NIST

An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce

Founded in 1901, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a nonregulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. With headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland, NIST’s mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.

Mon, 06/17/2013 - 13:00
Sneezes, Rain Clouds, and Ink JetsNIST improves the ability of optical microscopes to measure the volume of microdroplets
Wed, 01/12/2022 - 12:02
Sneezes, rain clouds, and ink-jet printers: They all produce or contain liquid droplets so tiny it would take several billion of them to fill a liter bottle. Measuring the volume, motion, and contents of microscopic droplets is important for…
NIST Prize Challenge Launches Research for Unmanned Aircraft in Search and RescueFirst Responder UAS Triple Challenge focuses on using optical sensors and data analysis to improve image detection and location
Wed, 08/04/2021 - 09:48
(NIST: Boulder, CO)— The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has launched a new prize competition to advance the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in first responder search and rescue operations…
New Research Could Help Manufacturers Avoid 3D-Printing PitfallFor destressing printed metal parts, ‘island scanning’ may not be the cure-all after all
Wed, 06/09/2021 - 12:03
Aresearch team has found that a method commonly used to skirt one of metal 3D printing’s biggest problems may be far from a silver bullet. For manufacturers, 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, provides a means of building complex-shaped parts…
NIST AI System Discovers New MaterialCAMEO algorithm identifies new compound potentially useful for photonic devices and biologically inspired computers
Tue, 12/22/2020 - 12:01
When the words “artificial intelligence” (AI) come to mind, your first thoughts may be of super-smart computers, or robots that perform tasks without needing any help from humans. Now, a multi-institutional team including researchers from the…
MIT, NIST Create First Room-Temp ‘Magnon Switch’ With Industrially Useful PropertiesBuild approach could lead to new and more efficient logic switches for computer chips
Tue, 07/14/2020 - 12:02
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have demonstrated a potentially new way to make switches inside a computer’s processing chips, enabling them to use less…
NIST Researchers Boost Microwave Signal Stability a HundredfoldFor more accurate time, navigation, communication, and higher-resolution imaging for radar and astronomy
Wed, 06/24/2020 - 12:01
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used state-of-the-art atomic clocks, advanced light detectors, and a measurement tool called a frequency comb to boost the stability of microwave signals a hundredfold.…
Helping Laser Scanners Measure UpNew method for rapidly providing highly calibrated standards
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 12:01
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised a novel, accurate, easy-to-operate, time- and labor-saving way to provide calibrated scale-bar standards for testing the performance of terrestrial laser scanner (…
NIST Study Uncovers a Potential Driver of Premature Solar Panel FailuresThe suspect, acetic acid, interacts harmfully with panels’ polyamide-based backsheets
Wed, 04/08/2020 - 12:01
Unlike diamonds, solar panels are not forever. Ultraviolet rays, gusts of wind, and heavy rain wear away at them over their lifetime.  Manufacturers typically guarantee that panels will endure the elements for at least 25 years before experiencing…
Trustworthy AIA conversation with NIST’s Chuck Romine
Wed, 02/19/2020 - 12:03
Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to grow the economy and improve our lives, but along with these benefits, it also brings new risks that society is grappling with. How can we be sure this new technology is not just innovative and helpful, but…
To Measure Bias in Data, NIST Initiates ‘Fair Ranking’ Research EffortNew initiative has long-term goal of making search technology more even-handed
Wed, 12/18/2019 - 12:02
A new research effort at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) aims to address a pervasive issue in our data-driven society: a lack of fairness that sometimes turns up in the answers we get from information retrieval software. A…