An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Material Measurement Laboratory Fiscal Year 2017 (2017) / Chapter Skim
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, critically evaluated data, and best practice guides that help to ensure measurement quality.3 At the request of the acting director of NIST, in 2017 the National Academies formed the Panel on Review of the Material Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and established the following statement of task for the panel: The Panel on Review of the Material Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology will assess the scientific and technical work performed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Material Measurement Laboratory.
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The MML therefore faces challenges with respect to achieving an effective balance between maintaining its success in ongoing efforts and initiating new efforts that represent appropriate investment of MML resources in niches that will produce the best impact. These include appropriately allocating the resources of its staff, who are stretched thin in several areas; arranging for staff travel to and participation in activities that maintain and enrich its expertise; maintaining a proper ratio of scientists to supporting technicians; devising succession plans in anticipation of staff who will leave; maintaining an equipment infrastructure by applying 4 The Material Measurement Laboratory's Strategic Plan is located at https://mmlstrategy.nist.gov/sites/default/files/docs/MML_Strategic_Plan.pdf.
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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS General Conclusions and Recommendations Across the MML divisions, many salient themes were identified regarding the high technical quality of the research, excellence of the scientific staff, strong customer outreach and scientific collaboration, and strong publication and dissemination activities. While the recommendations below are grouped by divisions to provide actionable suggestions that address each division's unique needs (a focal point of this review)
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RECOMMENDATION 1: The Material Measurement Laboratory should consider expanding its efforts in such a way that the Applied Chemicals and Materials Division's projects will span the range of development -- from high-risk research to mature support programs. While the ACMD is doing an excellent job with their dissemination efforts, one way they could facilitate more dissemination is through an exchange program between ACMD personnel and other organizations in industry, universities, and national laboratories.
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RECOMMENDATION 6: The Material Measurement Laboratory should consider creating incentives and mechanisms to stimulate cross-group and cross-division interactions between the Biomolecular Measurement Division and the Office of Data and Informatics, and between the genomic and precision medicine efforts of the Biomolecular Measurement Division and the Biosystems and Biomaterials Division.
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RECOMMENDATION 8: The Material Measurement Laboratory should consider evaluating the benefits of an improved Biomolecular Measurement Division website that markets standard reference materials for specific industries and federal agencies. Biosystems and Biomaterials The BBD has many ongoing projects and achievements, conducted within and outside of NIST.
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The uneven distribution of these fellows among CSD groups and among MML divisions suggests that only a few people are utilizing the best methods for attracting excellent postdoctoral researchers. RECOMMENDATION 13: The Material Measurement Laboratory should consider maximizing the number and quality of National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Research Council postdoctoral fellows within the Chemical Sciences Division.
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RECOMMENDATION 17: The Material Measurement Laboratory should consider updating the Materials Science and Engineering Division's laboratory equipment used for making, processing, and preparing metallic alloys for testing. Office of Data and Informatics Since its conception, the ODI's technical activities have been largely focused more on data than on informatics.
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NIST needs to undertake an effort to benchmark the state-of-the-art in industrial packaging and storage methods and develop a packaging modernization plan to support the ORM catalog of materials. RECOMMENDATION 23: The Material Measurement Laboratory should consider undertaking an effort to benchmark the state of the art in industrial packaging and storage methods and develop a packaging modernization plan to support the Office of Reference Materials catalog of materials.
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RECOMMENDATION 25: The Material Measurement Laboratory should examine current staffing structures in the Office of Reference Materials that are associated with recertification of existing products and the development of new standard reference materials to more appropriately assign tasks. Many of the analytical instruments that are critical to the certification of SRMs within the ORM are dated and do not represent the state of the art.
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