2002 Annual Report

THE NIST VISITING COMMITTEE

ON ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

JANUARY 2003
Report prepared by:

Dr. Bruce F. Field

VCAT Executive Director

For information regarding the NIST Visiting Committee

on Advanced Technology, contact:

Ms. Carolyn Peters

VCAT Administrative Coordinator

National Institute of Standards and Technology

100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1004

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1004

(310) 975-5607

Email: carolyn.peters@nist.gov
i

The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT) of the National Institute of Standards

and Technology (NIST) was established in its present form by the Omnibus Trade and

Competitiveness Act of 1988. The VCAT reviews and makes recommendations regarding

general policy for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, its organization, its

budget, and its programs, within the framework of applicable national policies as set forth by the

President and the Congress. It submits an annual report to the Secretary of Commerce for submission to the Congress. This Fiscal Year 2002 annual report covers the December 2001

meeting through the September 2002 meeting.

The Committee studies the allocation of resources employed to achieve NIST’s mission as well

as the policies and processes employed by NIST management to optimize the overall effectiveness of the Institute’s programs. Over time, the Committee seeks to cover the full spectrum of

activity at NIST. In addition to direct discussion with NIST leaders and professionals, the

committee reviews reports from the National Research Council Board of Assessment (of the

technical excellence of NIST’s programs), the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program

(MEP) National Advisory Board, and the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) Advisory

Committee. In light of the broad experience represented by the VCAT and the other Boards, this

approach delivers a reliable overview of NIST. Reactions and observations are discussed

candidly with the NIST representatives involved at each meeting. This feedback is positively

received, and we see much evidence of constructive response to it.

Members of the Committee are selected on the basis of their backgrounds and experience and

are appointed by the NIST Director to staggered 3-year terms. Three new members joined the

Committee during 2002, Mr. Gary Floss, Dr. Richard Gross, and Dr. Jenny Hunter-Cevera.

Preface
ii

DR. JUAN M. SANCHEZ

VCAT Chair

Vice President for Research

University of Texas, Austin

MR. GARY D. FLOSS

Business Partner

Bluefire Partners

DR. RICHARD M. GROSS

Corporate Vice President of

Research and Development

The Dow Chemical Company

DEBORAH L. GRUBBE

Corporate Director, Safety &

Health

DuPont Safety, Health,

Environment

DR. JENNIE C.

HUNTER-CEVERA

President

University of Maryland

Biotechnology Institute

DR. CAROLINE A. KOVAC

Vice President

Life Sciences Solutions

IBM

DR. THOMAS A. MANUEL

Retired President

Council for Chemical Research

WAYNE H. PITCHER, JR.

Technology Management

Consultant

DR. F. RAYMOND SALEMME

President and Chief

Scientific Officer

3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

DR. APRIL M. SCHWEIGHART

Product Business Manager

Motorola

MASAYOSHI TOMIZUKA

Director, Engineering Systems

Research Center

University of California, Berkeley

2002 Visiting Committee Members

LLOYD R. HARRIOTT

Professor

Dept. of Electrical and Computer

Engineering

University of Virginia
1

The NIST Visiting Committee on

Advanced Technology (VCAT)

reviews and makes recommendations regarding general policy for

the National Institute of Standards

and Technology (NIST), its organization, its budget, and its

programs, within the framework of

applicable national policies as set

forth by the President and the

Congress. We present our findings

in this annual report to the

Secretary of Commerce for submission to the Congress. 

The VCAT is convinced of the

great current value provided by

NIST to its sponsors and constituencies. The Committee is

gratified that NIST is evolving to

higher levels of performance, consistent with past Committee recommendations. Particularly noteworthy accomplishments this year

are:

• the development of a meaningful Strategic Plan process that

cuts across the existing organizational boundaries, 

• providing an appropriate and

rapid response to the 2001

terrorist attacks, effectively

marshalling many of NISTs

varied competencies and redirecting resources internally as

necessary,

• fostering an environment that

encourages excellence in

science as evidenced by the

award of the 2001 Nobel Prize

in physics to Eric Cornell et al.,

the second Nobel Prize for

NIST staff since 1997.

