An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Technology Laboratory Fiscal Year 2011 (2011) / Chapter Skim
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3 Assessment of the Laboratory Divisions
3 Assessment of the Laboratory Divisions
Pages 16-33
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From page 16... ...
The following sections present summary assessments for each of the ITL divisions. APPLIED AND COMPUTATIONAL MATHEMATICS DIVISION The Applied and Computational Mathematics Division provides leadership within NIST in the use of applied and computational mathematics to solve scientific and engineering problems that arise in measurement science and related applications.
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In regard to the charge of the Director of NIST to assess the technical merits and scientific caliber of the current laboratory programs relative to comparable programs worldwide: There are areas in which the accomplishments and capabilities of the ACMD are excellent and surpass the capabilities of comparable programs worldwide. The ability of staff to engage with physicists and materials scientists to use mathematics and computing to provide insight on experiments is among the most successful such efforts in the world.
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. ADVANCED NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES DIVISION The mission of the Advanced Network Technologies Division is to "provide the networking industry with the best in test and measurement research."22 Its goals are "to improve the quality of emerging networking specifications and standards," and "to improve the quality, reliability, resilience, robustness, security, and interoperability of networked systems."23 The ANTD assists in the conception and development of national priorities in which networking is an essential enabler, and additionally it proactively participates in the implementation of those developments.
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Recommendations Following are the recommendations of the panel with respect to the Advanced Network Technologies Division: 1. The ITL should fill the position of chief of the ANTD with a permanent chief.
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Developing formal methods to prove security properties of the various systems under study might be a worthwhile research topic; although this topic had been explored in the past, recent developments may justify another look at it as a possible growth area. Smart Grids The area of smart grids has tremendous impact and importance, and it fits into NIST's mission for supporting infrastructures that increase U.S.
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From page 21... ...
should be conducted, and partnerships with any promising tool developers should be explored. Body Area Networks Body Area Networks is a cross-divisional program (involving collaborators from the ANTD and the Applied and Computational Mathematics, Statistical Engineering, Software and Systems, and Information Access divisions)
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From page 22... ...
The division program includes the following: coordination of large new efforts such as the cryptographic hash competition and the Security Content Automation Protocol Program; independent good judgment as exercised in the specification of the transition to new key lengths; the development of conceptual taxonomies that structure research in new fields such as cloud computing; the development of validation of products, tools, and techniques through tools and trained outsiders; and outreach to agencies, industry, and academia through NIST-managed workshops, external conferences, and government committee participation. Given the broad scope of the publication series, some publications will need updating soon; the authors are aware of this need.
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From page 23... ...
R&D activities of the division that are most closely aligned with current and future NIST mission deliverables include work in biometrics, cloud computing, virtualization, secure boot processes, test coverage efficiency, and mobile platforms. Those activities are of high quality and are comparable to applied academic, industrial, and government laboratory efforts.
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INFORMATION ACCESS DIVISION Organization and Operation The mission of the Information Access Division is to conduct research of performance metrics and guidelines, standards and testbeds, and community-wide evaluations in order to support the development of advanced "technologies for intuitive, efficient, and effective access, manipulation, analysis and exchange of complex information."25 The division's projected benefits of its work include the expedited development of these technologies and their transition into the commercial marketplace and into government applications. The IAD consists of five major groups: Retrieval, Image, Multimodal Information, Visualization and Usability, and Digital Media.
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Examples of these mandates include the USA PATRIOT Act, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, the Help America Vote Act of 2002, and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009. Within the division's charter, the groups demonstrate a high level of technical competence in conducting long-standing, large-scale technology evaluations in critical technologies that are extremely important to the government, business, and academia, not only in the United States but worldwide.
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The IAD demonstrates unique capabilities in establishing biometric data standards and large-scale performance evaluation benchmarks. Recommendations Following are the recommendations of the panel with respect to the Information Access Division: 1.
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The division staff performs high-quality work and is having good impact on a number of high-visibility, national priority projects. On the question of the degree to which the division's programs in measurement, standards, and services achieve their objectives: The SSD work to date in software testing and conformance is strong, although the SSD should look to the future and position the division to get measurement, standards, and data sets out ahead of urgent needs.
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Examples include auto-updates and application downloads, software as a service, and cloud computing. The software assurance projects such as SAMATE, SATE, and the SAMATE Reference Data Set (SRD)
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The framework and roadmap document for the smart grid released as a draft is likely to have positive impact on the smart grid community and future industrial development.
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Achievement of Stated Objectives The SED mission statement is that the SED "seeks to contribute to research in information technology, to catalyze scientific and industrial experimentation, and to improve communication of research results by working collaboratively with, and developing effective statistical methods for, NIST scientists and our partners in industry."28 The division is highly successful in achieving these objectives outside of the ITL, where its contributions (inside and outside of NIST) are highly regarded, effective, and visible.
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It is an innovative partner in the development of complicated emerging measurement technologies like high-speed opto-electronic measurement. Its external reputation for excellence is easily established through a consideration of its solicitation to work on high-profile, pressing national and international issues such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, the estimation of Colombian coca cultivation, and law enforcement body armor reliability; its steady stream of internal NIST and external awards (including three Department of Commerce Gold Medals in 2010 and the Youden Award from the American Statistical Association in 2009)
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The SED projects and participations fully contribute to the ITL roles of advancing science and engineering, setting standards and requirements for unique scientific instrumentation and experiments, data, and communications. It is the very nature of good statistical research that it is driven by the real data-analysis needs of a substantive field.
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For the direct development of the SED staff, increased flexibility, support, and opportunity for visits by SED personnel to academic and non-academic institutions to establish long-term collaboration would be beneficial. So also would increased funding opportunities and support for participation in conferences and other professional statistical activities.
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