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Taking Measure

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Cybersecurity Careers Go Beyond Coding

September 30, 2024
… Center of Excellence   Before joining NIST, I spent 12 years shaping technology policy for the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. One of my … rewarding. Learn more about NCCoE’s efforts to keep your genetic information safe: Blog post: How Secure Is Your DNA? Project page: … and Privacy of Genomic Data Jody Jacobs, Computer Scientist, Information Technology Laboratory    I had an interesting career pathway …
Box at top that looks like search bar. 6 icons that look like pieces of paper with magnifying glasses on top. 3 are green and checkmarked.

Seek and You Will (Probably) Find: Helping Mine COVID-19 Research Data

July 16, 2020
Ellen Voorhees
… Think back to the last time you did an information search. Did you find what you were looking for?  How easy … is now pervasive, and we generally assume we’ll be able to find information we want. So, by that definition, search engines are good … was a neutral party with no predisposition to any particular search technology. This impartiality is critical because of the way large test …
A researcher wearing safety glasses reaches into a box of circuitry and other equipment, which emits a green glow.

5 Concepts Can Help You Understand Quantum Mechanics and Technology — Without Math!

January 28, 2025
Tara Fortier
… the early 2000s, computers did not exhibit quantum behavior. But as technology advanced and transistors in computers got smaller (now as … I am deeply passionate about making quantum mechanics and quantum technology accessible to the public because I envision a future where … the diverse voices of all demographics.  The impact of quantum technology and computing will be profound. Quantum may bring us more …
man sitting at large screen with smaller monitor screens

Rethinking Cybersecurity from the Inside Out

November 15, 2016
Ron Ross
… other industrialized nation, is experiencing explosive growth in information technology. These technological innovations have given us access to … distribution of these technologies has resulted in a highly complex information technology infrastructure of systems and networks that are … Information technology …
Portrait of NIST researcher Shanée Dawkins

My Research Can Help Protect You — and Your Company — From Hackers Trying to Steal Your Money and Information

September 29, 2023
Shanée Dawkins
… accidentally give away their company’s secrets, their bank account information, or an organization’s medical records.  I thought this movie … crafted for just one person.  In doing our research, we realized this information would be useful for organizations other than NIST. So, we’ve … at NIST, including in voting and public safety communications.  While technology can do amazing things, the stories of people who have lost …
Diagram of green and gray human-shaped mechanical figures

Making 'The Technology' for Exoskeletons a Reality

February 28, 2017
Bill Billotte
… small farming community in southern Georgia. My main exposure to new technology was through the annual farm equipment exposition, science … A man barely alive." Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. … first time, the developers, researchers and users of the exoskeleton technology community. Over 100 organizations, including 44 from …
image showing personally identifiable information of a woman entered into a 911 database being scrubbed

Differential Privacy: A Q&A With NIST's Mary Theofanos

August 7, 2019
Mary Theofanos
… now there's no secure way to disentangle personally identifiable information from individuals from the data that could serve emergency … differential privacy and how it could be used to expose valuable information without exposing our personal details. What is differential … to understand. Let’s say there’s a dataset that has your personal information in it and you don’t want your data to be identifiable in …
John Kitching leans over a table in the lab, using tweezers to point to part of a chip-scale device in a clear plastic box.

NIST’s Researchers Look Ahead to High-Tech Trends in 2023 and Beyond

December 22, 2022
… air quality to cybersecurity.  We asked our fellows, “How will the technology you are working on today affect society in the years to … If it sounds accurate, people may not realize that the AI-generated information could be false. AI tools can create massive amounts of … instead of their electric charge to perform tasks such as processing information. This could drastically reduce the amount of heat generated …
left-ambulance; right-highway traffic

Smart Cities: Bringing Tech Benefits Directly to You

March 25, 2016
Sokwoo Rhee
… refers to a city or community that takes advantage of the powerful information and communication technologies now available to provide new … from Japan, Korea, Nepal, and Nigeria. The merging of the world of information technology (think “cyber”) with the objects found in the world around us … Information technology …
Andras Vladar in a white gown, hairnet and mask with a scanning electron microscope.

How Can NIST Help: Collaborating at a Distance to Defeat COVID-19

June 9, 2020
Heather Evans
… Coordination Office at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) — is a great place to work. I interact with scientists … Lab, Carmen Martinez from the Engineering Lab, Elham Tabassi from the Information Technology Lab, Nick Barbosa from the Material Measurement … we named the “How Can NIST Help?” effort to generate ideas, share information, collaborate and inspire action to assist in the fight …
Two women in hiking gear stands at the top of a canyon, which is in the background.

Speeding Up Carbon Capture: A Q&A With NIST Scientist Pamela Chu 

August 23, 2022
… — and the innovations — that might make carbon capture a viable technology that can help slow down climate change.  NIST’s carbon … how to pull CO 2 out of the air. But it’s expensive using current technology. If we can improve the technology and the science as we go, hopefully that will reduce costs so …
the D squared M squared CM device in action. Red and green cells filter through membranes to meet in the middle of an X pattern.

