Robert R. Lipman

Robert R. Lipman is a computer engineer in the Information Modeling and Testing Group of the Systems Integration Division (SID) of the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Mr. Lipman joined the Information Modeling and Testing Group in October 2011 and is currently involved with Model-Based Engineering project. He is developing software to measure the coverage of STEP test files used for the exchange of data between CAD packages used for manufacturing.

Previously, while working in the Building and Fire Research Lab (BFRL) at NIST, Mr. Lipman developed SteelVis, a viewer for CIS/2 (CIMsteel Integration Standards) files, which can also translate them to IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) files.  He also developed the IFC File Analyzer, which generates a spreadsheet from an IFC file.  CIS/2 and IFC are data exchange formats used in the building and construction industries.  He has also developed visualizations of construction site equipment, the graphical user interface for the Virtual Cybernetic Building Testbed (VCBT), and visualizations of laser scanning point clouds.

Mr. Lipman came to NIST in 1994 and worked in the Information Technology Laboratory in the Scientific Visualization and Mathematical Software Groups. While in the Scientific Visualization Group he provided scientific visualization services to a wide variety of customers at NIST.

From 1981 to 1994, Mr. Lipman worked at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (formerly the David Taylor Research Center) in the Computational Signatures and Structures Group where he served as Group Leader from 1992 to 1994. He was involved mainly with finite element modeling, analysis, and scientific visualization. This work involved magnetostatics for submarines, acoustic radiation, and the response of ships and submarines to underwater explosions. In 1990 he developed a scientific visualization facility for animating finite element models and results.

In 1996 Mr. Lipman received a joint Bronze Medal for the Parallel Applications Development Environment.