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Engineering Laboratory

News and Updates

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Resilient Cedar Rapids: Rebuilding Better Pays Off

August 12, 2020

Many cities in the United States have experienced or will experience devastating losses caused by a natural disaster. In the aftermath of a disaster, the

Remembering Randy Shields

July 27, 2020

John “Randy” Shields, a physical scientist in the Flammability Reduction Group of EL’s Fire Research Division, died suddenly of a heart attack on June 27, 2020

Research Suggests Significant Benefits to Investing in Advanced Machinery Maintenance

June 15, 2020

The maintenance of machinery in the manufacturing industry consists of three primary approaches: reactive, preventive, and predictive. Reactive maintenance is

A hospital room containing a nurse and patient exhaling aerosols carrying viruses. Air ducts and filters are depicted above and a portable air filter is shown in the room.

NIST Airflow Model Could Help Reduce Indoor Exposure to Aerosols Carrying Coronavirus

June 11, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built an online tool that could help decrease the concentration of aerosols

Evidence suggests that the U.S. Loses Hundreds of Billions to Cybercrime, Possibly as much as 1 % to 4 % of GDP Annually

May 27, 2020

Cybercrime puts America’s competitive edge and economic future at risk; however, there is some debate as to the extent that this activity is impacting economic

A shower head with steamy water coming out.

NIST Identifies Critical Needs for Improved Plumbing

May 11, 2020

We don’t use water like we used to. In recent decades, concerns about cost, water shortages and environmental impacts together with changes in plumbing design

a large, hollow silver cylinder on a wheeled metal rack on the right, the guarded hot plate, another smaller cylinder festooned with wires that fits inside the larger cylinder is on the left

Spotlight: Thermal Insulation SRM in Space

May 8, 2020

Feeling hot, hot, hot … but this thermal insulation standard reference material (SRM 1450e) can help you take the heat, both in an apartment building and in

A view through a door window of N95 masks being decontaminated.

NIST Tool Could Help Hospitals Repurpose Rooms for Disinfecting N95 Masks

April 16, 2020

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals across the United States are disinfecting N95 masks by placing them in repurposed rooms or shipping containers

NIST Releases Online Economic Decision Tool to Help Communities Plan for Disaster

March 25, 2020

Preparing a community’s buildings and infrastructure for a hurricane or earthquake can be an incredibly complicated and costly endeavor. A new online tool from

A fire test of an office building floor replica occurring in a fireproof compartment.

How Fire Causes Office-Building Floors to Collapse

March 24, 2020

Engineers and technicians at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) spent months meticulously recreating the long concrete floors supported

NIST Community Resilience Guide Supports Maryland Counties Climate Resilience Planning

March 20, 2020

The NIST Community Resilience Program was invited by the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Center for Global Sustainability to support an initiative to aid local

NIST Conducts Full-Scale Experiments to Demonstrate Flammability Risk of Residential Upholstered Furniture (RUF) and Potential Mitigation Strategies

March 12, 2020

The NIST Flammability Reduction Group (FRG) is conducting a series of full-scale fire experiments in collaboration with the National Fire Research Laboratory

NIST Community Resilience Panel at HurriCon 2020

HurriCon 2020: Science at the Intersection of Hurricanes and the Populated Coast

March 11, 2020

Members of NIST’s Community Resilience Program and the NIST-funded Center of Excellence (CoE) for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning jointly convened a

Sunlight shines through solar panel backsheet.

NIST Study Uncovers a Potential Driver of Premature Solar Panel Failures

March 10, 2020

Unlike diamonds, solar panels are not forever. Ultraviolet rays, gusts of wind and heavy rain wear away at them over their lifetime. Manufacturers typically

Spotlight: 3D Perception Systems

March 4, 2020

When you pick up one pencil from a pile on a table, how does your hand know where to go or what to grab? Your eyes help out. For robots to do the same, they

NIST Releases a New Standard Cigarette for Testing the Flammability of Mattresses and Furniture

February 19, 2020

In efforts to reduce the number of deaths from smoking-related fires, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a new supply of a

Inadequate Modeling Data Costs Billions to US Manufacturers

February 12, 2020

Modeling data can reduce redundant design and production activities which include an estimated $8.4 billion spent on engineers answering questions and creating

NIST Renews $20M Award to Community Resilience Center of Excellence

February 3, 2020

The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded a renewal of a $20 million cooperative agreement to Colorado

Two hands in purple gloves hold onto butane lighters, which are being used to light up two cigarettes poised in a metal device.

Butt Emissions: Study Finds Even Extinguished Cigarettes Give Off Toxins

January 29, 2020

Cigarette butts pile up in parks, beaches, streets and bus stops, places where all types of littering are frowned upon. An estimated more than five trillion

Manufacturing GDP Returns to Pre-Recession Levels, Employment Remains Down 10 %

January 24, 2020

Each year, the NIST Applied Economics Office assembles a report that examines public data on US manufacturing. The most recent report identified that US

New NIST Tool for Estimating Manufacturing Industry Costs (Beta version)

January 24, 2020

It might seem that estimating manufacturing industry costs (e.g., total machinery maintenance costs for all manufacturers) would be easy and have a great deal

New Tool to Account for Uncertainty

January 20, 2020

Cost examinations often run into the challenge of data uncertainty, where variables in the calculation (e.g., price of gasoline) will fluctuate over the study

The Ninth Triennial International Fire & Cabin Safety Research Conference

October 29, 2019

Two members of the NIST Flammability Reduction group recently attended the Ninth Triennial International Fire & Cabin Safety Research Conference, which was

A woman wearing safety goggles (Laura Dubrulle) hold a stack of square wood samples in a scientific lab.

Spotlight: Laura Dubrulle

October 15, 2019

Closing down a highway of fire: NIST guest researcher Laura Dubrulle wants to keep your fence from going up in flames and taking your home with it. With small

Robot arm picks up a red widget off a table

Spotlight: The Robot Workcell Checkup

August 28, 2019

Your toe bone is connected to your foot bone, then your heel bone, then your ankle bone … so when something hurts, doctors at your checkup can go down the line

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