director for Innovation and Industry 

Services.

• Ms. Donna F. Dodson, Chief Cybersecurity Advisor, retired after 33 years of service.

• Dr. Paul Zielinski, Director, Technology Partnerships Office, left NIST after 32 years to serve as the 

Executive Director of Federal Laboratory Consortium.

• Dr. Ajit Jillavenkatesa, a long-term leader in standards policy, left NIST to work in the private sector.

• Mr. Kevin Stine is Acting Chief Cybersecurity Advisor.

• Mr. Jeff Greene joined NIST earlier this year as National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence Director.

• Ms. Courtney Silverthorn is Acting Director of the Technology Partnerships Office.

• Dr. Rob Ivester returned to NIST from DOE as Deputy Director, Hollings Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership (MEP).

NIST Organization Realignment 2020. Dr. Copan provided an update on the planned NIST organizational

realignment. The plan will establish a new Policy and Strategic Planning organization, which will include the 

Program Coordination Office. A new position will elevate NIST’s focus on human capital issues in the

workforce of associates and federal employees. A new position of Deputy Director for Laboratory Programs 

will be established, and key research support functions will be better aligned. A new position of Senior Advisor 

for Technology Innovation is intended to promote NIST’s national leadership in technology transfer and policy. 

Dr. Copan stated NIST is looking to better integrate Public Affairs and communications efforts across the 

organization and ensure the NIST brand is visible in the U.S. and abroad. Also, NIST is in the final stages of 

interviewing for the head of Acquisition and Agreements Management. 

NIST Budget. Dr. Copan stated NIST is operating under, planning for, and developing budgets simultaneously 

for three fiscal years (FY). The FY2020 is an enacted budget, and FY2021 is under development with 

Congress and Appropriations, with some delays due to COVID-19 and other national priorities. He also stated 
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that NIST is still in the early stages of planning for the FY2022 budget. The enacted budget for FY2020 is a 

little over $1 billion; the President’s FY2021 budget proposes $738 million for NIST. 

NIST Reauthorization Testimony Themes. Dr. Copan provided testimony before the House Science, Space, 

and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology, which highlighted NIST's plans and 

accomplishments in critical U.S. technology areas. Areas of focus were future authorities for NIST based on 

the Green Paper as part of the reauthorization, industries of the future, manufacturing programs, and the 

bioeconomy. Other topics included the future of advanced communications, 5G, U.S. technology 

competitiveness, supply chain, and standards leadership with particular interest in spectrum and approaches 

being developed at the National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (NASCTN),

applications of AI, and machine learning.

NIST Privacy Framework Update. Dr. Copan stated NIST looks forward to continued partnership with the 

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) about the future of U.S. innovation, AI, and other topics. 

Many organizations adopted the Privacy Framework, which was released in early 2020, thanks in part to CSIS 

hosting a conversation on the Privacy Framework with leaders of industry, government, and academia.

Cybersecurity: NIST Work in Encryption. Dr. Copan stated NIST continues work in encryption with post

quantum cryptography moving to the third round of down-selection. Also, work in lightweight encryption is 

essential for mitigation of privacy risks. Recently NIST released several important documents including Special 

Publication 800-53 Revision 5 and several drafts including a Cybersecurity Framework Manufacturing Profile 

(NISTIR 8183 Rev 1) and SP 800-207 on Zero-Trust Architectures.

Positioning, Navigation, and Timing: Responsible Use. An Executive Order was issued earlier this year on the 

responsible use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) calling on NIST and DOC to work with the private 

sector to identify and promote responsible methods of using PNT services that appropriately manage risks. 

The goal is to look at time distribution over optical fiber as a backup to GPS-based systems for time 

dissemination, as well as an initial pilot program over optical fiber and then integration with next-generation 

optical clocks.

AI Standards Coordination. Dr. Copan stated that work on AI and related standards continues. There will be a 

series of workshops looking at developing a shared understanding of what constitutes Trustworthy AI. Three 

areas of focus are a Bias in AI workshop on August 19, 2020; a second draft of Secure AI for public comment 

in July; and an intramural call for proposals to fund several use-inspired AI research projects. 

Quantum: Interagency Coordination. Efforts are underway with interagency coordination on the National 

Quantum Initiative. The Consortium for Quantum Information Science was held in May to discuss long-term

and shared goals. It is important that NIST works collaboratively in the development of a national 5-year plan 

for quantum networks and develop a roadmap for identifying key gaps along the pathway to commercialization. 

Work on developing a controllable, non-equilibrium system is going to be foundational to a new understanding 

of quantum phenomena, in particular, phased behavior in quantum systems. This could lead to better insight 

on how to generate entangled quantum states with next-generation quantum clocks.

Standards: 5G Spectrum Sharing Testbed. Dr. Copan stated the progress on 5G spectrum sharing testbed is 

ongoing at NASCTN in Boulder. This is a national tool that will provide data to make effective decisions in the 

future for network interoperability, interference, and spectrum sharing. It was announced in May through the 

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) transactions, the Boulder laboratories, has a new 

machine learning formula to efficiently help 5G wireless networks share communication frequencies. A 

national strategy around 5G was issued, with NIST having the lead role in this whole-of-government effort in 

both the R&D and in the standards workstreams.

