National Institute of Standards and Technology 

-- NIST Planning Activities and Workforce Study--

VCAT June, 2015
Review of VCAT Workforce Discussion in 2014 

In 2014 the VCAT began to look at NIST Scientific Personnel 

Trends and Demographics. The VCAT reviewed data looking 

at:

– Whether NIST is still competitive for talent in terms of 

compensation

– Are we able to recruit and develop necessary talent

– How do we balance between long-term and short term hiring 

needs

• Discussion focused on:

– Better tracking of data around acceptance rates and compensation

– Study future workforce needs and whether additional hiring 

authorities will be needed.
National Priorities Long-Term Trends Internal Processes

VCAT Looking at how NIST should develop in 

growth areas of Bio and IT

How does NIST ensure a healthy scientific 

workforce?

NLB Planning 

Retreat

How has NIST’s profile, business model, 

and focus changed over the past 15 years?

How can NIST be most effective over next 

15 years?

Lab Plans Labs ID what they see as growth areas for 

next 3-5 years

Planning 

Discussions 

with Lab 

Directors

Joint discussions and deep dives into what 

NIST’s role in Bio and CPS is, and how we 

integrate across labs in both areas.

Joint discussion about trends identified in 

Lab Plans, feeds into 3 year plan.

When does a “framework” make sense?

Do legacy business models and tech 

transfer mechanisms make sense with 

current technology areas, societal trends?

Task Groups How can we improve the mission-critical 

processes that make NIST run?

Some underlying questions: Who gets to 

make a final decision? Who can assume 

the risk? What risks can we tolerate or 

even embrace? What’s the risk 

tolerance/hierarchy?

Outputs 3 Year Plan, VCAT Report, NIST wide 

budget initiatives, etc.

Common vision and understanding of NIST 

for transition planning, more cohesive 

strategic decision support, continued 

improvement on NIST operations

HR Resources Needs will be a focus of NIST Planning activities over 

the coming year
Plan for Workforce Study 

• NIST needs to conduct a comprehensive 

workforce study:

– Assessment of future workforce needs (skills, 

education levels, existing pipelines)

– Assessment of external workforce factor 

(sources, trends in education, new demands 

millennials and beyond)

– Benchmarking and lessons learned from 

other agencies
Initial study with IT and Bio Focus

• To support VCAT’s focus in this area we 

will launch a pilot study to look at work 

force needs in this area:

– determine the current workforce resources and how 

they will evolve over time (planned hires, potential 

retirements, etc.)

– develop specifications on the skill 

sets/competencies/technical specialties needed for 

the future in these two areas

– identify gaps between current and projected 

workforce needs (both numbers and skill sets)
NIST Postdoctoral Panel

Give the VCAT a chance 

to hear directly from 

NIST postdocs

• Why they wanted to work 

at NIST?

• What makes NIST 

attractive?

• Why they chose to stay or 

leave?

NRC Postdoc 

Program 

Critical for NIST

2 year excepted service position

Competitive stipend 

Open to U.S. Citizens

Selected from a National 

Competition
NIST NRC Post-Doctoral Program

11

8

14

15 15

13 13

15

19

12

19

22

10 10

17

14

13

7

8

19

17

21

8

11

5

10

5

9

4 4 4

1

4

3

0

2

0

5

10

15

20

25

FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014

NIST NRC Post-Doctoral Associates 

Ending NIST Tenure

Hired by Private Sector

Hired by NIST

Quasi hired by NIST (i.e. contractor, guest researcher)

Hired by Academia

Hired by Another Government Agency

Other (independent researchers, etc.)
Post-doc Panel

Current Post-docs

• Rana Ashkar

• Yvonne Kemper

• Diana Ortiz-Montalvo

• Leona Scanlan

• Benjamin Stuhl

Former NIST Post-docs

• Peter Krommenhoek

• Daneli Lopez

• Jeanita Pritchett