(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Planned and potential expansions and new facilities across campus, the addition of 400–500 kilowatts in power from solar panels, and increasing the already heavy use of alternative transportation by employees to a daily rate of 40 percent are among the highlights of an updated Master Plan for the Gaithersburg, Maryland, campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST has delivered its plan to the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the central planning agency for federal land and buildings in the National Capital Region.

The document, which anticipates the needs of NIST facilities through 2020 and beyond, lists planned and possible future additions and improvements to the Gaithersburg campus; their actual implementation will depend on available resources in the NIST budget. Detailing both planned and potential new buildings and additions to be constructed on the agency’s 235-hectare (580-acre) Gaithersburg campus, as well as a host of energy, environmental, and transportation improvements, the plan is the first major NIST facilities update since the 1990s and is designed to meet current NCPC requirements.

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