Emerging Tech Standards. In the area of emerging technology standards, NIST has been working closely with 

DOC to raise awareness about unintended impacts of rules on U.S. effectiveness in digital technology 

standardization. He also stated that NIST has worked closely with the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

and DOC to provide clarity on standards engagement.
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Advanced Communications Update. Dr. Copan stated the Public Safety Communications Research program is 

a new challenge, using challenge competitions, working with NASCTN and Mitre Corporation to chart out LongTerm Evolution (LTE) impacts on telemetry. This work has been and will be funded through 2022 by spectrum 

auction funds. 

Securing Cyber Supply Chains, Exoskeleton Performance Measurement, and Infrastructure. Dr. Copan 

mentioned NIST is outlining a series of programs to address approaches for risk minimization in the supply 

chain. Another area of focus is standards for robotics and exoskeleton performance measurements, which is 

an important part of advanced manufacturing systems and human performance augmentation and NIST is 

making progress with industry and public-sector stakeholders in this area. On disaster resilience, the 

development of a new tool to provide evaluations on how to prioritize projects for impact, cost effectiveness, 

and investment value is ongoing, and this tool is more broadly available now.

Infrastructure: Plumbing Research Needs. Dr. Copan said NIST has issued a research needs summary as a 

result of workshops and industry engagement looking to the future of premise plumbing systems. Initial flow 

model designs in the U.S. go back nearly a century, and NIST is working with industry stakeholders to prepare 

for a future research agenda.

NCNR Upgrade Plans. Dr. Copan stated NIST is in the midst of an important upgrade planning at the Center 

for Neutron Research on a new liquid deuterium cold neutron source, which will provide an opportunity for 

improving flux for increased signal to noise and experimental throughput and will provide world-class 

measurement capability with a new superconducting Neutron Spin-Echo spectrometer in collaboration with 

NSF and NCNR.

NIST's Critical Role in Bioeconomy Growth. Next, he stated NIST continues to work in the bioeconomy and, in 

particular, its applications to volatility response. 

NIST and the Circular Economy. The Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) is developing a program on the

circular economy to support U.S. manufacturers and the recycling industry. The NIST program is coordinated 

with interagency efforts and includes plastics recycling grants that are aligned with Manufacturing USA 

institutes. 

Forensics Center of Excellence Renewal. Dr. Copan said NIST recently renewed our Center of Excellence for 

Forensics. West Virginia University has joined this consortium led by Iowa State University.

U.S. Voting Standards and Guidelines. Dr. Copan stated NIST led the Technical Guidelines Development 

Committee for the new voting standards and guidelines, working closely with the Election Assistance 

Commission, and has also worked with the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of 

Investigations to issue a new report on risk management for electronic ballot delivery.

NIST on a Chip. Dr. Copan stated NIST has developed new agreements for a major new program on electrical 

standards in close partnership with Department of Defense, beginning with the U.S. Air Force. The Ohm

dissemination to Quantum Hall Standards is one breakthrough measurement. Collaborations in this area are 

ongoing with University of California at Santa Barbara.

Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. A new program on Communities of Excellence has been initiated 

to support the community development excellence and resilience. Baldrige has also been challenged to 

develop a new presidential award for excellence in workforce education, training, and reskilling.

ROI Initiative Progress Continues. Dr. Copan said NIST is working closely with OSTP, federal agencies, and 

stakeholders on progress in legislation, new regulations, tools, and new programs.

ROI Progress: Bayh-Dole. Dr. Copan said NIST has mapped the changes of the Bayh-Dole Act and 

administrative improvements to the findings of the Green Paper. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is in
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development with DOC before releasing to the interagency. A final new rule for Bayh-Dole is anticipated to be 

issued later this year.

ROI Progress: Stevenson-Wydler. Major updates to Stevenson-Wydler Act has come through a legislative 

package to the interagency, adjudicating the responses with OMB later this summer. The revisions will be 

delivered to House and Senate for sponsorship at that time.

NIST Strategic Plan: Goals. Dr. Copan stated the four goals for NIST:

• Position NIST to advance U.S. science and innovation;

• Maximize NIST's stakeholder impact through high-value service delivery;

• Create the infrastructure for a 21st century research institution; and

• Build a One NIST culture.

Dr. Copan complimented the NIST workforce working largely in a telework status and said lots of great 

publications and patent filings have been forthcoming during this period.

For more information, see Dr. Copan’s presentation.

Discussion

The group discussed the following topics:

• Undershooting budget for renovation and renewing of facilities;

• Dr. Cerf will gather information related to budgetary shortfall for infrastructure, facilities, modernization, 

and equipment needed for NIST in the future;

• Low 2020 budget for laboratory programs, facilities, and extramural programs focused on U.S. 

manufacturing;

• Concern over NIST on a Chip being a priority;

• Pace of when to have algorithms in place that would protect post-quantum cryptography;

• Guidance on advocacy for funding that VCAT could explore as a federal advisory group;

• Green Paper findings on Bayh-Dole modernization progress;

• Modeling ways on how architecture will work for PNT and time distribution by fiber into a larger system;

• Challenge of synchronization to quantum networking; and

• Concern about Huawei introduction of new IP in the ITU possibly migrating internet standards.

SESSION II: NIST EFFORTS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 

MEP Response and CARES Act Efforts - Ms. Carroll Thomas, Director of Hollings 

Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

Ms. Thomas stated the national network response to COVID-19 will result in year 2020 being analyzed as far 

as what went wrong and what went right and what could be done next.

Nearly all manufacturers in U.S. have less than 500 employees and 75 percent have 20 or less employees. 

There are 12.3 million people employed in manufacturing jobs. The last 6 months of 2019, there was a slight 

contraction in manufacturing due to unemployment and the inability of small manufacturing businesses to 

expand.