Paving the Way for Electronic Organs-on-a-Chip

October 28, 2020
Darwin R. Reyes
… systems to quantify the physical properties of cells, which provide information regarding the cells’ health before and after treatment with … sense cells’ movements from one place to another, which could provide information on the mobility of metastatic cancer cells, changes in the … that keep cells alive. At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), I have developed and patented a technology that …
A researcher wearing safety glasses reaches into a box of circuitry and other equipment, which emits a green glow.

Demystifying Quantum: It’s Here, There and Everywhere

March 26, 2024
Tara Fortier
… of love and consciousness.   So ... what is quantum? What is quantum technology? And is it worth all the hype? First of All, What Is Quantum? … of quantum mechanics that technologists are trying to use to advance technology in computing, communication, sensing and cryptography. Why Is … about quantum mechanics for more than a century, quantum-related technology has progressed rapidly in recent years. Currently, a lot of …
Callie Higgins in a lab. She is standing in front of a reflective screen surrounding an atomic force microscope.

3D Printing With Light: A Q&A With NIST's Callie Higgins

April 28, 2021
… research engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She studies a special branch of additive … interacts with different materials and discovered an interesting technology called photopolymer additive manufacturing (PAM) that was … I was fascinated by both the fundamental physics behind the technology and the high-impact applications it could have across society …
Timothy Zimmerman checking connections in the Cybersecurity for Smart Manufacturing Systems testbed

Ensuring the Cybersecurity of Manufacturing Systems

October 2, 2017
Timothy Zimmerman
… are focused around stolen data , which resides in our IT, or information technology, infrastructure. However, the breaches that interest me are … user management, USB ports and web servers. Because of this shared technology, it’s easy to assume that any type of cybersecurity … Information technology …
intermeshed gears. They have the words "society", "sustainability", "economy" and "environment" written on them.

Sustainable Manufacturing Is Smart Manufacturing

October 1, 2020
KC Morris
… nonexistent. Our goal as National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers is to develop the measurement science to … The approach we took was to define standards for applying information technology to the description, or characterization , of … in the 1840s to copy a technical drawing exactly so that the information could be more widely shared. Over the years more and more …
graphic showing various ways that people are accessing the internet and networked resources via computers, mobile phones and clouds

Zero Trust Cybersecurity: ‘Never Trust, Always Verify’

October 23, 2020
Alper Kerman
… when I started working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in … records of people who had undergone background checks, as well as information about their family, friends and acquaintances, many of whom … birth, and addresses were among the types of personally identifiable information that were revealed. The OPM data breach was a big wake-up …
A researcher in safety glasses stands holding a remote control near a large blue model of a human head and torso with red marks on the chest.

Wearable, Implantable and Ingestible Medical Devices Could Revolutionize Your Health Care 

July 22, 2025
Kamran Sayrafian
… emergency.  As a NIST researcher interested in the application of technology in health care, I wondered: Is there a way to monitor this … a medical professional. The tool could also potentially send that information directly to the health care provider via a smartphone or … anatomical models based on CT scan data of patients’ breathing. That information allowed us to create another sequence of 3D computational …
multi panel collage of the robocrane, a large three sided pyramid structure of struts and wires holding a platform in the middle. To the right are images of the robocrane welding, joining pipes and cutting an I beam.

Creating and Commercializing the NIST RoboCrane

October 27, 2021
Nicholas G. Dagalakis
… cleanup sites — is a good example of a successfully commercialized technology invented at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). I’ll try to tell that story in this blog. In the … (such as the Moon), collections of soil samples, and more . The technology transfer breakthrough came in the late 1990s during my …
a kitchen with a voice activated assistant on the counter, graphics indicate that it is connected wirelessly to the stove, the toaster, the blender and so on.

Cybersecurity Labeling for Consumer IoT Devices: A Q&A With NIST’s Katerina Megas

October 12, 2021
… Taking Measure interviewed National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity for Internet of Things (IoT)  program … component and the ability to affect the physical world or collect information from it. While these devices used to work as standalone … things stand today, it’s extraordinarily difficult to find even basic information about the security capabilities of an IoT product when …
Four people stand talking in a converted factory space near a large interior window through which a complex, high-tech manufacturing line is visible.

From the Machine Shop to Cutting-Edge Technology: How NIST Helps Grow American Manufacturing 

September 22, 2025
Cassondra Blasioli
… of 18 public-private partnerships, each focusing on a specific technology area. For more than 10 years, we’ve promoted the sharing of … solve problems Facilities to train current and future employees New technology that companies can try out before investing in it for their … in the drug development process. Rebuilding Supply Chains Around New Technology Semiconductors are the backbone of modern electronics, …
frequency comb

Growing Our Economy Through Technology Transfer

May 16, 2017
Paul Zielinski
… made in the lab to something you can use is what government calls technology transfer. Every year, the government spends your tax … government agencies. At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), this investment supports our work in measurement … Bridging that gap requires private investment. This is where the technology transfer process comes in. Because it’s not a …
a cityscape with the words "smart and secure cities and communities challenge expo

Improving the Quality of Life through Smart Cities and Internet of Things Innovation

June 7, 2019
Sokwoo Rhee
… NIST launched this initiative to bring together communities and technology innovators to collaborate on smart city solutions that would … rounds of discussions, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science … Hosted by NIST, DHS S&T and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the expo is anticipated to be the …
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