However, the increasing interdisciplinary nature of R&D, and

increasingly globally distributed

nature of R&D networks and

organizations, creates an environment in which NIST must become

even more flexible in developing

new competencies and shifting

resources to meet emerging opportunities. In light of these factors

the VCAT offers the following

conclusions and recommendations:

• Several funding issues are

alarming. The increasing

shortfall in research funding,

the additional budgetary

burdens resulting from

unfunded mandates, the lack of

adequate funding for equipment

for the Advanced Measurement

Laboratory, and the necessity of

deferring maintenance are

critical situations. It is imperative that NIST be adequately

funded to be able to meet

national needs and continue to

provide excellent service to the

Nation with its research.

• NIST must now quickly move

to implement the strategic plan

at the Operating Unit level,

providing more detail on reprogramming efforts and what

specific research programs will

support higher-level plan goals,

consistent with customer needs.

NIST must continue the

process it has started—to

develop a method for managing

resources on a NIST-wide

basis.

• Performance metrics should be

developed for the organization

and its portfolio of projects. A

cascading set of metrics with

intermediate milestones and

leading indicators should be

developed to integrate individual and project objectives with

overall goals. The development of effective performance

metrics will be an iterative

process, and NIST should continuously review the effectiveness of its metrics, concentrating on the useful ones and

replacing the less effective

ones. 

• Additional collaborations with

industry, academia, and other

Federal agencies are encouraged to leverage NIST contributions within a limited budget

and to increase responsiveness

to customer needs. Successful

NIST collaborations through

the Center for Advanced

Research in Biotechnology

(CARB) and JILA demonstrate

the value of this approach.

These and related points are

discussed in more detail in Section

II. Section III summarizes and

consolidates the information from

NIST presentations to the

Committee. Further details can be

found on the VCAT Web site:

http://www.nist.gov/director/vcat/.

I. Executive Summary
2

New methods for analyzing degraded DNA tissue

samples developed by NIST chemists are helping to

identify victims of the World Trade Center disaster.

©Robert Rathe
3

The VCAT again finds NIST to be a

significant national asset that is recognized as the world’s leading

measurement and standards organization. NIST provides irreplaceable

services to U.S. business and

industry by underpinning our measurements and standards infrastructure. This role is indispensable to

maintaining and enhancing productivity and competitiveness; enabling

international trade; and improving

public health, safety, and environmental quality. However, the

Committee can best provide value to

NIST and its stakeholders by

focusing on areas where NIST can

improve, rather than celebrating at

length the recognized technical

excellence of NIST. 

This year the Committee focused

primarily on the development of the

NIST strategic plan. This is a

critical step in making NIST more

responsive to a changing technology

environment in the face of constrained budgets. Issues and recommendations that the Committee

views as important to NIST were

discussed thoroughly with NIST

management at the quarterly

meetings, and the results of those

discussions are presented in this

section.

A. Budget

The immediate funding situation

with regard to NIST research and its

facilities is alarming. The

Committee is concerned about the

increasing shortfall in research

funding resulting from inadequate

adjustment-to-base funding to cover

increased research costs and the

additional budgetary burdens

resulting from mandatory salary and

benefit increases without sufficient

funding. While the VCAT sees

evidence of significant expense

reductions, research costs have

increased at a significantly higher

rate than the inflation-adjusted

funding increases. Further, chronic

underfunding of the Safety,

Capacity, Maintenance, and Major

Repair (SCMMR) budget has

resulted in a deferred backlog of

safety and maintenance upgrades

that will predictably lead to serious

interruptions of NIST’s research and

expose staff to increased safety risks

through failure of aging roofs,

heating plants, and electrical

switchgear. Finally, the Advanced

Measurements Laboratory (AML)

will be unique in the world and is

expected to play an important role in

accelerating the transition to the

commercial sector of many technoII. Discussion of Key Issues

NIST’s Advanced Measurement

Laboratory, now under construction,

will be one of the most advanced

research buildings in the world when

occupied in 2004.
4

logical innovations emerging from

the Nation’s research investment.

It is imperative to our industrial

competitiveness that the AML be

fully equipped as initially planned. 

As a result of these concerns, the

Committee has written a letter to

the Secretary of Commerce to

increase his awareness of these

critical budgetary needs related to

the maintenance and operation of

NIST’s facilities and research.

The VCAT sees the proper funding

of NIST as an issue of critical

importance to the long-term health

of the organization and to its

ability to continue to provide

excellent service to the Nation.

The VCAT intends to review the

long-term budget issue in more

detail in future meetings and to

define an appropriate role for the

Committee to help improve

NIST’s budget situation. 

The A-76 commercial activity outsourcing assessment that NIST is

beginning to undertake is an

excellent opportunity for NIST to

go beyond the mandate and

actively seek additional efficiencies and cost savings. The

Committee has offered to apply its

expertise in helping NIST with this

matter.

