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An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Material Measurement Laboratory Fiscal Year 2014 (2015) / Chapter Skim
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2 Applied Chemicals and Materials Division
Pages 8-14

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From page 8...
... and five groups: Experimental Properties of Fluids, Materials for Biological Environments, Nanoscale Reliability, Structural Materials, and Theory and Modeling of Fluids. ASSESSMENT OF TECHNICAL PROGRAMS Accomplishments Maintaining integrity in everything it does is critical for the ACMD, all of whose programs are built on two critical assets: integrity as an honest broker, with scientific results independent of political, regulatory, and legislative influence; and highest quality equipment and measurement techniques, with the personnel to exploit, maintain, and extend precision measurements.
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From page 9...
... This program is uniquely coupling the NIST laser expertise with that in process monitoring and materials characterization. The main focus of the SMG's programs is in mechanical testing, failure investigations, laser welding, and microbially induced corrosion of structural materials.
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From page 10...
... If there is not sufficient overlap of recent hires with experienced senior scientists, the groups risk having significant intellectual capital not being completely transferred and leveraged. Overall Assessment of Technical Programs The SMG fulfills the ACMD mission of providing industry and other customers with measurement science, standards, and technology in structural materials.
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From page 11...
... The SMG possesses a variety of equipment for mechanical testing (deformation, fatigue, and fracture) , with extensive strain measurement and temperature capability, corrosion testing at high hydrogen pressures coupled with mechanical testing, and Charpy verification.
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From page 12...
... ACMD management has not been able to achieve adequate cooperation from support staff, including administrators who configure computer equipment and move office equipment without consulting staff, procurement officers who impose processes that significantly delay procurement times, contractors who do not provide desired items, and legal officers who impose counterproductively lengthy reviews. • Staff are asked to complete numerous surveys that are conceived by a contractor without consulting the staff to determine meaningful questions, and so participation rates are poor, and a common expectation is that nothing will change in response to survey results.
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From page 13...
... The Applied Chemicals and Materials Division should undertake without delay a strategic planning process that includes involvement by its professional staff and addresses the importance of balancing the traditional work with research work. The average nontraditional project is solid technically but lacks the innovation commonly associated with top academic research.
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From page 14...
... To the extent that it is generalizable, some staff's perception of poor institutional respect for the professional is a primary threat to continued technical excellence in the ACMD. The following indicators of this perception were suggested by ACMD staff: salaries are low by comparison with salaries of peers employed elsewhere; top-down management and lack of transparency with respect to strategic planning, funding decisions, and personnel performance criteria contribute to a sense of lack of empowerment; lack of training of group leaders results in inconsistency of management styles and practices; and numerous cumbersome administrative, procurement, and legal practices detract from the focus on scientific and technical work and inhibit opportunities for managers to interact with staff.
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Key Terms

  • structural materials
  • materials division
  • acmd staff
  • measurement science
  • nanoscale reliability

  • laser welding
  • mechanical testing
  • measurement laboratory
  • microbially induced
  • induced corrosion

  • acmd management
  • acmd mission
  • materials reliability
  • material measurement
  • thermodynamics research

  • traditional work
  • nontraditional projects
  • commonly understood
  • setting standards
  • providing industry

  • management styles
  • charpy srms
  • division chief
  • adequately assessed
  • nanoscale materials

  • track acmd
  • acmd managers
  • measurement technology
  • ensure materials
  • nontraditional research


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