Virtual Meeting

June 8, 2021

NIST Update

Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology 

James K. Olthoff
Meeting Agenda

Session I: NIST Update – Programmatic Updates, Safety, and 

Telework/Remote Work Policy

Session II: Assessment of NIST’s Laboratories by the National Academies 

of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)

Session III: The Evolving Priority Landscape for NIST – New Opportunities 

and Responsibilities

Session IV: NIST Efforts in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Session V: NIST Strategic Plan Update

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VCAT Member Changes

Jay Alexander

Term ended May 21, 2021

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Image Credit: Keysight
VCAT Member Changes

Theodore (Tod) Sizer

Term ends August 27, 2021

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Image Credit: NIST
Session I: NIST Update

• NIST Programmatic Update

Discussion

• Safety – Keeping NIST Staff Safe During COVID

Discussion

• NCNR Situation Update

Discussion

• NIST Plans for Telework Post-Pandemic

Discussion

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Session II: Assessment of NIST’s Labs . . .

• Report out from NASEM Assessment of the Materials Measurement 

Laboratory and the Engineering Laboratory

Discussion

• From MML assessment

“NIST research is exceptional”

• From EL assessment

“EL Programs have contributed major advancements in measurement science, 

standards, and technology over the past decade”

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Session III: Evolving Priority Landscape . . .

• Budget Overview

Discussion

• Future Plans for Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and 

Manufacturing USA

Discussion

• NIST and Emerging Technology Standards Development

Discussion

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NIST Budget: FY 2022 Summary

$462.8 M (44.7%) increase over FY 2021 enacted levels:

• Fully fund inflationary adjustments to current programs

• Grow funding for nationally critical mission areas

• Expand NIST’s manufacturing programs

Positions NIST to address critical national priorities:

• Advanced Communications/5G

• Advanced Manufacturing & Semiconductors

• Artificial Intelligence

• Biotechnology 

• Climate, Environment, & Energy

• Cybersecurity and Privacy 

• Internet of Things

• Quantum Science

• Racial Equity

• Standards Leadership CARES Act funding in FY 2020 and 

ARP Act funding in FY 2021 not shown

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 Enacted FY 2022 Request

Dollars (millions)

NIST Budget Overview

STRS ITS CRF

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New Executive Orders

Charges agencies with partnering with Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) for supplier scouting

• Identify U.S. companies that can produce goods, products, and materials in the United States that meet Federal procurement needs

Charges agencies with reviewing global supply chains that support key 

U.S. industries to improve supply chain security

• Identify risks in semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging 

supply chains

• Report on supply chains for critical sectors and subsectors of ICT 

industrial base

• Partner with federal agencies and private stakeholders to ID and map 

critical supply chains

Executive Order 14028 (May 12)

Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity

Charges agencies with enhancing the security of the software supply chain

• Consult with stakeholders to identify or develop standards, tools, best 

practices, and guidelines to enhance software supply chain security

• Hold a software-related standards and guidelines workshop in June 

2021

• Recommend minimum standards for vendors’ testing of their software 

source code and publish guidelines by July 2021

• Initiate two pilot labeling programs related to secure software 

development practices and IoT to inform consumers about the security 

of their products

Executive Order 14017 (Feb 24)

America’s Supply Chains

Executive Order 14005 (Jan 25)

Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America's Workers

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Session IV: NIST Efforts in DEI

• Fireside Chat with NIST’s New Director of DEI

Discussion

• Findings and Recommendations from Data-Driven Studies: COACh

Study of STEM Promotion

Discussion

• Findings and Recommendations from Data-Driven Studies: ADLP 

Rotational Assignments

Discussion

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Session V: NIST Strategic Plan Update

• Update on New Initiatives

Discussion

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Program Highlights –

continued progress on our priorities 
WORKSHOPS

REPORTS

ADVISORY & WORKING GROUPS

Artificial Intelligence Updates 

• AI Federal Advisory Committee

• Currently being established

• AI Standards Coordination Working Group 

(AISCWG) under Interagency Committee 

for Standards Policy (ICSP) 

• Artificial Intelligence and User Trust

• NISTIR 8332

• Machine Learning for Access Control 

Policy Verification

• Draft NISTIR 8360

• Assessing and Improving AI Trustworthiness | NASEM

• March 03 – 04

• Secure Government Data Sharing | NSF/NIST

• May 21 & 26

• AI in Drug Development | FDA/NIST/DARPA

• June 31 – July 01

Image Credit: N. Hanacek/NIST

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Quantum Information Sciences Updates