B. NIST 2010 Strategic Plan—

General Comments

The Committee commends the

NIST management in bringing the

NIST 2010 Strategic Plan together

and, more importantly, in developing a thinking process that cuts

across the existing organizational

boundaries. This plan articulates

very well the mission, vision, and

goals of NIST. It is a necessary

step to permit NIST to strike a

balance between new activities and

industries and traditional activities.

NIST correctly recognizes that the

strategic planning process is just

that, a continuing process that does

not end with the production of a

strategic plan. 

Future NIST appropriations will

be made in a climate of constrained Federal budgets. This

will produce greater challenges

for the organization to meet its

current obligations to its stakeholders, while developing new

programs to meet changing

national needs and priorities.

Programs should respond to the

outside world rather than

conform to the internal structure.

NIST must now quickly move to

implement the strategic plan at

the Operating Unit level,

providing more detail on reprogramming efforts and what

specific research programs will

support higher-level plan goals,

consistent with customer needs. 

C. Strategic Plan

Programmatic Goals and

Strategies

The specific focus areas chosen

are appropriate for NIST.

However, the rationale for

selection of the research initiatives

and how much the choices were

driven by external customer

interests is not yet clear. The programmatic Strategic Focus Areas

(SFAs) are appropriately intended

to consolidate work across

Operating Units. Yet there

continues to be important existing

core-competency work not directly

related to one of the programmatic

SFAs. NIST needs to include in

the strategic plan, and show that it

values, this core work that is not

directly covered by the SFAs.

In particular, two focus areas

engendered some discussion

within the Committee.

Nanotechnology is perceived as a

very broad area in which industry

and academia are already actively

involved. Thus, the Committee

recommends that NIST discriminate clearly its planned focus and

expected contributions. Likewise,

the Committee recognized the

research focus on Interoperability

for Collaboration and Testing

Table 1 - NIST-Wide Strategic Focus

Areas (SFAs)

Programmatic SFAs

Homeland Security

Health Care

Information/Knowledge

Management

Nanotechnology

Organizational SFAs

Customer Focus

People

IT Infrastructure
(within the Information /

Knowledge Management SFA) to

be very broad. The VCAT again

recommends that NIST’s work in

this area be more narrowly defined

with a higher degree of specificity.

This improved focus should help

increase NIST’s impact in the area

and facilitate the development of

appropriate performance measures. 

NIST demonstrated valuable

technical responses to the

September 11 attacks. This case

demonstrates how the existence of

a broad spectrum of previously

nurtured technical competencies

can enable a meaningful response

to emergent needs. A greater

NIST role in the areas of building

construction and safety, such as

being a strong advocate for

improving building codes, would

be beneficial here, and we support

efforts to find more resources for

it. This case also points out the

need for, and the importance of, a

system for rapidly re-deploying

resources on a NIST-wide basis.

As yet, NIST does not have

needed mechanisms in place to

permit managing resources across

Operating Units. 

D. Organization Values and

Goals

NIST has made significant and

measurable progress in establishing the right conceptual framework

to achieve diversity. The actual

implementation of the program

will require some degree of

cultural change, as well as a

concerted

effort by

upper management to

clearly

demonstrate

the practical

benefits to

NIST of a

well-balanced

work force.

NIST must

apply the

diversity

principles

that it has

developed to

the hiring of

personnel at

the highest

levels in the

organization.

Although the

safety record

of NIST is

good when

compared to

similar organizations, NIST must

continue to develop a widespread

and naturally accepted safety

culture throughout the organization. NIST management understands clearly the steps that must

be taken.

A more highly centralized and

controlled Information Technology

(IT) system would offer NIST

increased productivity and efficiency. Plans to move in this

direction are underway, and the

Committee urges NIST to move

forward as rapidly as possible.

5

NIST physicists use a room-sized

instrument that produces ultra cold

temperatures and ultra high vacuum to

measure electronic and magnetic

properties within nanostructures on an

atom-by-atom basis.

©Robert Rathe
6

E. Performance Metrics

The Committee recognizes that

selection of appropriate performance measures is critical to the

execution of the NIST strategic

plan. Such measures will also be

critical to demonstrate the value of

the organization to its constituencies and stakeholders. The

Committee scheduled working

sessions with NIST management to

assist them in the challenging task

of developing and fine-tuning such

performance measures. At present,

NIST’s evaluation plan depends on

external peer assessment, quantitative output metrics, customer satisfaction data, and economic impact

studies. The Senior Management

Board is focusing on the correct

issues related to performance,

diversity, and metrics (the

balanced scorecard). 

