National Research Council
Laboratory Assessment

Since 1959, the National Research Council (NRC) has assessed the technical merit, relevance, and quality of NIST's (previously NBS's) laboratory programs in the context of NIST's mission. The NRC review is independent, technically sophisticated, and extensive.

Beginning in FY 2007, the NRC conducted an assessment process where half of the NIST Laboratories will be reviewed each year. This restructuring promotes the increased technical exchange between NIST scientists and the expert review panels (one for each of the NIST Laboratories). Each panel deliberates their findings in a closed session panel meeting and prepares a report summarizing its assessment findings. Panel members are selected by the NRC from leaders in industry, academia, non-profit organizations, and other federal agencies and government laboratories. The Laboratory Assessments Board of the National Academies oversees the NRC assessment activities.

FY 2009 Review Cycle

For the FY 2009 assessment cycle, the NIST Deputy Director charged the NRC to focus its assessment of the Electronics and Engineering Laboratory (EEEL), the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory (CSTL), the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL), the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR), and the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) on the following broad factors:

• The technical merit of the current Laboratory programs relative to the current state-of-the-art worldwide.
  
  
• The adequacy of the Laboratories' budgets, facilities, equipment, and human resources, as they affect the quality of laboratory's technical programs.
  
  
• The degree to which Laboratory programs in measurement science and standards achieve their stated objectives and desired impact.

FY 2009 NRC Panels (membership, meeting dates, agendas, and reports):

• Panel on Chemical Science and Technology
• Panel on Electronics and Electrical Engineering
• Panel on Information Technology
• Panel on Nanoscale Science and Technology
• Panel on Neutron Research

FY 2008 Assessments

FY 2008 NRC Assessment Reports of NIST Laboratories (Posted with permission from the National Academy of Sciences, courtesy of the National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.) Reports on this page are presented in .pdf. To read these files, you can download Adobe Acrobat Reader free.

• An Assessment of the NIST Center for Neutron Research, FY 2008
• An Assessment of the NIST Building and Fire Research Laboratory, FY 2008
• An Assessment of the NIST Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, FY 2008
• An Assessment of the NIST Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, FY 2008
• An Assessment of the NIST Physics Laboratory, FY 2008

FY 2007 Assessments

FY 2007 NRC Assessment Reports of NIST Laboratories (Posted with permission from the National Academy of Sciences, courtesy of the National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.) Reports on this page are presented in .pdf. To read these files, you can download Adobe Acrobat Reader free.

• An Assessment of the NIST Center for Neutron Research, FY 2007
• An Assessment of the NIST Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, FY 2007
• An Assessment of the NIST Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory, FY 2007
• An Assessment of the NIST Information Technology Laboratory, FY 2007

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Last update: 06/26/09