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.
Iris Experts Group - II Homepage
Summary
A forum for the discussion of technical questions of interest to iris recognition developers, USG agencies and their staff, and other parties that are advancing and employing iris recognition.
Description
Documents for Public Comment
Some of our IEG activities generate documents that may benefit from public comment. There are three general categories:
- Documents that are sent to OSAC for further work.
- Documents that are provided to another entity (e.g. FBI NGI) for dissemination.
- Documents that will be submitted for publication.
Lists of documents that are out for public comment and the rules regarding such comment may be found at Iris Experts Group Public Comments.
Discussion Groups:
The IEG supports ongoing, online discussion groups on relevant topics.
As of October 2024, the Discussion Groups have been consolidated. See IEG: Discusssion Groups
Mailing List – General Distribution
This list is for general information, particularly about our annual meeting. It does not include the monthly discussion groups.
Participation in IEG activities is open to anyone who can legally conduct business with NIST.
Send a note to IEG-II [at] nist.gov (IEG-II[at]nist[dot]gov) that includes:
- your name, affiliation and your preferred address for emails.
- your email address associated with Google Drive; the general distribution list gets access to our General Distribution folder on Google Drive.
- NOTE: Google Drive access requirements changed in late winter 2025 . We can no longer provide access to an email that is not associated with a Google Account.
- If you had access to our shared Google folders in the past, that access may have been broken by the access requirement change.
- NOTE: Google Drive access requirements changed in late winter 2025 . We can no longer provide access to an email that is not associated with a Google Account.
- NOTE: Applications from addresses that are associated with SPAM and/or malicious activity may be ignored by mail filters.
mailto:ieg-ii [at] nist.gov (ieg-ii[at]nist[dot]gov) subject=IEG General Mailing List – Add
mailto:IEG-II [at] nist.gov (IEG-II[at]nist[dot]gov) subject=IEG General Mailing List – Drop
On an annual basis, we review our mailing lists and purge addresses that are bouncing.
Recent Announcements:
06/15/2026 Update to Annual Meeting Agenda
Latest version of the agenda for annual meeting on June 25th, can be downloaded
here.
02/26/2026: Annual Meeting
- The IEG Annual meeting will be held virtually on Thursday June 25, 2026. Registration is open at https://www.nist.gov/news-events/events/2026/06/iris-experts-group-annual-meeting
- Registration is free, but required for all participants including speakers and NIST staff.
- The agenda is under review and will be posted here shortly.
- This year our registration list has a cap. Though we don’t expect to hit it, early registration is advised.
Background:
During the period 2009 to 2014, an informal series of meetings were conducted on a semi-annual basis to discuss US government (USG) interests in iris recognition. Attendance was by invitation and the attendees were either USG staff who had interest in the questions submitted for discussion or recognized experts in some aspect of iris recognition who might reasonably be expected to help formulate answers to the questions. The meetings were called meetings of the Iris Experts Group (IEG) and were generally regarded as helpful in formulating answers to technical questions about iris recognition for the USG.
Purpose:
In 2015 NIST was asked to restart the group. Under a new name, IEG-II, the group remains a forum for the discussion of technical questions of interest to USG agencies and their staff that are employing or may employ iris recognition to carry out their mission. IEG-II will continue to solicit questions of interest from the USG community and to invite iris experts to make relevant presentations, discuss those questions and make recommendations regarding answers to the questions. It will also entertain suggestions from the wider community regarding topics/questions that the USG community should be considering. Topics that are taken under consideration for future meetings will be posted below.
Meetings:
The IEG meetings are normally held in the Washington DC area (NIST Gaithersburg MD as a default). Teleconferences can be setup to explore topics outside of the in-person meetings. Speakers will be explicitly invited; potential speakers may submit proposals for presentations on topics of interest to USG. Anyone may register to attend. Normally, there is no registration fee. Attendees must have credentials that will enable them to visit the NIST campus – see https://www.nist.gov/about-nist/visit . The coordinators for the meetings are James Matey and Patrick Grother, reachable via IEG-II [at] nist.gov (IEG-II[at]nist[dot]gov)
People who wish to suggest topics for discussion at future IEG-II meetings or to make proposals regarding presentations on topics should send a message to IEG-II [at] nist.gov (IEG-II[at]nist[dot]gov). Please include either "IEG-II: Presentation Proposal - ..." or "IEG-II: Topic/Question Proposal - ..." along with a brief description in the subject line. The body of the emails should be sufficiently detailed to enable the organizers to assess the proposals.
Mailing List:
Send a note to IEG-II [at] nist.gov (IEG-II[at]nist[dot]gov) if you wish to be added to (or dropped from) the mailing list for IEG-II. Please include your name, affiliation and email address.
IEG-II Links
IREX Homepage
IEG Announcements Archive