The Committee recommends that

performance metrics should be

developed for the organization as a

whole, for the portfolio of its

projects. A cascading set of

metrics with a focus on some

intermediate milestones, and some

leading indicators, should be

developed for programs within the

portfolio. The criteria that drive

the program prioritization process

should be coordinated with the

metrics. All employees ultimately

need to be focused on a few

important strategic objectives. The

development of effective performance metrics will be an iterative

process, and NIST must continuously review the effectiveness of

its metrics and replace those found

to be less effective. 

F. Collaborations, Strategic

Partnerships, and Outreach

NIST effectively reaches out to a

variety of organizations at the

bench level, and uses the news

organizations to reach higher

levels in organizations. The NIST

Director has been particularly

effective in interacting with

Congress to increase their

awareness of opportunities where

NIST can meet national needs.

Such efforts will be beneficial in

the long term. NIST also uses

workshops, conducted under the

Department of Commerce

Technology Administration, to

reach leaders from industry, university presidents, and directors of

national laboratories. Improved

collaborations with these organizations are critical to enhancing

NIST’s ability to carry out its

mission in a climate of flat or

declining budgets. 

The Committee recommends that,

as a first step, NIST develop a

partnership model with an estimate

of benefits that accrue to all the

collaborators. Even more, and

stronger, collaborations with

industry, academia, and other

Federal agencies are encouraged.

JILA and the Center for Advanced

Research in Biotechnology

(CARB) are two outstanding

examples of the success of this

tactic. Possible problems with

intellectual property rights and

issues of proprietary research are

routinely dealt with by public universities. We further recommend

that NIST review such policies and

procedures for application to their

situation.

NIST also needs to strengthen

further its connection with industry

leaders and better focus its

message to that audience.

Measurements are such an integral

part of science that there is a lackof-awareness issue within industry

as to the difficulty of such measurements and the need for NIST

expertise. 

G. Extramural Programs

The renewed commitment to the

Advanced Technology Program

(ATP) is a positive sign, and the

changes recommended by

Secretary Evans will bring stability

to a program of significant value

to the Nation. In an environment

of long-term financial stability and

widespread support, NIST is

uniquely qualified to lead the

implementation of the program in

a way that increases its impact.

NIST is to be commended for its

visionary and proactive management of the National Quality

Program (NQP). Efforts to expand

participation of educational institutions are on target and should

continue to be a priority area for the

program. The dissemination of the

principles behind the NQP to educational institutions is an area with

great potential impact to the Nation. 
7

The significant reduction in

funding for the Manufacturing

Extension Partnership (MEP)

program in the President’s 2003

budget request is of concern to the

Committee. The most likely

outcome of the elimination of

Federal funding to the Centers will

be the end of the program. This

would be certainly an unfortunate

development since MEP has been

a strong, well-managed, and

clearly valuable program of broad

impact. However, we also

recognize that such funding

decisions are being made in a

context that transcends the preferences of NIST and/or the VCAT.
8

The Committee meets quarterly

with NIST management and staff

at NIST’s Gaithersburg (March,

June, December) and Boulder

(September) locations. This year,

in addition to formal presentations

and laboratory tours, a series of

interactive “working sessions”

were held during which the VCAT

provided further input and

guidance to NIST management.

These were useful, and the

Committee expects to continue

them at future meetings. The

major points discussed at the

meetings are summarized below.

Additional information may be

found in the meeting minutes on

the VCAT Web site,

http://www.nist.gov/director/vcat/. 

A. Preeminent Performance:

The NIST 2010 Strategic Plan

Preeminent Performance, the NIST

2010 Strategic Plan, is a long-term

planning process. NIST is focused

on developing the ongoing

process, not just the plan itself.

The goal is to 1) envision the

Institute’s future, 2) establish longterm goals, and 3) allow reprogramming of resources. Right

now NIST is at the transition

between steps 2 and 3. The

current NIST budget request, for

example, is a strong match to the

strategic focus areas. 

