Nicholas G. Paulter

Mr. Paulter is the Group Leader for the Security Technologies Group and is a former Program Manager for the Detection, Enforcement, and Inspection program of the Law Enforcement Standards Office (OLES) at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD. He develops and oversees metrology programs related to concealed-weapon detection, through-wall surveillance, traffic control devices, imaging for security and emergency response applications, biometrics for identification, and weapon output characterization. In this role, he has initiated two NIST programs in sub-millimeter-wave concealed weapon imaging, facilitated the development of visible-light hyper-spectral image projection, initiated a NIST-centric imaging metrology program for security and emergency applications, started two through-wall surveillance/sensing metrology activities, and started a program for characterization of the high-voltage output of electroshock weapons. He was awarded a NIST Bronze Medal in 2003 for his work in developing minimum performance requirements for metal detectors. Prior to being a Program Manager in OLES, from 1990 to 2005, Mr. Paulter was the Leader for the High-Speed Pulse Metrology Project at NIST. In that capacity, he developed several high-speed electrical pulse generation and sampling systems, electro-optic based measurement systems, and short optical pulse laser systems for use in pulse metrology. Moreover, during his tenure as the Project Leader, the metrology services provided by his project became the best in the world. 

From 1980 to 1989, Mr. Paulter was with Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, and was involved in the study of fast electrical and optical phenomena. Mr. Paulter has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed technical articles and provided numerous presentations at a variety of technical conferences. His is a 2008-2009 Commerce Science and Technology Fellow and a 2010 IEEE Fellow; and received a B.S. in biological sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1980; an M.S. in chemistry from the University of New Mexico in 1988; and an M.S. in electronics engineering from the University of Colorado – Boulder in 1990.