2018 Judson C. French Award

The group is recognized for vastly improving NIST measurement services for light scattering from the surface of material, a property critical for products where surface appearance determines market acceptance. Their innovative Robotic Optical Scattering Instrument (ROSI) replaces outdated technology with an automated system that measures reflectance as a function of wavelength, polarization, illumination and viewing angles, and surface position. This improved capability serves calibration labs (including other national metrology institutes), the field of optics, coating manufacturers, and aerospace companies developing satellite sensors that need to make accurate, comparable measurements in support of land usage, ocean health, and weather forecasting.