The plan describes the NIST

mission and core values, covers all

of NIST, and focuses on NISTwide opportunities. It provides an

integrated planning process, is

designed to be dynamic, and will

provide the basis for the Operating

Unit (OU) plans. The title

“Preeminent Performance” was

chosen to indicate that the plan:

• is responsive to the President’s

management agenda, 

• identifies areas where NIST has

unique value, 

• is responsive to national needs

through service to industry and

other agencies, 

• provides for prominent participation in national and global

science and technology, and 

• demands accountability to

NIST’s external stakeholders

and to itself.

The VCAT was provided with

draft copies of the plan and asked

by NIST to comment specifically

on 1) whether the case for NIST is

compelling, i.e., is it clear what

problems are being solved and if

NIST is the appropriate agency

and has sufficient resources to

pursue these problems, 2) recommended strategies for communication of the plan to NIST stakeholders, and 3) whether the anticipated

impacts of this work are well

specified and whether there are

mechanisms in place to properly

evaluate the success of the work.

Several sessions were held during

the quarterly meetings to discuss

these issues among the Committee

members and provide suggestions

to NIST management.

The plan identifies seven Strategic

Focus Areas (SFAs) (see Table 1,

page 4). Four are in programmatic

(technical) areas, where advances

in technology require improved

measurement expertise, and three

are in organizational areas that

form the foundation of NIST’s

organizational performance. The

SFAs were developed through

offsite meetings and focus group

sessions. The areas were chosen

based on their greatest potential

for future impact. All these areas

will require collaboration across

multiple OUs. To accomplish its

goals NIST will require new and

stronger internal and external partnerships. The strategic focus areas

are intended to consolidate work

across Operating Units. There will

continue to be a large amount of

core-competency work not directly

related to one of the four programmatic strategic focus areas. NIST

now needs to include in the

strategic plan this work not

directly covered by the strategic

focus areas. The VCAT was

briefed on the research goals, technology environment, and expected

impact of planned NIST work for

most of the SFAs. 

B. Programmatic Strategic

Focus Areas 

Health Care 

Health Care is a large element of

the economy, and U.S. companies

are leaders in this industry

worldwide. Research and commercial development are now

outpacing improvements in measurement infrastructure. This

typically happens in R&D areas,

III. Committee Review Activities
but in health care it is impeding

the implementation of new

findings to the people who need

them. There is a need for

improved measurements right now.

To help U.S. industry develop and

apply technology, measurements,

and standards, NIST first identifies

specific needs that are appropriate

to its expertise. One such area is

clinical diagnostics. The next generation of diagnostics, array-based

diagnostics, where one is looking

for patterns of markers, is

complex. The quality of these

arrays is now largely suspect.

Whole clinical trials have been

declared useless because of inadequate measurement control. Also

needed are standards for interoperability and security of Information

Technology systems, and impartial

technical advice to industry groups

and regulatory bodies. Regulatory

agencies are currently questioning

measurement results. 

As a result of planned work, NIST

anticipates faster and better regulatory decisions, faster introduction

of new technologies, improved

confidence in research and clinical

conclusions, more efficient studies

and diagnoses, better decisions

throughout clinical practice, and

better quality health care overall. 

Information/Knowledge

Management

Information/Knowledge

Management (IKM) is a very

broad area that needs careful definition. For the NIST strategic

plan, IKM is viewed to include the

future research and development

needed for the general creation

and sharing of knowledge. 

The specific IKM thrust areas that

NIST has identified as appropriate

for them are: standards and performance metrics for integrating

applications and systems, facilitating effective sharing and collaboration, and advancing critically

evaluated data management technologies. NIST has developed

white papers in these areas, and

has surveyed industry and staff.

9

A practical method for building a

quantum computer has been proposed

by NIST physicists. Computers based on

the quantum properties of individual

atoms may someday solve problems in

seconds that would take months on

today’s best supercomputers.

©Geoffrey Wheeler
The response is positive—NIST

can make important contributions

in these infrastructural technologies. A National Research Council

(NRC) workshop identified this as

an important future environment

for NIST.

The impact of NIST’s work is

expected to be broad based:

improved R&D productivity,

improved manufacturing productivity and reduced cycle time,

improved health care quality, and

enhanced general business productivity. Interoperability issues that

are now dealt with by industry on

a spot basis will be facilitated by

performance metrics, tests, and

standards. Economic impact

studies of previous, related, efforts

have indicated NIST’s work has

had significant impact—we expect

that to be true for this effort also.

This work also complements new

Federal R&D investments in information exploitation for homeland

security and fills a critical technology need in the Federal IT R&D

portfolio.