Ms. Thomas explained the Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP) National Network had received the $146 

million that was budgeted for the 51 centers, the funds were invested in building MEP center’s capabilities in 

cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing technology services, focusing on reaching more manufacturers to 

help navigate smart manufacturing production processes.

In January-February, U.S. manufacturers were impacted by major global supply chain disruptions. The U.S. 

manufacturing plummeted 6.3 percent, the largest single-month drop in 74 years. The global pandemic 

declared as a health crisis erupted into critical need for personal protective equipment (PPE). Large 
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manufacturers of PPE couldn't keep up with the demand for materials. Gaps in lower-tier levels of production 

uncovered the need for a better understanding of domestic production sources.

Ms. Thomas stated a coordinated response effort was put in place. Local governors received a reminder that 

their local MEP Centers were ready and available to assist manufacturers, connect suppliers, pivot production, 

and make critically needed supplies.

Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Hollings Manufacturing 

Extension Partnership received $50 million on March 27th. The funds that came to the MEP program did not 

have to be matched, as it was emergency legislation to get funds out quickly to the centers. The provision in 

the CARES Act allowed cost share requirements to be waived.

Ms. Thomas stated for the first time ever, the MEP program received disaster funding to support U.S. 

manufacturers. The goal was to reach out directly to new, present, and past manufacturing clients to assess 

their needs. Ms. Thomas was the selecting official on the application that gave out 26 awards to the centers for 

$25,401.600. The goal is to reach all 51 centers within 90 days, with the deadline of June 25th.

Ms. Thomas stated all 51 MEP Centers were working together with all markets such as hospital associations,

aerospace, and automotive industries. For example, a supply chain was created for large manufacturers who 

produce ventilators to work with state economic development organizations to locate suppliers in their states. 

All 51 MEP Centers provided information to the manufacturing community to match capabilities and needs to 

support production and access to critically needed supplies.

For more information, see Ms. Thomas’ presentation.

View from the MEP Centers – Actions Taken and Looming Challenges – Ms.

Bonnie Del Conte, CONNSTEP Director, Connecticut MEP Center and Mr. Michael 

O’Donnell, Manufacturing Program Director, Center for Industrial Research and 

Service (CIRAS) Iowa State MEP Center

Ms. Del Conte stated the Connecticut MEP has been with the NIST Hollings program since 1994 and has a 

great relationship with the state Office of Economic and Community Development. Before the CARES Act, 

they had done some outreach with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) and it has been 

an affiliate with them for 3 years. They are a membership organization with 4,000 members, 30 percent of 

them being small to midsized manufacturers. This provided a unified voice for state policy as well as at the 

federal level.

When the pandemic began, the Connecticut MEP reached out immediately to find out what first responders and 

health care employees needed, and which manufacturers could help. They developed a website, 

connecticutcovidresponse.org, to match PPE manufacturers to those in need, particularly health care facilities 

and first responders. 

Since the website started, it has had over 81,000 visits. The center processed approximately 1,800 requests 

for PPE and have identified 48 manufacturers who have repurposed their operation to produce PPE, such as, 

face shields, gowns, masks, and hand sanitizers. Working with the governor's office, they soon had over 

14,000 requests for surgical masks. 

State legislation passed a bill to establish a Manufacturing Chief Officer, who has been a liaison for business 

and industry. The center also has a strong relationship with Senate representatives in Congress. These 

connections provide a direct line of communication to both the state and federal level. The MEP has provided 

this strong network in manufacturing.

Mr. O'Donnell, representing the Iowa MEP, CIRAS, stated Iowa has a history of responding to disasters, and 

have activated an emergency response program 10 different times. On February 12th, it was activated for 
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COVID-19 based on reports from clients and global supply chain interruptions. Their disaster response 

program applies an engage-educate-embed model, that allows to adjust and learn the situation evolves.

The first priority in a disaster response is to understand the situation, needs, and complexities. In this regard, 

during COVID, they have expanded outreach to manufacturing as well as engaged with the health care industry 

in a public-private emergency response process. There have been 1,200 outreach calls to businesses across 

the state. The center published a weekly survey on the state of industry in Iowa on multidisciplinary issues,

such as the impacts of reduced ethanol production, and availability of CO2 (carbon dioxide) for food processing

and water treatment in Iowa. They have held 25 roundtables with over 450 attendees as part of the 

engagement efforts.

Mr. O'Donnell stated as part of the education phase, the Iowa MEP National Network has helped companies 

find information on COVID-19 and emerging best practices. They launched a website and published 15 original 

content items to help manufacturers implement change to protect their businesses and people. Podcasts and 

webinars to educate the industry have also been conducted to educate industry across the state. 

The key focus for CIRAS is embedding change within their clients, that makes a long-term impact in Iowa. 

Over the last 3 months, the center provided services on over 130 different manufacturing requests. It

connected supply and demand in a stressed and overcapacity supply change environment. The Center has 

also participated in several national supplier scouting activities. Mr. O'Donnell gave an example of a local 

hospital in Iowa needing a patient isolation pod, and the Texas MEP led them to a small manufacturer in Illinois 

that was able to make a connection with a local manufacturer. This is an example of the MEP National 

Network in action. 

Most notably, the center rapidly retooled manufacturers to meet the needs of their health care providers in 

Iowa. For example, over 1.2 million face shields have been made in Iowa and some of the businesses are 

moving into that business permanently. Currently, CIRAS is preparing for an economic recovery by organizing 

service teams, having internet marketing boot camps, and helping small businesses sell over the web.

