Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

David W. Flater (Fed)

Computer Scientist

Dr. Flater is a Computer Scientist with the Software and Systems Division of the Information Technology Laboratory at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.  His current research focus is software metrology—helping physical scientists and computer scientists understand one another a little bit better so that metrology (the science of measurement) and science generally (the system of human knowledge) will be more cohesive across disciplines.

Dr. Flater's previous works have covered interoperability, semantics, conceptual integrity, and conceptual modelling.  His software portfolio includes the NIST SQL conformance test suite, bootBCa, Chrome Reaper, and Votetest.  He has worked with ANSI X3H2, OMG, the CCU, and the TGDC on various standards.

Awards

Department of Commerce Gold Medal, 2008, for scientific achievement in the development of voting systems standards and guidelines

Publications

What does the pixel measure?

Author(s)
David W. Flater
The pixel is often used as a unit of measurement in information technology. Unfortunately, there is not a simple, consistently-applicable answer to what it is a

A system of quantities from software metrology

Author(s)
David Flater
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 80000, the International System of Quantities, collects and
Created June 4, 2019, Updated December 8, 2022