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11.10

NIST Realigns Labs to Improve Decision Making, Strengthen Interdisciplinary Research

By IEEE-USA Staff

After 20 years with its research components organized largely by scientific disciplines, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is realigning its laboratories according to a mission-based structure.

Effective on 1 October 2010, the new structure will allow more day-to-day operational decisions to be made by the major laboratory units and will improve interdisciplinary research by making it easier to form research groups with the needed expertise. The change also will provide greater accountability by ensuring that individual laboratories are responsible for all major products and services that meet NIST’s specific mission authorities, from the research to develop them to the delivery of products and services to customers.

NIST's current structure—with 18 laboratory, extramural program, and administrative units—is unwieldy. The NIST director has a large number of units reporting directly to him, making it difficult to manage the agency efficiently.

“The goal of this realignment is to ensure that our laboratory managers have a clear and empowered responsibility to meet NIST’s mission of strengthening U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness,” says NIST Director Patrick Gallagher. “It’s about optimizing our organizations to deliver both forefront research results and the related services needed by manufacturers and other customers critical to the U.S. economy.”

The realignment consists of two main components:

• replacing the current single deputy director position with three career associate directors responsible for NIST laboratory, extramural, and administrative programs; and

• reducing the number of NIST laboratory units from 10 to six.

The realignment will not change the focus of NIST programs. It will make NIST more effective in delivering its products and services to its customers. While the new names of the NIST individual mission-based laboratories are broader than the current scientific discipline laboratory names, the critical functions done by the current laboratories will continue under the new structure. For example, the President's FY 2011 budget request for NIST includes about $70 million in increased funding for manufacturing-related research and support services. While "manufacturing" does not appear in the names of any of the new laboratories, research and services supporting manufacturing are a significant element in all six of the new laboratory units.

The restructuring is occurring during a period of growth for NIST. President Obama has committed to doubling NIST's laboratory budget by 2017. The reorganization plan does not include any Reductions in Force (RIFs).

The NIST realignment plan has been approved by the Administration and the Congress. Organizational charts for the new NIST structure, as well as summary functional statements describing the six laboratory units, are available on the NIST website.

The new structure includes two laboratories dedicated to metrology, the Material Measurement Laboratory and the Physical Measurement Laboratory; two dedicated to technology, the Engineering Laboratory and the Information Technology Laboratory; and two user facilities, the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the Center for Neutron Research.

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.