Elizabeth Benham (Fed)

As the leader of the NIST Metric Program , Ms. Benham serves as the national advocate for the International System of Units (SI) in the United States. Her efforts are pivotal to realizing national policy goals to advance the SI as the preferred measurement system for trade and commerce and strengthen U.S. innovation and competitiveness in global markets. The Metric Program supports businesses, officials, educators, and the public in understanding and applying the SI across commerce, education, and daily life.

Through her leadership, the NIST Metric Program plays a vital role in supporting national measurement policy and advancing professional development in metrology. Ms. Benham is committed to raising professional metrology standards through targeted training development aligned with industry needs. Her efforts underscore the importance of the SI in fostering scientific literacy. Her dynamic approach combines policy implementation with public engagement, professional training, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education outreach. She spearheads professional training initiatives and collaborates with K-12 educators to embed measurement science into classroom instruction to enhance STEM learning.

Projects

• U.S. Metrication and Metric Transition Policy and Federal Agency Progress Reporting
• Expand Labeling Options to Benefit U.S. Exports - A Proposal to Amend the Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA)
• Uniform Unit Pricing: Tools for Consumers to Fight Shrinkflation
• SI Education and Training, including the SI Teacher Kit
• U.S. Survey Foot Retirement
• Building the Next Generation of Metrologists (BIPM 150, 2025)

Stay up-to-date with the Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) learning events schedule to enhance your skills and knowledge. To sign up to receive OWM New via GovDelivery, click here. For inquiries or more information, reach Ms. Benham at TheSI [at] nist.gov (TheSI[at]nist[dot]gov).

professional activitieS

• Guest Researcher Mentor – NIST Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) and Montgomery College Professional Research Experience Program (PREP)
• US Metric Association, Technical Advisor, 2006 to Present
• IEEE Quantities, Units, and Symbols Standards Committee (QUSCom, formerly SCC 14), Member 2006 to Present
• NCSL International
  • Educator's Corner Committee, Member 2021 to Present
  • 164 Education Liaison and Outreach Committee, Chairperson 2009 to 2013
  • 163 Workplace and Professional Development Committee, Member 2006 to 2011
  • 181 Legal Metrology Committee, Member 2006 to 2012
• National Science Teaching Association, Member 2010 to Present
• Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE), Member 2022 to Present
• NIST Educational Outreach Working Group (EO-WG), NIST Educational STEM Resource Registry (NEST-R), Member 2020 to Present

Special PublicationS

• NIST SP 1336 (2025) - Estimating How Big: The Metric Estimation Game
• NIST SP 365 (2024) - Metric Conversion Card
• NIST SP 1297 (2023) - SI Units Card Deck
• NIST SP 1290 (2023) - NIST Metric Recipes
• NIST SP 1038 (2006) - The International System of Units (SI) - Conversion Factors for General Use

• IEEE Outstanding Contribution Recognition for the development of IEEE Standard 280-2021, Letter Symbols for Quantities Used in Electrical Science and Electrical Engineering (2022)
• U.S. Metric Association (USMA) Fellows Award (2021)
• NCSLI Education and Training Award (2012)
• Arthur S. Flemming Award (2011)
• National Conference of Standards Laboratories International (NCSLI) Best Paper Award for Learning and Development (2011)
• Measurement Science Conference (MSC) Joe Simmons Best Developer Award (2010)
• NIST Bronze Medal for Superior Federal Service (2008)