For more information, see Ms. Del Conte’s and Mr. O’Donnell’s presentation.

Discussion

The group discussed the following topics:

• Improving visibility into supply chain moving forward;

• How to continue to strengthen infrastructure under MEP;

• A manufacturing grid of capabilities to help the manufacturer community;

• Pharmaceutical industry inclusion in a national capability database;

• Differences in media coverage of information to states; and

• Getting the message out of the value the MEP program and its National Network is providing.

Manufacturing USA Responses – Mr. Michael Molnar, Director of the Office of 

Advanced Manufacturing

Mr. Molnar stated Congress authorized Manufacturing USA in December of 2014, establishing a program office 

at NIST for program cooperation, support of the network, public reporting, and management of commercesponsored institutes. The bipartisan legislation defined eight purposes. Congress reauthorized the program 

this past December giving NIST new areas of authorities and responsibilities and added a ninth purpose, which 

is to contribute to the development of innovation and regional initiatives across the nation.

Manufacturing USA brings together public and private investments to improve competitiveness and productivity 

of the United States manufacturing through a robust network of manufacturing innovation institutes. There are 

now 14 Manufacturing USA institutes, and the newest one recently announced is on cybersecurity for 

manufacturing.
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Manufacturing USA launched a COVID-19 website on manufacturingusa.com to help address the pandemic 

response and to inspire institutions for further engagement.

A recent reauthorization gave Manufacturing USA authority to provide public service grants to Manufacturing 

USA institutes. Previously, they were prohibited from offering any funding to the institutes not sponsored by 

Commerce. These grants do not require a cost match, but they do require an open competition with selection

based on merit and offer speed and flexibility to quickly move on pandemic response projects. Mr. Molnar

stated based on the authority, NIIMBL (National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals), 

a NIST sponsored institute, is not eligible for the public service grants, therefore a different noncompetitive

request for application pathway was designed.

The CARES Act included $10 million for Manufacturing USA. The strategy was to augment the appropriation 

with all available funding from a base budget, using any funding not already obligated. The balance was $12.3 

million. Further, Manufacturing USA designed the competition to be rolling in case Congress appropriates

additional funding, awards to already submitted proposals can be done immediately. Knowing it would take 

time for institutes to formulate plans or proposed projects, the goal was to establish the funding pathways very 

quickly. Manufacturing USA worked closely with NIST Grants Management Division, the Federal Assistance 

Law Division, and Office of Chief Counsel to formalize two competition pathways. They were launched one 

business day after the CARES Act was enacted into law. The goal is to move quickly to award the best 

projects with the highest impact. The National Emergency Assistance Program was designed for speed and 

flexibility, and it solicits high-impact projects designed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Proposals are

received on a rolling basis. Awards to four institutes are currently under way totaling $3.4 million. The first 

award went to BioFabUSA, and the other three will be announced shortly. BioFabUSA is leading a rapid 

response roadmap for organizations to follow for pandemic response recovery.

Mr. Molnar stated that NIIMBL's ecosystem has more than 150 members in 24 states, including leading global 

pharmaceutical manufacturers, small businesses, universities, academic medical centers, and federal scientists

and was awarded nearly $9 million for their portfolio of priority projects.

For more information, see Mr. Molnar’s presentation.

Plans for and Actions Taken by NIIMBL - Dr. Kelvin Lee, Director, National 

Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, (NIIMBL)

Dr. Lee stated that NIIMBL had a Request for Application opportunity for COVID-19 response funding and 

received over 200 submissions totaling over $90 million of innovative ideas. The scope included any area 

where NIIMBL community subject-matter expertise could add value to the COVID-related problems to include 

biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

A large number of teams from the NIIMBL community submitted ideas relating to antibody-based testing as well 

as diagnostic testing, contract tracing, technologies for not only tracking people, but people working in 

manufacturing environments, people interacting with equipment, decontamination technologies relating to PPE, 

and quite a few others on medical countermeasures such as the discovery of new medicines, development of 

existing medicines, and the manufacturing of those medicines. Dr. Lee said NIIMBL can share expertise and 

capability to assist regional hospitals and systems with rapid in-house diagnostic testing, as well as helping 

locate domestic supply chains to reduce foreign dependence for PPE development and manufacturing. 

To date, NIIMBL has launched nearly $65 million worth of technology and workforce projects, executed several 

technology roadmaps, and will be launching some new industry-wide initiatives programs in 2020. In 

partnership with the National Society of Black Engineers, NIIMBL created an activity called the NIIMBL 

Experience Program, which identifies freshman at Historically Black Colleges and Universities in an effort to get 

them excited about a career in biopharmaceuticals.
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Dr. Lee stated NIIMBL held a 3-day workshop in February 2020 with leaders from a broad cross section of 

companies as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and NIST, with the goal to further advance and 

accelerate movement towards process intensification; thinking about continuous manufacturing of medicines 

and creating a new manufacturing paradigm to benefit everybody in the ecosystem.

By 2029, NIIMBL’s vision is to invent, design, build, and commercialize drug substance and product 

manufacturing capability enabling flexibility in manufacturing; control, robustness, and security in supply of 

materials; supply chain velocity; more sustainable plastic and energy use; lower capital and operating cost; and

integrate the entire manufacturing process from a master cell bank vial to a final dose or patient vial.

In February of 2020, NIIMBL moved into its new headquarters donated by the University of Delaware. Dr. Lee 

stated NIIMBL currently occupies 30 percent of the 225,000-gross-square-foot laboratory-intensive space. 

