An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories Fiscal Year 2001 (2001) / Chapter Skim
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4. Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory
4. Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory
Pages 83-128
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1U.S. Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory: Annual Report FY2000, NISTIR 6716, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md., February 2001.
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From page 85... ...
Later sections in the chapter detail the panel's assessment of the goals, technical accomplishments, and impact of the individual divisions. Staff are physically located at a number of sites: about half of the Physical and Chemical Properties Division is in Boulder, the Analytical Chemistry and Biotechnology Divisions is in the new Advanced Chemical Sciences Laboratory in Gaithersburg, a small group from the Analytical Chemistry Division is in the NIST neutron reactor facility, and the remainder of the staff is in the old Chemistry, Physics, and Metrology buildings
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From page 86... ...
Cryogenic Technologies (Boulder) Analytical Chemistry Division · Spec~ochemical Methods · Organic Analytical Methods · Gas Metrology and Classical Methods · Molecular Spectrome~y and Microfluidic Methods · Nuclear Analytical Methods FIGURE 4.1 Organizational structure of the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory.
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From page 87... ...
The Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory effectively disseminates information about its results, products, and services to a diverse audience in industry, government, and academia. Some sense of the laboratory's reach can be gained from the numbers of products sold in the past years: over 18,000 reference materials and over 4300 standard reference databases.
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From page 88... ...
As of January 2001, staffing for the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory included 264 full-time permanent positions, of which 203 were for technical professionals. There were also 106 nonpermanent or supplemental personnel, such as postdoctoral research associates and temporary or part-time workers.
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From page 89... ...
However, decisions about relative emphasis should be made strategically, and several cases were observed where pressures on divisional resources were tipping the balance toward shorter-term work in spite of plans for a more even balance. One case is in the Analytical Chemistry Division, where the production and certification of standard reference materials is a major responsibility and that occasionally becomes a significant burden.
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From page 90... ...
In Gaithersburg, there were major renovations to the work space of some groups in the Surface and Microanalysis Science Division. These two positive steps toward providing laboratory staff with the environments they need to continue to perform measurements and standards activities at worldclass levels build on the occupation of the new Advanced Chemical Sciences Laboratory in 1999 and hopefully will be capped by the completion of the planned Advanced Measurement Laboratory, which is under construction now and due to be finished in 2004.
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From page 91... ...
To enable accurate measurements, the division is preparing SRM 2396, which consists of 12 stable, isotope-labeled DNA bases; this SRM will allow researchers to use gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry techniques to study damage and repair of oxidatively stressed DNA. In the area of tissue engineering, the panel commends the Biotechnology Division for correctly recognizing that tissue characterization methods are needed to ensure that tissue-engineered materials are free of mutations and modifications and for focusing on the identification and development of biomarkers, standards, and measurement technologies that will ensure the safety and viability of such materials.
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From page 92... ...
In its support of the PDB, NIST is well situated to handle the critical issues related to uniformity, data standards, value addition through the compilation of synonyms and citations, and integration of the PDB with data from the international research community. The panel believes that Biotechnology Division staff in this area are discharging their duties with the highest level of scientific rigor.
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The fine record of publication by division staff indicates that NIST is maintaining its commitment to the scientific community, as well as to industry, which is appropriate, given the relevance of basic research to the nurturing of start-up companies in this field. In general, the panel believes that the Biotechnology Division has done a good job of putting together a set of programs that are directed at meeting current customer needs or laying the groundwork for meeting probable future needs.
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are both partners in and customers for this effort, and Biotechnology Division staff must integrate their work in support of the NIST mission with their responsibilities to support the educational and research goals of the university objectives of the county: to attract industry. Nevertheless, the panel was very impressed by the first-rate work occurring at CARB and the number of collaborations that CARB staff have with other groups in the Biotechnology Division.
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From the panel's perspective, how to attract and retain high-quality staff and how to manage NIST programs in this environment of tight human and fiscal resources are the most critical questions facing the Biotechnology Division. At this time, the panel can point to several areas in which staff departures have left important existing or new projects below critical mass: the tissue engineering work in the DNA Technologies Group and the GMO initiative and the bioseparations project in the Bioprocess Engineering Group.
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~ ~ _ A, ~ ~ A, Process Measurements Division Technical Merit According to division documentation, the mission of the Process Measurements Division is to pursue research efforts in measurement science as the basis for enhancing measurement standards and services, measurement techniques, recommended practices, sensing technology, instrumentation, and mathematical models required for analysis, control, and optimization of industrial processes. Improvement and dissemination of national measurement standards for temperature, fluid flow, air speed,
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· In their work on rapid thermal processing for the semiconductor industry, Thermometry Group staff are developing on-wafer thermocouples for the calibration of radiation thermometers. Collabora7The Database of the Thermophysical Properties of Gases Used in the Semiconductor Industry is available online at |
From page 98... ...