Nanotechnology

NIST views nanotechnology as a

future disruptive commercial technology. It has multi-sector impact,

while innovation and commercialization are limited by an inadequate metrology infrastructure.

NIST intends to achieve a technological advantage in nanotechnology by providing industry, government, and university research

efforts with nanoscale measurements and data capabilities that are

unmatched in the world. 

Immediate needs are for measurements, standards, and data to

establish the accuracy and reliability of nanoscale measurements for

materials characterization, e.g., for

nanomagnetic memory and storage

devices. Reproducible measurement techniques and uncertainty

specifications for quantum

computing and quantum electronic

devices is a future need, but could

potentially have the highest

impact. Some of the tools used for

quantum information, such as

single photon sources and

detectors, are also essential

metrology tools in representing the

Système International (SI) units

and within the scope of NIST

competencies. 

As a result of this planned

research, NIST expects: an accelerated development of innovative

technologies through more

efficient and productive R&D; an

accelerated commercial development of nanomagnetic technologies and next-generation microelectronic devices; and an accelerated development of nanoscale

biomaterials and new health care

technologies. These tasks will

foster work in all of the NIST

research laboratories.

Two specific, ongoing programs in

nanotechnology were described to

the Committee.

Moletronics (molecular electronics) is a new approach to electric

circuits, finding molecules that

perform electrical functions.

Motivating this research is the

increasing need to reduce device

size. Molecules are potentially a

good approach, as even big

molecules are small. One can also

control the electrical function

through chemical synthesis, and

molecules can be made to selfassemble. The role for NIST is to

develop the measurement tools and

data necessary to measure, model,

and control the flow of charge

through molecules and ensembles

of molecules. 

The second program, Single

Molecule Manipulation and

Measurement, is to develop and

integrate new measurement

methods to probe the structure,

function, and dynamics of single

biomolecules (DNA and RNA).

Measurements must be made on

single molecules as ensemble

averaging obscures fine-grained

detail produced by individual

molecules. The NIST measurement

challenge is to make complete

structural and functional measurements on single molecules. 

Homeland Security

The NIST goals for homeland

security are to become the lead

provider of measurement infrastructure, measures of system performance, and quality assurance

for homeland security technolo10
11

gies. The objectives are to

encourage adoption and use of

NIST measurements and data to

reduce vulnerability of critical

systems; provide more effective

deterrence against attacks; have

safer, more effective, first responders; and field more cost-effective

security measures. 

The most effective role for NIST is

to provide the measurements,

standards, data, and more comprehensive advice needed by other

agencies and the private sector to

minimize cost-effectively the risk

and consequences of future

attacks. Some examples of recent

work include: standards for airport

security x-ray machines and metal

detectors; new methods of

detecting concealed weapons and

threats; improved biometric identification technologies; improved

methods and standards for DNA

analysis; new standards for

ionizing radiation, first-ever

protocols for irradiation of mail;

and new standards for cyber

encryption. 

NIST has taken the lead to develop

lessons learned from September 11

attacks, and to reduce the vulnerability of buildings and physical

infrastructure to future terrorist

attacks, of whatever sort. A

response plan, which will be at

least a three-year effort, has been

developed to bring NIST’s

expertise in measurement and

modeling together with the private

sector. A great deal of information

to improve building safety is

already available, and more will be

developed as the analysis of the

World Trade Center proceeds.

NIST sees a need for a National

Construction Safety Board that

functions in a manner similar to

the way that the National

Transportation Safety Board

(NTSB) functions for the transportation industry. When building

disasters occur, an independent,

open investigation is needed to

ensure that the knowledge gained

is applied to building codes and

practices. 

NIST also successfully developed

a protocol for the Postal Service

for irradiating anthrax-contaminated mail. Millions of pieces of mail

were contaminated as they moved

through the Brentwood processing

center. NIST modeling showed,

The lead investigator for NIST’s study of

the World Trade Center buildings shows

reporters where steel samples now under

study at NIST stood in the building

before its collapse.

photo by Denease Anderson
and its testing confirmed that an

adequate dose could be provided

using conventional medical

treatment tools.

C. Organizational Strategic

Focus Areas

Customer Focus

NIST recognizes that customer

focus is an important issue, where

one should treat the customer as an

appreciating asset. NIST’s goal is

to better understand customer

needs and market trends, strengthen relationships with customers

and stakeholders, and develop

strategic partnerships. The

Baldrige criteria were strongly

considered while developing the

key components of a customerfocused organization, and the

impact of the program will be

measured by the Baldrige criteria.

