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Joseph Near is an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Vermont who supports NIST as a moderator for the Privacy Engineering Collaboration Space. His research interests include data privacy, computer security, and programming languages. Joseph received his B.S. in computer science from Indiana University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from MIT.

Andrew Peterson is a general engineer in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s (MEP) Extension Services Division who facilitates efforts to improve advanced manufacturing technology services and supplier scouting services among other focus areas. He started at NIST in November of 2019 with the goal of providing professional engineering services to the MEP National Network^TM in a variety of focus areas. Prior to joining NIST, Andrew worked as a compliance engineer in for a medium sized manufacturer in the bottled water industry. Andrew holds a Master of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Marquette University.

susanne.furman [at] nist.gov (Susanne Furman) is a Cognitive Scientist in the Visualization and Usability Group at NIST. She works on and investigates usability for both cybersecurity and biometric devices for agencies such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She has worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and ran its usability program. She has a Ph.D. in applied experimental psychology human factors from George Mason University. 

Anthony Diaz is a Strategic Partnerships Manager in the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). He supports MEP’s mission by developing and strengthening key private and public partnerships that support U.S. manufacturers.

Ellen Voorhees is a senior research scientist in the NIST Information Technology Laboratory where her primary responsibility is to manage the TREC project. She received a B.Sc. in computer science from the Pennsylvania State University, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from Cornell University.  Voorhees is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, a member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and has been elected as a fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences.

The MEP National Network™ is a unique public-private partnership that delivers comprehensive, proven solutions to U.S. manufacturers, fueling growth and advancing U.S. manufacturing. Focused on helping small and medium-sized manufacturers generate business results and thrive in today’s technology-driven economy, the MEP National Network comprises the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP), 51 MEP Centers located in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, and its more than 1,400 trusted advisors and experts at approximately 375 MEP service locations, providing any U.S. manufacturer with access to resources they need to succeed. 

Teodor Vernica is a research associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He received his M.Sc. in computer science from Aarhus University in Denmark, where he focused on augmented reality (AR) applications. At NIST, Teodor is studying how standards can facilitate the development and adoption of Industrial AR solutions for smart manufacturing.

Bill Bernstein leads the Product Lifecycle Data Exploration and Visualization project as part of the Model-Based Enterprise Program. Recently, Bill deployed the Digital Information Visualization and Exploration (DIVE) Lab at NIST to explore the use of visualization modalities in manufacturing environments. In 2019, Bill received the Young Engineer Award from the ASME Computers in Engineering Division for his research related to computer-supported tools easing the integration of manufacturing and product design knowledge.

Ram D. Sriram is currently the chief of the Software and Systems Division, Information Technology Laboratory, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Before joining the Software and Systems Division, Sriram was the leader of the Design and Process group in the Manufacturing Systems Integration Division, Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, where he conducted research on standards for interoperability of computer-aided design systems. He was also the manager of the Sustainable Manufacturing Program. Prior to joining NIST, he was on the engineering faculty (1986-1994) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was instrumental in setting up the Intelligent Engineering Systems Laboratory. At MIT, Sriram initiated the MIT-DICE project, which was one of the pioneering projects in collaborative engineering and documented in the book entitled Distributed and Integrative Collaborative Engineering Design, Sarven Publishers, 2002.

Sriram has extensive experience in developing knowledge-based expert systems, natural language interfaces, machine learning, object-oriented software development, life-cycle product and process models, geometrical modelers, object-oriented databases for industrial applications, health care informatics, bioinformatics, and bioimaging. He has consulted for several leading corporations all over the world. His client list (during his tenure at MIT) included Boeing, GE, NTT Data (Japan), NASA, Xerox Corporation, United Technologies, IIC (Spain).

Sriram has co-authored or authored nearly 275 publications, including several books on Artificial Intelligence. He has published in a wide range of journals in engineering, computer science, and health care fields. The papers he and his group wrote have won many recognitions and awards, including many best paper awards and most cited paper awards. Sriram received several awards including: an NSF's Presidential Young Investigator Award (1989); ASME Design Automation Award (2011); ASME CIE Distinguished Service Award (2014); the Washington Academy of Sciences' Distinguished Career in Engineering Sciences Award (2015);  ASME CIE Lifetime Achievement Award (2016), CMU CEE Lt. Col. Christopher Raible Distinguished Public Service Award (2018).

Sriram was a founding co-editor of the International Journal for AI in Engineering (1986). He also served on the Executive Committee of the ASME's Computers in Engineering Division for six years, including as its chair.  Sriram's other professional activities include the following: an associate editor of ACM Computing Surveys,  co-chair of NITRD's Software Design and Productivity group, VP membership of the Washington Academy of Sciences,  and federal representative to ONC's Health IT Advisory Committee.  

Sriram is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME),  the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Solid Modeling Association (SMA), and the Washington Academy of Sciences. He is also a Distinguished Member (life) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and a Senior Member (life) of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

Ron Cowen has been a science writer and editor at NIST since 2016. When not working at NIST, he’s a freelance writer specializing in physics and astronomy. In 2019, he authored his first book, a popular-level account of the 100-year struggle to understand the general theory of relativity, Gravity’s Century: From Einstein’s Eclipse to Images of Black Holes. Cowen has written for Scientific American, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, National Geographic and the news sections of Science and Nature. He was also a staff reporter for 21 years at Science News magazine. Cowen has twice won several awards: the American Institute of Physics' excellence in science writing award, the American Astronomical Society's science writing award in solar physics and the Society's David Schramm science writing award for feature articles on high-energy astrophysics. He has a master's in physics from the University of Maryland.