For more information, see Dr. Lee’s presentation.

Discussion

The group discussed the following topics:

• Workforce planning and contributions of universities partnering with industry;

• Formulating training in the form of short courses or certification programs;

• Growing the pharmaceutical industry in the U.S.;

• Value and importance of a STEM-trained workforce that can operate new equipment on the horizon;

• How NIST can create education workforce skills that private-sector industry members do not fund;

• Making each institute a regional hub for people to access; and

• Strategic risk of training programs for global employees who end up abroad thereafter.

Overview of NIST Laboratory Efforts in Response to Covid-19 - Dr. Heather Evans, 

Senior Analyst, Program Coordination Office; Dr. Peter Vallone, Leader, Applied 

Genetics Group, Material Measurement Laboratory; Dr. David LaVan, Project 

Leader, Materials Measurement Science Division; and Dr. Ellen Voorhees, Senior 

Research Scientist, Retrieval Group

Dr. Evans described an internal effort dubbed "How can NIST help?" to rapidly identify and support research 

efforts proposed by NIST staff to address the challenges of COVID-19. She led a cross-laboratory team to

develop and carry out a plan. 

The "How Can NIST Help?" effort consisted of four parts:

• Idea generation;

• Information Sharing;

• Collaboration; and

• Action

Idea generation. The team solicited ideas from the technical staff, looking for ideas that could have a

significant impact and be done safely in the current work environment. After 4 weeks, 75 submissions were 

collected, from all six laboratories.

Information sharing and Collaboration. The team used range of collaborative software tools to encourage idea

generation and sharing. The team hosted several seminars with outside speakers and NIST staff. Overall, this 

effort helped unify NIST staff around the mission and continue to be engaged despite working remotely. 

Action. The main themes for the call to action were as follows:

• Machine Learning, AI, Data and Analytics;

• Manufacturing and industry;

• Volunteering and engagement;
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• Wireless innovations;

• Personal protective equipment;

• Biological measurements; and

• Energy and environment.

Dr. Evans provided an overview of a number of ongoing efforts, including a cross-laboratories team working on 

exposure notification technologies to keep communities safe; a survey by the Applied Economics Office of 

small and medium sized manufacturers to understand their planning for natural disasters during the pandemic; 

measurements to characterize ethanol in hand sanitizers; wireless innovation projects, and more. In particular, 

NIST staff has demonstrated their commitment to the community through volunteering and engagement 

activities. 

For more information, see Dr. Evans’ presentation.

Next on COVID-19 detection, Dr. Vallone explained the work of the Applies Genetics Group at NIST to address 

the challenges of the pandemic. The Applied Genetics Group in NIST’s Biomolecular Measurement Division 

has deep expertise in DNA measurement tools and produces various DNA Standard Reference Materials for 

forensic science and clinical applications. 

Some of the group’s areas of focus that began in late February through early March focused around detection

focused on molecular testing, or RNA-based (Ribonucleic Acid) detection; the availability of controls and 

standards; and identifying key stakeholders including working groups, other National Metrology Institutes (NMI), 

industry, and government agencies. Ramping up the competency of the RNA detection assays was an initial 

idea. Dr. Vallone said NIST began to work on developing and optimizing assays in-house based on existing

assays from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

Dr. Vallone described NIST’s efforts to develop a research-grade testing material that can be used as a control 

to support measurement infrastructure. With an aggressive development timeline, NIST targets a release date 

by the end of June 2020. Then, NIST will send the materials to commercial makers of controls and assays to

other laboratories or different stakeholders, having them return a survey filled out in terms of how useful they 

found the material. This work was supported by the CARES Act. 

To advance the quality of SARS-CoV-2 measurements, NIST is participating in interlaboratory assessments. 

One, hosted by INSTAND, was a worldwide study involving over 450 laboratories1

. Also, NIST is also part of a 

pilot study in the Nucleic Acid Working Group under the CCQM (Consultative Committee for Amount of 

Substance: Metrology in Chemistry and Biology) to expand RNA measurements, this work is also supported by

the CARES Act. 

Dr. Vallone stated that diagnostic assay performance was an important research area, in particular researchers 

learn more about how the virus mutates over time. NIST plans to look at the effect of the mutation on 

measurement in terms of how it affects qPCR (Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction) or digital Polymerase 

Chain Reaction (PCR) values to show the measurement challenges and robustness of assays used for SARSCoV-2 detection.

A collaborative working group with JIMB (Joint Initiative for Metrology in Biology) and the UK National

Measurement Laboratory (NML) has formed to explore developing a minimum information standard for SARSCoV-2 controls. 

Lastly, Dr. Vallone described a research collaboration between MML and the Information Technology 

Laboratory to develop mathematical approaches to improve the sensitivity of qPCR detection methods. 

For more information, see Dr. Vallone’s presentation.

1 https://www.instand-ev.de/en/
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Next, Dr. LaVan addressed NIST research related to PPE. He said that NIST has been applying its 

measurement and standards expertise to problems with the emergency reuse and decontamination of PPE to 

assist with the COVID-19 response.

One key area underway is on UV (ultraviolet) source measurement standards. This is work that has been 

ongoing in the Physical Measurement Laboratory, which has a longstanding program to look at both 

wavelength and intensity standards for UV. Dr. LaVan said that multiple standards are in development with the 

Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and some are specific to lamp types. An illustration was shown of a 

UV-C (shortest wavelength) dose indicator that is marketed for hospitals to see whether a sufficient dose was 

delivered to a surface to ensure decontamination worked. 

