NIST Names John R. Rumble Jr. To Head Standard Reference Data Program

Standard Reference Data program manager John R. Rumble Jr. has been named to head the SRD Program at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology. As chief of the SRD Program, Rumble will oversee the institute's scientific and technical data activities, including the production of standard reference databases for personal computers, online information networks, databases for analytical instruments such as mass spectrometers, and SRD publications.

Since 1968, the Standard Reference Data Program has been responsible, under an act of Congress, for providing information to researchers in science and industry. These carefully evaluated data collections in chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering, building and fire technology, and electronics are developed by NIST to improve the design efficiency of chemical processes, identify potential toxic substances in the environment, improve materials durability, and calculate the performance of chemical reactors, to name but a few applications.

Rumble says, "We plan to take full advantage of the Internet to make our national investment in evaluated data more widely available to users. These databases are invaluable tools for our country's scientists and engineers who have a need for rapid access to the information."

Upon joining the institute in 1980, Rumble became immediately involved in helping to make the SRD program a recognized national resource for scientific and technical information. A considerable part of his work has been with industrial groups to help meet their engineering needs for computerized data related to materials and chemicals.

He has organized and chaired many national and international workshops that resulted in cooperative data programs between government and the private sector such as the Corrosion Data Program with the National Association of Corrosion Engineers and the Phase Diagrams for Ceramics Data Program with the American Ceramics Society, and he helped to establish the National Materials Property Data Network.

Rumble helped to found and chaired the American Society for Testing and Materials Committee E-49 on standards for materials and chemical databases. He also was involved with the development and initial release of the International Organization for Standardization standard, ISO10303, "Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data."

Prior to joining the institute, Rumble served at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, and at JILA in Boulder, Colo. He recently served as a Department of Commerce Fellow in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.

Rumble holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Cornell University, a master's in chemistry from the City University of New York and a doctorate in chemical physics from Indiana University. He also has worked in industry and has published widely on atomic and molecular physics and scientific data handling.

As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.