Anticipated impacts of the

program are improvements in

customer satisfaction levels, a

continued and more systematic

alignment of NIST work with

customer needs, new and more

productive relationships, increased

stakeholder support, and continuous organizational improvement. 

People

NIST is focusing on safety as part

of its core values. The NIST

Director, Deputy Director, and

Operating Unit Directors meet

regularly to plan and implement

procedures to improve safety at

NIST. From several internal

meetings, a safety action plan has

been developed. Although measurement excellence is a pervasive

value at NIST, up until now safety

has not been a priority. 

The NIST Diversity Advisory

Board, an internal advisory

committee with representatives

from all OUs in NIST, is at work

on a number of initiatives.

Guiding principles are that leadership, accountability, and transformation are equally important when

applied to people, as when applied

to technical excellence. NIST has

a keen awareness of all its responsibilities in managing its human

resource capital. NIST intends to

approach diversity in a broad and

comprehensive way at the line

management level, not managed

from a single office or advisory

board. The NIST strategic plan

diversity goal is to foster an environment where core values include

people who are respected, valued,

and supported by each other in all

their activities. 

In addition to NIST’s desire to

manage its “human capital” effectively, NIST is also held accountable to the President’s

Management Agenda. The agenda

is intended to make the Federal

bureaucracy customer focused,

results oriented, and open. To

meet these objectives, NIST

already has a fundamentally sound,

mission-oriented organizational

structure, and it has a good

staff/manager ratio, particularly

when guest researchers are

included. Long-term, NIST recognizes it must continue to attract

and retain very high-quality

technical and non-technical staff

members, while general and

specific workforce trends will significantly impact NIST’s future

organizational environment. The

VCAT has offered to assist NIST

in benchmarking its practices to

other organizations, and identify

what workplace trends may impact

its markets.

Information Technology (IT)

Utilization at NIST

NIST is working to build its infrastructure to support its current and

anticipated interdisciplinary

research structures. Its goal is to

use information science and technology effectively and efficiently

in creating, managing, and disseminating NIST’s knowledge capital.

In addition, NIST has some very

significant business processes with

specific constituents (ATP, MEP,

grants management) that require

secured, interactive processes to

protect the proprietary information

that is exchanged. This highly

sensitive information also has

specific archival requirements. 

The present NIST computing and

network environment includes a

modest centralized scientific

computing facility as well as 4750

PCs serving over 3500 users.

Although there is some centralization of NIST IT services in the

Information Technology

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Laboratory, there is very significant “distributed computing” going

on within the Operating Units.

NIST management wants to consolidate all that activity into a

single IT service in order to reduce

costs. The present major centralized component consists of 120

people providing PC support, Web

services, email server support, scientific computing support,

software support, administrative

and financial systems support,

network operation support,

telephone service, security operations, and physical plant operations. NIST will also re-evaluate

its scientific computing environment. For example, there are

heavy computational needs in

chemistry, and also a need for distributed “cluster” configurations

for the other laboratories. 

D. Reforms to Strengthen the

Advanced Technology

Program 

The Advanced Technology

Program (ATP) accelerates the

development of innovative technologies for broad national benefit

through partnerships with the

private sector. There has been

some controversy over the life of

the Program. NIST recognizes

that it is important to build on the

Program’s success while acknowledging valid criticism. The VCAT

was briefed in some detail on

reforms recommended by the

Secretary of Commerce designed

to strengthen the Program and

stabilize its funding. 

Reform 1 - Universities can lead

joint ventures. 

Reform 2 - Universities and other

non-profit organizations can own

ATP-funded patents.

Reform 3 - Large firms may participate in joint ventures. 

Reform 4 - Institute royalties on

Government investments in profitable ATP joint ventures. 

Reform 5 - Ensure that ATP

funding is used only to support

removal of scientific or technology

barriers. 

Reform 6 - Improve the project

review and evaluation process.

The Program has also been under

review by other entities, particularly the ATP Advisory Committee

and the National Research

Council. Generally these external

assessments conclude that the

Program is doing well. The VCAT

appreciates the emphasis of the

ATP on joint ventures, as this is

quite different from other

Government programs, and serves

well to distinguish the Program.

However, if the Program is going

to be effective it must come to

grips with the issue of funding

stability. These reforms are a

positive effort to bring such

needed stability to the Program. 

