NIST Gallery of Distinguished Alumni

The NIST Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Alumni honors NBS/NIST alumni for outstanding career contributions to the work of NBS/NIST. Portraits and biographies of those selected are displayed in the corridor of the NIST cafeteria at Gaithersburg. An updated digital archives kiosk for Gaithersburg and for Boulder, as well as a physical location for portraits in Boulder are awaiting procurement actions by the NIST Public Affairs Office. 

The most recent list of Portrait Gallery honorees is available at 2026 Portrait Gallery Honorees. 

Please join us for the 2026 NIST Portrait Gallery Ceremony, to be held on Thursday, September 17, 2026, beginning at 10:30 am ET in Gaithersburg and 8:30 am MT in Boulder. We hope you will attend in person on either campus. The ceremony will be live-streamed for those who wish to attend virtually.

The 2026 honorees are Steven Bushby, Frank Gayle, Jeffrey Hudgens, Dan Neumann, Dale Newbury, Long Phan, Katherine Sharpless, and James Whetstone. In addition, we will also introduce and celebrate the 2025 awardees and their presenters in person, since the 2025 ceremony was delayed and as a result held only virtually. The 2025 honorees are Robert Drulliger, Richard Jackson, Gregory Rosasco, Susannah Schiller, Annie Smith, Stephan Stranick, William Twilley, and Theodore Vorburger.

Please help us congratulate both groups of distinguished NBS/NIST superstar alumni. Registration links follow.

Gaithersburg Campus Registration (in person and virtual)

Boulder Campus Registration (in person and virtual)

Any current or former NBS/NIST staff member may nominate a candidate for the Portrait Gallery. Nominations are welcome for alumni.

Candidates who have been nominated in previous years, but not selected, may be nominated again, but no candidate may be nominated in more than two successive years. For example, candidates may again be nominated in a fourth year or later, so long as they are not nominated in more than two successive years. Re-submission should be seen as an opportunity for the nominator to improve the nomination of a worthy candidate.

Nomination instructions and an example are available from the SAA website. Please address questions to the Standards Alumni Association at portrait_gallery [at] standardsalumni.org (portrait_gallery[at]standardsalumni[dot]org) or the Portrait Gallery Committee at bjlide [at] gmail.com (bjlide[at]gmail[dot]com).  The nomination due date for the 2026 cycle has already passed. Nominations for the 2027 cycle shall be received by the Standards Alumni Association on or before the March 10, 2027 deadline.

Past honorees are listed is this document: Portrait Gallery honorees through 2025 (PDF), as well as in the NIST Digital Archives.