An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory: Fiscal Year 2007 (2007)

At the request of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Academies, through its National Research Council (NRC), has since 1959 annually assembled panels of experts from academia, industry, medicine, and other scientific and engineering environments to assess the quality and effectiveness of the NIST measurements and standards laboratories, of which there are now eight,¹ as well as the adequacy of the laboratories’ resources. In 2007 NIST requested that four of its laboratories be assessed: the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory (CSTL), the Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory, the Information Technology Laboratory, and the NIST Center for Neutron Research. Each laboratory was assessed by a separate panel of experts, and the findings of each panel are summarized in separate reports. This report summarizes the findings of the Panel on Chemical Science and Technology.

NIST requested that the panel consider the following criteria as part of its assessment:

1. The degree to which the Laboratory programs in measurement science, standards, and technology address national priorities.

2. The degree to which the Laboratory programs in measurement science, standards, and technology are well-motivated with regard to the following questions:

   1. What is the program trying to accomplish?

   2. What is innovative or different, as compared to efforts at other institutions, about the program’s approach that will lead to success?

   3. Is success well defined?

   4. What will be the impact of success?

   5. How will success be disseminated to end users?

   6. How much will success cost, and how long will it take?

   • The technical merit of the Laboratory programs relative to the current state of the art worldwide.

3. Insofar as they affect the quality of the technical programs, the adequacy of the Laboratories’ facilities, equipment, and human resources.

To accomplish the assessment, the NRC appointed a panel of 19 volunteers whose expertise matched that of the work performed by CSTL staff. The panel members were also assigned to five subgroups whose expertise matched that of the work performed in the five divisions in CSTL: Analytical Chemistry, Biochemical Science, Physical and Chemical Properties, Process Measurements, and Surface and Microanalysis Science. These subgroups of the panel separately visited CSTL facilities for 1 or 2 days, during

which they attended presentations, tours, demonstrations, and interactive sessions with CSTL staff. Subsequently, the entire panel assembled for 1.5 days, during which they attended overview presentations by CSTL management and interactive sessions with CSTL managers; the panel also met at this time in a closed session to deliberate its findings and to define the contents of this assessment report.

The panel’s approach to the assessment relied upon the experience, technical knowledge, and expertise of its members, whose backgrounds were carefully matched to the technical areas within which the CSTL activities are conducted. The panel reviewed selected examples of the standards and measurements activities and the technological research presented by the CSTL; it was not possible to review the CSTL programs and projects exhaustively. The panel’s goal was to identify and report salient examples of accomplishments and opportunities for further improvement with respect to the technical merit of the CSTL work, its perceived relevance to NIST’s definition of its mission in support of national priorities, and apparent specific elements of the CSTL’s resource infrastructure that is intended to support the technical work. These highlighted examples, for each CSTL division, are intended to collectively portray an overall impression of the laboratory while preserving useful mention of suggestions specific to projects and programs that the panel considered to be of special note within the set of those examined. The assessment is currently scheduled to be repeated biennially; while the panel applied a largely qualitative rather than quantitative approach to the assessment, it is possible that future assessments will be informed by further consideration of various analytical methods that can be applied.

The following report sections provide an assessment of each of the CSTL divisions and are organized into four areas:

• The degree to which CSTL programs in measurements and science and standards address national and agency priorities;

• The impact and innovativeness of the programs;

• The technical merit of the CSTL programs relative to the current state of the art worldwide; and

• The adequacy of the facilities, equipment, and human resources that affect the quality of the CSTL’s technical programs.

More detailed information on CSTL activities and programs can be found on its Web site: www.cstl.nist.gov/ or its published documents. CSTL’s Web site in particular highlights programs, projects, and technical activities at the Laboratory, lists publications, and provides information on its products and services and other developments.