Dr. LaVan said work happened in early 2000s during the original SARS outbreak, and UV-A (longest 

wavelength) was found to be ineffective in inactivating viruses, and that UV-C would break down the virus fairly

quickly on the order of 5 to 10 minutes, the dose used in research.

Work is being extended to now look at SARS-CoV-2 in collaboration with Department of Homeland Security in 

a program called PANTHR, which is operated at USAMIRIID facility at Fort Detrick, a BSL-3/BSL-4 facility. Dr. 

LaVan stated NIST is collaborating to help with wavelength and ultraviolent intensity measurements and is also 

collaborating with Columbia University, which has a mouse facility that is evaluating safety of 222-nanometer 

ultraviolent light, which is believed to be more inherently safe. 

Dr. LaVan described an industry partnership with the firm UV-Concepts, which reached out to NIST for help in 

generating testing and data that they would need to show for decontamination of PPE, N95 respirators, gowns, 

and face shields. A manufacturer of sterilization equipment is UV-Concepts. With NIST collaboration, UVConcepts is working with ResInnova to test for MRSA and Clostridium difficile. 

Dr. LaVan stated that the Engineering Laboratory generated a software tool that estimates the vaporized 

hydrogen peroxide (VHP) concentration in air of a room being used to disinfect masks, based on longstanding 

expertise in VHP. The tool accounts for the room size, surface losses, and air change rate using a mass 

balance approach. Currently, NIST is working with Batelle, the U.S. EPA, and UT Austin on this effort.

Next, he described MML efforts to study the performance of face coverings. In one project, images showed 

how various designs of homemade face coverings stop the flow of particles and the importance of fit. This 

qualitative information is being released through the Office of Public Affairs. Another study quantified the 

filtration efficiency of over 30 different materials commonly used to make face covering. The results indicate 

that 100% cotton with nap has the top performance. These results have been submitted for publication.

Dr. LaVan closed by emphasizing the importance of standards and interagency coordination. The NIST 

Standards Coordination Office has arranged access for NIST staff and other agencies to PPE and ventilatorrelated standards and many NIST staff have participated in a variety of interagency calls and working groups to 

identify needs and connect NIST staff and resources. 

For more information, see Dr. LaVan’s presentation.

Dr. Voorhees explained that NIST is building a test collection for a pandemic search using the TREC (Text 

Retrieval Conference) framework. She explained that information retrieval is the science behind search 

engines, and the test collection is a measuring device. 

Cyril Cleverdon of Cranfield College was the first one to build a test collection in the 1960s. He wanted to 

compare index languages which are languages used to make card catalog entries. Relevance judgments were 

made based on which documents were retrieved. Test collection defines ideal retrieval. From the '60s to '80s,

several other test collections were built, but they were very small.

Dr. Voorhees said by the 1990s, no one looked at the research results because they figured the collections 

were too small and not representative. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) had a 

project called TIPSTER, which built search engines for newswire-type media, open-source collections. Then, 

DARPA then asked NIST to build a large test collection so that the performers in the TIPSTER program could 
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be evaluated. Dr. Voorhees said NIST then decided to convene a conference in the fall of 1992, the first 

TREC conference, and since that time, there has been a TREC conference each year. One of the first places 

for community evaluations was TREC. The result of a research community evaluation is the state-of-the-art 

improves. A research methodology was established to answer questions of how to do research in the area. 

This also facilitates technology transfer and amortizes the cost of the infrastructure needed to do the 

evaluation.

In response to an OSTP call for action, TREC-COVID is building the infrastructure to improve search systems 

for future biomedical crises while providing human-curated answer document sets for today's questions. Dr. 

Voorhees said effective searches will help clinical personnel get the evidence-based answers needed.

She explained why a new collection is needed and that TREC has already built test collections based on 

scientific articles in biomedicine, but the problem is the search during a pandemic is different. Rapid evolution 

of topics of interest occurs, and people do not know what they want to search for until they have done some 

initial research. Then the literature in that area explodes. CORD-19 is adding roughly 300 documents a day to 

their collection, and a large percentage is not peer-reviewed.

Dr. Voorhees said the CORD-19 document set is a dataset of open-access literature for coronavirus research. 

Questions have been collected that were inspired by actual search logs at medical libraries, including the 

National Library of Medicine. The TREC-COVID is run in a series of rounds. In each round, a new release of a 

document set happens. The first round was kicked off on April 15th, and there have been three rounds. The 

third is in progress. The size of the datasets more than doubled in between Rounds 2 and 3. 

The TREC-COVID website makes the data available from the research endeavor for people to improve their 

systems. Everything is public. The website contains score reports for every run that was submitted as well as 

analysis for what's been done so far on the collection being built and how the systems are doing. The plan is 

for five rounds total, and the final collection will be a cumulative set of 50 topics. Metadata will allow a series of 

individual rounds to be recovered as needed. Dr. Voorhees said this will provide a rich trove of data to NIST 

and the public of study collection-building under adverse conditions.

For more information, see Dr. Voorhees’ presentation.

Discussion

The group discussed the following topic areas:

• Is it realistic that a constellation of fragments is representative of normal SARS breakdown;

• Testing the curve of speed versus quality of papers being put out;

• Google being involved could be beneficial in evaluating documents coming into the system; and

• Physical mechanism for particle size below the minimum in particle efficiency.