E. Baldrige National Quality

Program 

The Baldrige National Quality

Program (BNQP) is a

March 7, 2002, ceremony honoring the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

winners. (L to R) Commerce Secretary Donald Evans; Nathaniel Moore, student, Chugach

School District; Richard DeLorenzo, superintendent of schools, Chugach School District;

President Bush; Education Secretary Rod Paige.

photo by Ron Bell
14

public/private partnership. BNQP

works with roughly 400 examiners

who come from the private sector.

A private foundation raises funds

for the awards and manages the

endowment, but has no part in

making the awards, nor in funding

the NIST office.

Reviewing application submissions

from previous years, one notes

submissions have generally been

decreasing from a peak in 1991

that was created when Motorola

required that all their suppliers

apply for the Baldrige. However

at that time there were 111 State

and local applications, and in 2000

there were 800 to 1000 State and

local applications. 

NIST intends to increase the

number of national Baldrige award

applications through a marketing

plan implementation and an

education program. Although

Baldrige is well known—for

example, it is covered in virtually

all MBA programs in the United

States—State and local winner

CEOs will be encouraged to apply

for the national award. Current

examiners can be the best

advocates for the programs and

will be provided with marketing

information. Workshops and

exhibits at conferences are

planned, and a series of CEO

information sheets have been distributed. Advertisements have also

been placed in minority business

publications and industry sectors

that are typically underrepresented,

to encourage applications for the

award and to seek examiners. 

Plans are also underway to include

a not-for-profit category in the

2004 cycle. With the inclusion of

this last category the Program will

cover the entire economy. 

F. Overview of NRC Board on

Assessment FY2002

Evaluation of NIST Labs

Dr. Capuano, Chair of the National

Research Council/National

Academies Board on assessment

of NIST Programs, reviewed the

Board’s recent evaluation of

NIST. The Board was asked to

assess the NIST laboratory

research programs on technical

merit, effectiveness of execution,

relevance to customer needs, and

adequacy of facilities. The

Assessment is distilled from the

collected observations of 156

experts who serve on seven specialized panels. Panel members

are appointed to three-year terms,

and an appointment may be

renewed once. 

Dr. Capuano summarized some of

the Board’s findings for the VCAT

(which are very briefly repeated

here). Regarding technical merit,

the quality of on-going work is

high, with some of the work outstanding in its excellence. There is

a good balance between basic

research and efforts directed at

specific applications. The flexibility to respond to unanticipated

needs is high. NIST is making

steady progress on strategic

planning. That focus has helped

the Board to determine what to

review. Competition from private

industry for recruiting quality staff

is lessening because of the

economy. However, there are significant retirements expected, and

NIST planning should begin to

account for this.

Overall the level and quality of

technical equipment is adequate,

but not uniform across the organization. Budget is a problem, and

the lack of equipment is seriously

affecting the quality of the

research in some areas. The Board

sees some improvement in facilities, but substandard conditions

still exist, particularly in Boulder,

and these deficiencies hamper the

efficiency of the work. 

G. Laboratory Tours

To gain an appreciation of the

technical excellence of NIST

research, Committee members

periodically visit laboratories that

are related to technical presentations to the VCAT. 

Center for Neutron Research

(NCNR), Dr. J. Michael Rowe,

host — The NCNR is the Nation’s

premier neutron research facility,

serving over 1700 research participants annually. Serving both NIST

mission needs and the U.S.

research community, the NCNR

operates more than 20 neutron
beam instruments to provide a

broad range of neutron diffraction

and spectroscopy capability for

measurements of materials properties at the atomic and molecular

scale.

JILA — JILA is a joint research

institute of the National Institute of

Standards and Technology and the

University of Colorado. Located

on the main university campus in

Boulder, CO, the Institute is a

center for teaching and research in

the areas of atomic, chemical,

optical, laser, gravitational, and

solar physics; semiconductors;

precision measurement; astrophysics; and astronomy. The

VCAT visited five technical areas.

• Laser Spectroscopy of

Supersonically Cooled

Plasmas, David J. Nesbitt

• Single Molecule Microscopy of

Nanostructures and

Biomolecules, David J. Nesbitt

• Single Biological Molecules

with Nanometer Resolution,

Thomas T. Perkins

• Ultrafast Physics and Optics,

Steven T. Cundiff

• Bose-Einstein Condensation,

Eric A. Cornell

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NCNR’s Joe Dura uses neutron reflectometry to study thin films, grown by

molecular beam epitaxy, without

removing them from the chamber.

photo by Robert Rathe