An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Programs Fiscal Year 1993 (1994) / Chapter Skim
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1 NIST-WIDE ISSUES--FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1 NIST-WIDE ISSUES--FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Pages 3-16
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From page 3... ...
Since the 1992 assessment, the incoming Clinton administration has made NIST a centerpiece of its civilian technology program, proposing to double the amount of research and development in NIST ' s laboratories by 1998 and to increase NIST' s $86 million annual extramural program by $752 million. Realizing that national events had outstripped NIST's strategic planning to date, NIST's incoming director had already scheduled a planning retreat for summer 1993 to bring NIST-level strategies in line with the new administration's vision and expectations, and NIST's statutory Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT)
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From page 4... ...
coordinates and sponsors retrieval of numerical data generated by research in the physical sciences in laboratories located throughout the world, evaluation of the accuracy of the data and resolution of discrepancies, and dissemination of data evaluations (through the Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, a joint 4
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· Collection and evaluation of data have stagnated. Managers of NIST's data programs and laboratories are aware of additional national needs for data, but they have chosen to upgrade existing centers rather than free resources for new ventures in data evaluation by deleting lower-priority centers.
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Thus gaps in needs for high-priority data will not be filled unless SRDP obtains additional resources or NIST's laboratories develop initiatives that include new or expanded data programs. Recommendations · Assemble an ad hoc authoritative committee of data users from industry, government, and academe to appraise the national relevance and performance of the Standard Reference Data Program's current centers and projects, and recommend strategies and priorities for the SRDP.
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. Discussion NIST laboratories perform a full spectrum of fundamental research, Jaboratory-based standards work, and generic technology research.
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Also, NIST supports a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship program that annually brings to NIST laboratories for 2-year periods about 20 fellows who are recent university graduates and who generally do fundamental research that often supports NIST's laboratory-based standards work and in many cases supports NIST's generic technology research. Postdoctoral fellows, selected because of superior scientific credentials that match NIST's in-house research requirements, stimulate NIST's environment for fundamental research.
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Congressional appropriations for NIST's intramural programs are modest, and consequently, NIST's intramural program staff is spread thin. The impact of both staff and programs is extended through widespread collaboration with industrial research associates, academic guest workers, and peers from other agencies.
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At present, strategic planning for the extramural and intramural programs appears to be independent and the collaboration opportunistic. · Avoid allowing intramural programs to become overly dependent on extramural programs.
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· Advise NIST laboratories' counterpart industrial communities about the opportunities afforded by the Advanced Technology Program. COLLABORATION WITH INDUSTRY Issues Does the long-successful modus operandi for collaboration with industry continue to be adequate for NIST's intramural programs?
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During fiscal year 1992, CSTL certified about 2,000 standard reference database units, performed about 1,800 calibrations, and had major collaborative research projects with four industrial consortia, three industrial institutes, and two major industrial firms (IBM Corporation and Ford Motor Company)
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In fiscal year 1992, KEEL had 81 cooperative projects with U.S. industry, was forming or had in place 8 industrial consortia, attracted 46 industrial research scientists and guest researchers, sponsored over 100 staff memberships in national and international standards-making organizations, certified 55 standard reference material samples, performed more than 4,000 calibrations for 473 customers, conducted 28 short courses, commercialized 7 different products, had 18 active and 15 proposed CRADAs, and reviewed 50 proposals from industry for cost-sharing under NIST's Advanced Technology Program.
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NIST's intramural programs will have additional opportunities to collaborate with industry when the precommercial technology developed under the ATP reaches the commercialization stage and when NIST's partners in industrial consortia and CRADAs begin to move technology now being developed to the product line. INTERLABORATORY TEAMS Issue Given NIST's success in forming interlaboratory teams, and acknowledging the interdisciplinary nature of NIST's budget initiatives and research opportunities such as "green" buildings, mathematics-based product design, and electro-optics applications that could be best approached by interlaboratory teams, why are there not more interlaboratory teams within NIST?
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Such recruits tend to prefer to continue to practice in their respective disciplines rather than participate in interlaboratory teams. · Managers of NIST intramural programs are expected to be leaders of research and are selected from among NIST's top achievers in the relevant disciplines.
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From page 16... ...
· If NIST's experience in using total quality management for research and development turns out in time to be noteworthy, disseminate the guidelines and results nationally as an adjunct to the current Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program. 4"1993 Award Criteria," individual copies available free of charge from Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Route 270 and Quince Orchard Road, Administration Building, Room A537, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, telephone (301)
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