Snell Named to Head NIST Building and Fire Research Laboratory

Ray Kammer, director of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, has named Jack E. Snell as director of the agency's Building and Fire Research Laboratory.

Snell has held a variety of positions at NIST, ranging from work in the Building Environment Division to directing the agency's fire research. He became deputy director of BFRL in 1991 and was named acting director early this year following the retirement of Richard Wright.

He is the author or co-author of numerous articles, papers and reports on fire research, energy conservation and transportation systems.

Snell began working at NIST's predecessor, the National Bureau of Standards, in 1971 following years of work in the private sector and academia. His previous work ranged from aircraft maintenance engineering for Pan American World Airways Inc. to teaching positions at Princeton University and the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University, Snell went on to get a master's degree in industrial engineering and a doctorate in civil engineering at Northwestern University.

As a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Technology Administration, NIST strengthens the U.S. economy and improves the quality of life by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards through four partnerships: the Measurement and Standards Laboratories, the Advanced Technology Program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Baldrige National Quality Program.