Program Relevance and Effectiveness An important customer of the Process Measurements Division is the semiconductor industry, but there are many facets to the division's work and a variety of ways in which its results impact its customers. Staff interact with external organizations through collaborations with industrial and academic researchers and at workshops and conferences, and information about division results and services reaches its audience through publications in refereed journals, technical presentations, citations of NIST work in other literature, and postings on the NIST Web site.
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From page 99... ...
Division staff are also working on microfluidic devices, in which a small sample is analyzed via transport through an array of channels and sensors that determine specific characteristics. While other organizations are investigating the use of silicon-based devices, NIST is focusing on methods for forming microchannels in polymer substrates, which would be a more cost-effective platform from which to enable the development of disposable lab-on-a-chip cells.
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From page 100... ...
In other projects of the Process Measurements Division, there is frequent and direct contact with companies and people familiar with industry needs, but in those two areas, the relationships with external parties are much more general and staff do not appear to have a grasp of how NIST work can be specifically applied to current industrial problems or to increasing fundamental understanding of an area relevant to industry. The panel encourages the division to renew its efforts to establish industrial collaborations in these areas in order to gain input from appropriate industry representatives on which questions the talented NIST researchers might productively address.
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As of January 2001, staffing for the Process Measurements Division included 58 full-time permanent positions, of which 40 were for technical professionals. There were also 18 nonpermanent or supplemental personnel, such as postdoctoral research associates and temporary or part-time workers.
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Surface and Microanalysis Science Division Technical Merit According to division documentation, the mission of the Surface and Microanalysis Science Division is to serve as the nation's reference laboratory for chemical metrology research, standards, and data to characterize the spatial and temporal distribution of chemical species and to improve the accuracy, precision, sensitivity, selectivity and applicability of surface, microanalysis, and advanced isotope measurement techniques. Since last year's review, the division has significantly enhanced the content and focus of its mission statement.
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The Surface and Microanalysis Science Division is organized into four technical groups: Atmospheric Chemistry, Microanalysis Research, Surface Dynamical Processes, and Analytical Microscopy. In addition to personnel in these groups, the division staff includes two NIST fellows who pursue very active research programs and provide mentoring and technical guidance to younger staff.
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Another approach might be that used in the Interactive Standard Test Data Web Site, recently released by the Atmospheric Chemistry Group; this approach uses the World Wide Web to interface with the user and hence is nearly platform-independent. In the Atmospheric Chemistry Group, staff continue to focus on advanced isotope metrology and chemical measurement processes that are needed to develop and enforce U.S.
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This collaboration, which involves the EPA, the Atmospheric Chemistry Group of the Surface and Microanalysis Science Division, and the Analytical Chemistry Division, is a fine example of NIST staff working together and reaching out to a key customer for the division's work on air quality reference materials, and the panel expects that these efforts will produce substantive results in the coming years. In continuing activities, the group is working on how to extend carbon-dating differentiation of pollution from fossil and natural sources by developing techniques for isotopic profiling of organic and elemental fractions using microanalysis of particles, multi-isotopic speciation via compound-specific isotope ratio mass, and compound-specific infrared/mass spectrometry.
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From page 106... ...
The Analytical Microscopy Group continues to be a premier source of research and applications for ion- and photo-based microscopies. The work on new standard reference materials for dop ant profiling is essential for the semiconductor industry, and NIST researchers are viewed as the international leaders in this field.
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From page 107... ...
A good example of how the Surface and Microanalysis Science Division uses input from industry to help determine new programmatic directions in support of emerging customer needs can be found in the work done to prepare for the new competence program on combinatorial methods. First, division staff, in conjunction with the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory and the Advanced Technology Program at NIST and the Army Research Office in the Department of Defense, organized a workshop at which approximately 140 participants discussed the potential role of combinatorial methods in research, development, and process optimization for a number of fields, such as catalysis and polymers.
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From page 108... ...
Another Surface and Microanalysis Science Division project with significant impact on the semiconductor industry is the work conducted with the Analytical Chemistry Division on developing techniques that could be used to make a NIST-certified SRM for dopant profiles. Industry has long needed such standards in order to calibrate arsenic ion implantation in silicon, because without standards, measurements can only be used to compare like machines, making it difficult to translate manufacturing processes from the development fabrication stage to the production facility and from one implanter to another.
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By making both the Surface Analysis Data Center databases and the Interactive Standard Test Data available at no charge over the Web, NIST is increasing the probability that scientists throughout the United States and the rest of the world will utilize these products and thereby improve the quality of many common surface analysis measurements. In addition to providing standards and technologies that are utilized in research and manufacturing, Surface and Microanalysis Sciences Division staff also play a significant role in international standards development.