SESSION III: NIST AND COVID-19 SAFETY AND OPERATIONS

NIST Framework for Reopening and What NIST is Doing to Protect Employees 

and Associates - Ms. Anita Vanek, Acting Director of Management Resources and 

Dr. Elizabeth Mackey, Chief Safety Officer and Director of Office of Safety, Health, 

and Environment

Ms. Vanek reported on NIST’s current situation. There are about 120 and 150 staff on-site between the two 

campuses. Normally, there's close to 5,000 to 7,000 between staff, contractors, and associates. Missionessential functions, SRM, distributions, select calibrations, and COVID-19-related research are continuing onsite. The environmental controls at the Advanced Measurement Laboratory is the only location running on the 

Gaithersburg campus due to reduction in central utility plan operations. In Boulder, it was possible to maintain 

environmental controls and continue mission-essential functions. 
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Ms. Vanek said a large number of staff are teleworking, roughly 3,600, on any given day, which translates to 93 

percent of the employees teleworking over a 30-day period. There are now virtual meetings, collaboration 

tools, and virtual onboarding.

There are four guiding principles for reopening:

• Ensure the ongoing safety of NIST staff;

• Create an operational ready state so services can be brought back online;

• Minimize number of staff on-site; and

• Decisions on what activities resume based on mission priorities.

There will be a phased approach to reopening. Right now, NIST is in limited access phase, and then there will 

be three phases afterwards. Phase One will be 25 percent of staff, Phase Two up to 50 percent, and Three go 

up to 75 percent of staff. The phases are determined by external factors, conditions in states and communities, 

guidance and regulations from local, state, and federal governments; and internal factors such as safety 

protocols in place, necessary supplies, and campus/buildings readiness for occupancy.

To begin Phase One, all external criteria must be met. Ms. Vanek said NIST is in at least a 2-week timeline as 

far as Gaithersburg for reconditioning. This includes availability of safety and hygiene supplies for the

reconditioning staff. Reconditioning for Gaithersburg will be longer because of the environmental controls.

Ms. Vanek explained the reopening team structure. The NIST management team is the deciding body for 

major policies and ultimately makes the decision on site status. The Executive Safety Committee will be the 

deciding body on safety policies and procedures. The Reopening Advisory Team consists of laboratory and 

management resource staff, which will oversee the day-to-day process for reopening policies and procedures. 

NIST is ensuring a safe work environment and consistent policies for all staff. Major activities include HRrelated policies for high-risk staff members, leave and telework; guidance for supervisors on how to talk to staff; 

safety protocols for working safely on campus; implementation of engineering controls, to include barriers, floor 

markings, ventilation; site cleaning and disinfections; acquisition of hygiene supplies, disinfectant wipes and 

hand sanitizers; positive case response, disinfection and contact tracing; and training for staff.

Dr. Mackey begin her portion of the presentation by providing an overview of NIST’s continuity of operations 

and pandemic plan, which is a requirement for each federal agency. When the first U.S. case was reported 

January 21st, NIST launched an incidence response team a week later. On March 11th, the World Health 

Organization declared this a pandemic. Then NIST put the pandemic plan in place, which talked about 

readiness. Currently, NIST is not post-pandemic and is still dealing with mitigation strategies. Dr. Mackey 

stated NIST and DOC came out with procedures needed to respond on March 23rd, which is when NIST went 

into mandatory telework.

Dr. Mackey provided an overview of the polices and process NIST used prior to the implementation of

mandatory telework to identify and track potential cases in order to mitigate the spread.

For all phases of the reopening, OMB guidance has basic safety precautions to follow: social distancing, 

hygiene practices including face coverings, cleaning and disinfection, use of PPE when required, ensuring that 

symptomatic people do not come to work, and contract tracing when an employee tests positive for COVID. 

Telework guidelines are very specific for Phases One, Two, and Three. Phase One still involves lifting 

mandatory telework but still using telework as an option. Phase Two, NIST would be permitted to lift the 

maximum telework but still use telework as part of the solution, maintaining lower levels of staffing. Phase 

Three, OMB calls "implement optimized operations and new work arrangements," which means that during the 

pandemic, there is a new normal or different way of doing things. 

Dr. Mackey expanded on what campus readiness should look like. That includes bringing the environmental 

controls back, making sure all mechanical systems are functioning properly, pest control, flushing water lines,

and evaluating the ventilation systems. Increasing ventilation and looking at filtration where feasible is being 

evaluated. Upgrades to routine cleaning and disinfection protocols must be in place. Some areas will have to 

be repurposed with new guidance for occupation limitations. Safety protocols have been issued as well as a 

return-to-work training has been drafted and under review by the Safety Advisory Committee, and then it will go 

to the Executive Safety Committee.
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For more information, see Ms. Vanek’s and Dr. Mackey’s presentation.

Discussion

The group discussed the following topic areas:

• Better communication to employees who want to get back to work;

• Balancing privacy concerns regarding employee absenteeism;

• No loss of life among team members at either major site;

• Several team members have been symptomatic, and a small number have tested positive;

• Disinfection of technical areas, mission-unique workstations, and special needs situations; and

• Need for NIST management to stay connected employees regularly.

SESSION IV: DISCUSSION WITH VCAT

Discussion with VCAT Members – What They Are Seeing as Concerns and Risks 

in Their Sectors – Dr. Allen Adler, VCAT Chair 

Dr. Adler began by thanking all the speakers and NIST as a whole and requested the VCAT members to 

address their concerns and/or comment on what they heard during the meeting.

Several members stated that the meeting was very productive and were impressed with the organization and 

dialogue. 

