An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Material Measurement Laboratory: Fiscal Year 2014 by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: The National Academies Press
Published: 2015-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

PORTFOLIO OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE

The CSD has deep expertise across many different measurement science fields and has done a good job of attracting and retaining good talent. The majority of staff that were interviewed were highly motivated, excited by their work, and appreciative of the fact that they are working on important things for the nation. They expressed an appreciation of the freedom allowed in the pursuit of their work and the exploration of new ideas in line with the key mission of the CSD. In many cases, this division has done a good job of hiring new talent to maintain the succession of key technology expertise. The division has addressed this through new staff hires and postdoctoral researchers in a few areas, such as pH measurement, electrochemistry, and gas metrology. The CSD has also put highly capable people in new areas to expand their ability to address key challenges, such as in aerosol research for climate science. The recent reorganization of the division has enabled some researchers to work across areas that were not previously addressed; this will strengthen their scientific expertise through innovative collaboration. Several of the researchers noted that the collaborative nature of work at NIST drives such interactions regardless of organizational structures. The technical training program for new hires seems to be effective, and the new scientists have many interactions with the more seasoned scientists, which will ensure that this scientific portfolio remains strong and continues into the future.

While the CSD has done a good job on its succession planning in some areas, such planning needs to be extended to critical technology areas that do not have significant depth of expertise. One example of this is the inorganic mass spectrometry area, including isotope ratio work. This is an area where the MML’s capability and expertise is recognized worldwide and the CSD is integrated into large international projects. This group does not have a clear succession plan, and there is a lack of staff members and postdoctoral researchers who could be groomed to work in this area. If the CSD hopes to maintain its world leadership in this area, it will need to consider succession planning more actively. Similarly, it needs to systematically evaluate all of its key technology areas to ensure that it has an active pipeline of early-career scientists being mentored by its seasoned experts. Succession planning also needs to be expanded to include a staged plan to develop the technical leadership necessary to assume group leader roles by giving prospects training and other leadership experience. It already utilizes project coordinator roles to provide such leadership training and needs to continue and expand such practices. Strategic collaborations to tap into scientific expertise outside NIST also need to be considered. Some programs have involved collaborations with other institutions, while others could potentially benefit from further collaborations.

The division needs to examine whether its programs have state-of-the-art facilities and expertise and to start collaborative research programs in areas that would help to accelerate its projects more effectively, such as aerosols, isotope ratios, and electrochemical analysis.

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