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The panel once again encourages division and laboratory management to consider acquiring dedicated support staff to ensure that key tasks get done and technical staff can maximize their productivity. In general, the instrumentation resources provided to the Surface and Microanalysis Sciences Division adequately support the technical programs.
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This type of work is entirely appropriate for NIST, and the panel encourages the division, in partnership with the Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory and the Office of Microelectronics, to investigate how a FIB system might be acquired by NIST. While the Surface and Microanalysis Science Division is slated for space in the new Advanced Measurements Laboratory, completion of that facility and the resulting access of the division to highquality, modern laboratory space are still 4 years away.
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This project is one example of the Computational Chemistry Group's many productive interactions with other units at NIST Gaithersburg, both within and outside the Physical and Chemical Properties Division. Now that these relationships have been firmly established, the group might wish to explore possible avenues of collaboration with the division groups in Boulder.
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The Theory and Modeling of Fluids Group continues to make progress in areas related primarily to water and aqueous solutions, electrolyte solutions, and solid-fluid equilibrium. The main techniques are statistical-mechanical and quantum-based models, and the staff play a leading role in setting international standards related to the properties of water.
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The major current research project of this group is work on dynamic data compilation methods, which is designed to develop mechanisms for continuous incorporation of new experimental data into databases of chemical properties. This project is of high quality and is supportive of the NIST and division missions.
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The panel notes that the balance within the current program portfolio between work with short- and long-range goals is a sign that these mechanisms effectively set priorities in project selection and continuation. The programs of the Physical and Chemical Properties Division have an impact on a wide array of industries and research communities, in part by bridging the gap between research directed at the often short-range goals of industry and the long-range, open-ended inquiries commonly pursued in universities.
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As of January 2001, staffing for the Physical and Chemical Properties Division included 56 full-time permanent positions, of which 42 were for technical professionals. There were also 18 nonpermanent or supplemental personnel, such as postdoctoral research associates and temporary or part-time workers.
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These awards and positions of responsibility demonstrate the regard in which division staff are held by the scientific and industrial communities. Given the important role high-quality staff play in carrying out the NIST mission, it is necessary to remain alert to the impact of flat budgets on the human resources available to the division.
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Other important elements of the division's work include helping to ensure regulatory compliance for EPA and the FDA by providing reference materials relevant to health and safety and transferring technical expertise in measurement technologies within and outside the United States. The division uses metrology workshops to train staff of national measurement institutes from countries throughout the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa.
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Interactions among national measurement institutes and the policies of international standards organizations have become critical components in the global economy, and Analytical Chemistry Division staff have crucial roles to play in leading international intercomparisons and serving on standards committees. The panel is pleased to note that division management has both a strategic plan to guide decisions about which topics to focus on and a business plan to manage the large number of products (e.g., SRMs)
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and to provide useful tools to enhance traceability between NIST SRM values and reference materials from secondary sources. The Organic Analytical Methods Group has a long history of productive research on generating new chemistries that can be employed in separation science.
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Expansion of the NTRM program to optical filter and metal alloy reference materials is under way in the Analytical Chemistry Division, and perhaps CSTL should consider if the approach would be applicable to work in other divisions. The Molecular Spectrometry and Microfluidic Methods Group conducts research and develops new technologies for molecular spectrometry standards and applications and for microfluidic devices, methods, and applications.
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Gallaher, and Alan C O'Connor, Economic Impact of Standard Reference Materials for Sulfur in Fossil Fuels, Planning Report #00-1, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md., February 2000.
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national laboratories, instrument vendors, a commercial producer of certified reference materials, and several national measurement institutes in other countries. The practical applications of the technical work done in the Organic Analytical Methods Group come in a wide variety of industrial sectors, including the clinical/health, environmental, food/nutrition, and forensic science sectors.
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companies in foreign markets and a greater familiarity with the most advanced technologies, methods, and reference materials in use throughout the world. Demand for reference materials is escalating at a rapid pace worldwide, and the panel notes that the division has made great strides in the past year on its efforts to address the current industrial needs for certified reference materials.
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The panel observed a very high level of morale in the Analytical Chemistry Division. A prime source of job satisfaction appears to stem from the international reputation of NIST, which is perceived as a positive reflection of the staff efforts.
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The most important staffing-related issue confronting the Analytical Chemistry Division is the increasing number of responsibilities that need to be met by a constant number of personnel. The demand for new SRMs and advanced measurement technologies continues to increase as the materials, biotechnology, and semiconductor industries grow.
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The laboratory should continue its efforts to enhance the usability of its Web site and should focus on how this tool can best be used to enhance dissemination of NIST results and products. · Staffing levels within the laboratory are a concern; the panel observed some projects below critical mass and others with single-point coverage.
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