Ms. Prafullchandra emphasized the need for individuals to come back to a safe environment at work, and that 

from a global perspective, there may be local implications and cultural differences that are important to satisfy. 

Dr. Copan agreed that it is important for supervisors to have conversations with employees about issues of risk,

and respect issues of individual privacy and needs.

Ms. Ku is pleased that MEP is getting some recognition of doing a good job coordinating the manufacturers. 

She is concerned the Presidential budget request was pre-COVID and how it will change post-COVID since 

there will be additional expenses due to reconditioning phase of NIST campuses, as well as other issues that 

impact the budget. Dr. Copan agreed that MEP has delivered quite successfully and stated that NIST is in the 

early stages of the FY2022 budget formulation process. He also said NIST has been working closely with 

Department of Commerce on the next phases of the stimulus as well as how to support America's 

entrepreneurs and help stimulate the economy through incentivizing public sector engagement.

Dr. Khan was impressed with the manufacturing initiative across the country, but he reminded the committee 

that it is the most senior population that have the most comorbidities and are the most vulnerable as opposed 

to younger members of the team, that it is important to protect those members of the workforce for medical 

reasons due to the consequences of COVID.

Dr. Kaler had three comments. The first, that universities are worried about the second wave of COVID, and 

the need for NIST to be aware of this concern as well, especially the vulnerable employees. The second was 

to expect more enhanced and deeper calls for enhanced diversification in the workforce given the current 

situation around race conversations in the United States, and third, he suggested VCAT members keep in 

contact with Dr. Adler to ensure the voices of the VCAT members are harnessed in harmony with other 

supporters of NIST as the congressional budget rolls out. Dr. Copan replied that NIST campuses are closely 

embedded with academic institutions, and that NIST leadership will be meeting with Johns Hopkins University 

on Friday to discuss insights and best practices related to COVID-19. He mentioned the presidential directive 

about Chinese nationals and their participation in the U.S. student population, which is an important 

conversation to have as the Asian American postdoctoral fellows are important contributors to NIST and the 

country. 

Dr. Jackson appreciated the context given by Dr. Droegemeier and Mr. Kratsios on the sentiments about not 

letting a crisis go to waste in terms of streamlining and learning. He appreciated the MEP discussion and 

commended NIST team on progress of Privacy Framework, AI standards, PNT, and 5G spectrum sharing. He 
16

was pleased to see the progress of Bayh-Dole. He cautioned that standards efforts are now slowing down, and 

that the nation must continue work on technologies such as AI, 5G, and quantum. Dr. Jackson said that 

discipline is key to enforce social distancing and best practices at the workplace and hopes that leadership will 

stay on top of that. Dr. Copan said that NIST has been working with DOC, DOD, and the White House to look 

at elements that would help rebuild the sector and re-shore manufacturing capabilities as well as advanced 

manufacturing that would benefit the U.S. and its manufacturing sector.

Dr. Ishak mentioned that in Silicon Valley, some entities were moving equipment to employees' homes so they 

can continue to work at home. He also commended Dr. Copan for his communication skills, and he suggested 

a regular communication in the form of a half page to employees to keep them abreast of the current state of 

affairs would be a good thing for NIST. Dr. Ishak said it is important to acknowledge the minority community's 

thoughts about diversity and discrimination when speaking to them, but it is not appropriate to say, “you feel 

their pain”, if not a minority.

Dr. Folena-Wasserman expressed her appreciation of the progress NIIMBL has made, to include the University 

of Delaware, and how well organized they are. She mentioned bioprocessing during the pandemic is important 

because of vaccine approaches and monoclonal antibodies, biologics are important aspects of medicine, and 

NIST can help this effort by helping manufacturers develop and manufacture them faster. She also enjoyed the 

progress MEP has made. Dr. Copan commented that he is glad to have Ms. Bahar on the NIST team, and that 

the NIST colleagues, the National Network, and the Office of Advanced Manufacturing have been embedded 

with the work of NIIMBL. The concept of One NIST goes well with NIIMBL as NIST looks to the future of 

bioeconomy. Dr. Copan mentioned he is looking forward to having VCAT watch the movie The Last Artifact to 

be released nationally by PBS, which highlights how people at NIST are a part of the journey to global 

partnership and working with nations.

Dr. Cerf stated that the topic on TREC-COVID got his attention, as it is a challenge to get quantitative about 

information. He also stated that to position NIST to what it has been and needs to be in the future means 

investment, and he hopes NIST can persuade Congress that this would be a worthwhile investment.

Mr. Garvey stated he thought the MEP response during the COVID crisis proved the network was strong, and 

he encourages MEP to take the dataset of capabilities and overlay it on the reshoring efforts, as it will enhance 

the manufacturing prowess in the country and supply chain activities. He also cautioned about the emotional 

challenges that COVID has brought on as they start to bring people back to the workplace.

Dr. Adler thanked everybody for their contributions to the meeting, to include an outstanding series of 

presentations, and suggested the reason for the success of NIST is the values it espouses: people first, a high 

degree of collegiality among the NIST team, scientific integrity, analytical rigor, strong leadership, and paying 

attention to important strategies.

Administrative Business

Dr. Copan thanked the entire VCAT for investing their time and expertise with NIST to improve the mission of 

this institute for the nation. 

There were no public comments offered.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 PM. 

I hereby certify that to the best of my knowledge; the forgoing minutes are accurate and complete.

Stephanie Shaw, Designated Federal Officer, NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

Dr. E. Allen Adler, Chair, NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology