Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Projects/Programs

Displaying 51 - 75 of 86

Microcryocooler for Terahertz Detectors

Ongoing
DARPA has been interested in the development of cooled detector systems (infrared and terahertz) that require less than 1 W of input power (battery operated) and have a total volume less than about 4 cm 3. Such systems could be used for detection of enemy missile launches (infrared), chemical

NIST Assists in Marine-Related Disaster Response

Ongoing
NIST and the Biospecimen Science Group continue to collaborate with NOAA Fisheries, other federal and state agencies, and non-profit organizations to provide the ability to accurately assess exposure of marine animals to environmental stressors and provide a resource for retrospective analysis of

The NIST Biorepository

Ongoing
The NBSB was established in 1979 at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD with a pilot project archiving human liver samples associated with collections through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). New collaborations and banking projects were established including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

NIST Data Resources for Adsorption

Ongoing
NIST/ARPA-e Database of Novel and Emerging Adsorbent Materials A centralized resource for the scientific community to find and compare single- and multi-component adsorption isotherms reported in the literature. The database sorts data according to adsorbent material, adsorbate species

NIST Ocean Carbon Measurements

Ongoing
NIST is committed to sustaining the quality of ocean carbon measurements by developing capabilities to provide certified reference materials for the ocean carbonate system measurements and by conducting research to understand fundamental elements of the ocean carbon thermodynamic system. NIST Ocean

NIST U.S. Pacific Islands Program

Completed
To help address environmental research and resource management in the Pacific Islands region, the 111th U.S. Congress directed NIST to "expand its capabilities and resources into the Pacific region through a Pacific Islands component of NIST" and included funding to "expand its biodiversity storage

Northeast Corridor Urban Test Bed for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Ongoing
The NEC project includes multiple measurement and analysis components. The backbone of the NEC project is a network of in-situ CO2 and CH4 observation stations with continuous high-accuracy mole fraction measurements of these two greenhouse gases. In addition, the University of Maryland, Stony Brook

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

Ongoing
Perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) constitute a family of compounds that are distinguished by partial or complete fluorination of alkyl hydrocarbons. Dubbed “forever chemicals”, the unique chemistry of PFAS imparts a high level of stability, making the compounds resistant to

Performance Metrics for Industrial Gas Separation and Purification

Ongoing
Sorbents in Direct Air Capture (DAC) are exposed to the atmosphere, where they adsorb CO2 then are isolated from atmosphere, the CO2 is driven off by heating or pulling vacuum, refreshing the sorbents. This adsorption-refresh cycle depends not only on the competitive adsorption of CO2 with the other

Photonic Radiometry

Ongoing
Meeting the needs of the photonics industry and anticipating emerging technologies requires investigation and development of improved measurement methods and instrumentation. This project develops state-of-art, absolute microfabricated thermal detectors with absorber coatings consisting of carbon

Quantification and Characterization of Plastic Additives

Ongoing
Plastic products are not “pure polymers'' as they consist of up to 70% additive chemicals by weight. Plastic additives are mixed into the polymer matrix during production to enhance functional properties, performance, or appearance of the plastic product. The use of additives in plastics is

Quantum Radiometry

Ongoing
For quantum applications, it is important to generate quantum states of light and detect them with extremely high efficiency. This project explores the metrology challenges associated with precision measurement of single photon sources and detectors. The classical photonic radiometry techniques used

Radioanalytical Metrology

Ongoing
The Group engages in a wide range of methods applicable to the detection and characterization of nuclear materials. The work can benefit environmental studies, waste remediation, naturally occurring radioactivity detection and characterization and general radioanalytical metrology. Expertise in

Real Fuels

Ongoing
The variability of the price of oil, the need for energy efficiency and pollution minimization has led to increasing interest in alternative fuels. These fuels are structurally and compositionally different than the conventional fuels presently used.  Past work on conventional fuels have established

Reference Material Production and Support

Ongoing
Bulk Cryogenic Production Large-batch cryogenic reference materials are produced using a specialized Palla VM-KT Vibrating Cryomill. The mill is pre-cooled to cryogenic temperatures using liquid nitrogen. Frozen material is fed through the inlet funnel to a vibrating chamber containing 26 titanium

Reference materials for emerging and legacy organic contaminants

Ongoing
The Biochemical and Exposure Sciences Group (BSEG) produces environmental matrix and solution-based reference materials to support the environmental measurement community. These materials assist in identifying legacy organic contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)that were commonly

Reference Materials for Plastic Pollution Measurement Science

Ongoing
Microplastic reference materials of different sizes and shapes are required to support environmental studies. Smaller size classes, particularly between 1 µm and 500 µm, are needed to develop microplastic extraction methods, to identify additives in microplastics, and to create in-house spectral

Renewable Polymers

Completed
In this project, use innovative measurements to optimize existing materials synthesis and discover new routes to polymers from renewable feedstocks by providing characterization methods that can describe the mechanisms and of enzymatic catalysis of polymers from renewable feedstocks and synthetic

Sample Tracking and Analytical Reporting (STAR)

Ongoing
STAR (formerly known as Marine STAR) will develop a web-based interface to provide easy access to sample information from the NIST Biorepository. Information will include, but is not limited to, sample availability, chemical analysis status and results, and links to publications. Metadata associated

Smoke Stack Flow Measurement

Completed
The Fluid Metrology Group is using its smoke stack simulator (See Fig. 1.) and field tests in operating smoke stacks to critically test conventional and improved ways of measuring the flow of stack gases. In the NIST stack simulator, the inlet cone and reference (upstream) section of the simulator

Standards Development to Ensure Reliable Breath Analysis in the Field

Ongoing
Numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been identified in human breath. These compounds can be produced by the body or by organisms in the body (e.g., bacteria or viruses) and provide a non-invasive window into human health. Inexpensive point-of-care devices are being developed to diagnose
Was this page helpful?