Upcoming 

Workshops

Post-quantum 

Cryptography: Third PQC

Standardization 

Conference

June 7-9

19th International 

Workshop on Low 

Temperature Detectors

July 19-26

Recent Publications

Using optical fibers in 

supercomputing 

quantum computers

Nature

March 25

Entangling two 

mechanical drums and 

measuring their 

quantum properties

Science

May 7

Quantum Hall edge 

states images and 

underlying structure

Nature Communications

May 14

Quantum Economic 

Development Consortium 

(QED-C)

Celia Merzbacher 

appointed executive 

director of the QED-C 

March 15

Winners of the R&D 

competition on cryogenic 

technology have not 

been announced yet

NIST physicists measured and controlled a 

superconducting quantum bit (qubit) using lightconducting fiber (indicated by white arrow).

Image Credit: F. Lecocq/NIST

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• The team coaxed cells with the world’s smallest 

genomes to reproduce normally

• Discovery could sharpen our understanding of 

which functions are crucial for normal cells and 

what the many mysterious genes in these 

organisms are doing

• Underpins synthetic biology efforts involving the 

utilization of cells or cell-like objects to produce 

chemicals, sense environmental conditions, 

deliver drugs, etc.

J. F. PELLETIER ET AL., CELL (2021) 184, 1-11

Cells growing 

inappropriately

Cells growing 

appropriately 

following addition of 

genes

Elizabeth Strychalski (MML)

In collaboration with MIT, UWO, UCSD, JCVI

Engineering Biology: Research Highlight
Manufacturing USA Rapid Response to COVID-19

• Special report published in March 2021

• Presented at American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) congressional briefing

Manufacturing USA Update

Special COVID-19 report

https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ams/NIST.AMS.600-7.pdf

• NIIMBL is in the final year of a five-year cooperative agreement with NIST

• Successfully evaluated by an independent review panel with new NIST 

performance protocol

• Recommended for renewal

• NIST is planning additional institutes for FY22

American Rescue Plan – $150 million to NIST for additional highimpact pandemic response projects

• $90 million to NIIMBL for technology innovation supporting response to COVID-19

• $60 million to Rapid Assistance (for) Coronavirus Economic Response (RACER) Grant 

Program for R&D to prevent and respond to coronavirus

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New NIST Framework Strives for 

Cleaner, More Secure Power Grid

New in FY 2021 efforts in Direct Air 

Capture (DAC) and Carbon Capture 

Utilization and Storage (CCUS)

Image Credit: NIST

NIST is developing a comprehensive program to address 

current and future industry needs. 

Key OUs: MML and NCNR

Image Credit: Pixabay

Climate Update
Community Resilience 

Planning Playbook

• HUD collaboration for 

community engagement

• Used for IN-CORE User 

Interface

Lumberton Wave 2 

• Field study 

published April 2021

• Focus on social 

vulnerability, equity 

and recovery

IN-CORE User Workshop

• Community scale modeling 

and hazard scenarios

• Social and economic 

Impacts

Joplin Recommendations 

for Tornadoes

• New national tornado 

design requirements

• Targets high occupancy and 

critical buildings

Community Resilience

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Image Credit: ASCE/NIST

Image Credit: Community Resilience CoE
Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership Update

Increased MEP Supplier Scouting Activity

• New NIST MEP working group was formed in February 

• Significant national- and state-level activity related to 

pandemic and general supply chain needs

• Correlation with Made in America Executive Order 

14005 increasing national interest and participation 

Executive Order on Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers

“...Sec. 7. Supplier Scouting. To the extent appropriate and consistent with applicable law, agencies shall 

partner with the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), discussed in the Manufacturing 

Extension Partnership Improvement Act (title V of Public Law 114-329), to conduct supplier scouting in order 

to identify American companies, including small- and medium-sized companies, that are able to produce 

goods, products, and materials in the United States that meet Federal procurement needs...”

Pandemic Response

• Worked directly with state and local government

• Connected resources to needs

• Addressed issues with manufacturing PPE, medical 

supplies, and medical devices

• Maintained base operations and served all 

manufacturers

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Image Credit: CDC
DISCUSSION