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NIST in Alabama

$141M 

in financial awards from NIST to organizations in the state of Alabama since 2023 

Aerospace, aviation, and defense

  • In FY 2024, NIST supported Alabama’s aerospace and aviation sectors with a $2.7 million grant for the Jacksonville State University Additive Manufacturing Training and Innovation Lab. Additive manufacturing is used to make objects with more precision and less waste than traditional manufacturing, without welds or other joins that can be potential weaknesses, and in novel shapes that can’t be attained with conventional methods. 
  • Alabama metals manufacturers rely on NIST reference materials for iron and steel alloys to check for composition, hardness and toughness, ensuring the highest quality control for materials where failure would cause catastrophic losses. 
  • NIST standards, calibrations and other services ensure accuracy in measurements of altitude and airspeed, and in remote sensing via satellites. The atomic clocks used by global positioning systems and telecommunications networks rely on precision timekeeping disseminated by NIST, starting with the NIST primary standard atomic clock. 
  • Since FY 2020, Alabama Technology Network, part of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership, has received $10.7 million in federal funds from NIST, with over $9 million matched in nonfederal funds, to provide workforce training, technical assistance and business solutions to empower and strengthen Alabama manufacturers. 

With the help of the Alabama Technology Network, Metal Research Inc. in Guntersville performed an audit of its quality management system. By addressing gaps, the company obtained certification to the AS9100 quality management standard, enabling it to meet requirements of customers in the aerospace, aviation and defense sectors. As a result, the company retained $4 million in sales and increased sales by $350,000. 

Advanced manufacturing

NIST supports Alabama’s $2.3 billion chemical industry with a wide variety of products and services.   

  • NIST reference materials and calibrations help manufacturers check the purity or composition of gases and other raw materials and comply with environmental regulations.    
  • The NIST Mass Spectrometry Data Center produces data libraries that speed chemical identification and quality control for the chemical manufacturing sector and many other industry sectors. This data is so widely trusted that it is packaged with nearly every mass spectrometer sold.   
  • The NIST ThermoData Engine is used by chemical companies around the world. It provides thermophysical properties for industrially important fluids and fluid mixtures so that chemical plants can optimize production processes through computer modeling, without running expensive full-size experiments.   

Automotive

  • NIST’s CHIPS for America program was created, in part, to address the semiconductor shortage that began in 2021, which hit the automotive sector particularly hard. CHIPS has announced more than $6 billion in awards to U.S. companies for creating or expanding manufacturing capacity for the semiconductors that automakers and OEM suppliers need to make cars in America.   
  • To support the adoption of electric vehicles, NIST accumulates, updates and disseminates good practices for measurement and device reliability for EV chargers based on our experience in measurement and instrumentation. The goal is for EV drivers to have the same trust in charging that users of gas pumps have in refueling. 
  • Based on our expertise in developing cybersecurity standards, guidelines, best practices and other resources, NIST has issued a Cybersecurity Framework profile for Electric Vehicle Extreme Fast Charging Infrastructure to address vulnerabilities in the chargers’ multiple connected systems. 
  • The NIST Center for Automotive Lightweighting provides automakers with the mechanical and physical measurement tools they need to reliably manufacture components from new, lighter materials. These lighter parts can increase fuel or battery efficiency and cut emissions.   

Biotechnology, life sciences and health care

  • In FY 2022, NIST provided the University of South Alabama in Mobile with nearly $60 million for the construction of a new building at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine. The building is part of a new hub for health sciences education and research that will allow the college to increase the number of doctors in training.  
  • NIST reference materials help the biotechnology industry with quantitative analytical measurement tools for nucleic acids, proteins, metabolites and cell systems so that manufacturers can monitor and improve manufacturing methods and products — and innovate more quickly. 
  • NIST’s guidance on temperature control for vaccine storage has reduced waste by 30%, so more doses are available for more people. NIST’s calibration materials for magnetic resonance imaging help medical researchers develop quantitative tests that can rapidly determine if treatments for glioblastoma and other cancers are working, speeding clinical decisions. 

MEP Success Stories

Lean Journey Yields Impacts

Reported Year
2024
Eovations reached out ATN, part of the MEP National Network™, to inquire about implementing lean methodologies to eliminate waste and streamline processes. ATN created a customized training plan that would focus on lean manufacturing with an emphasis on the 5S system - sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain - which aims at creating a

Internal Audit Aides in Retained Sales for Metal Research, Inc.

Reported Year
2024
ATN, part of the MEP National Network™, first began working with Metal Research, Inc., because the company was preparing for certification to the AS9100 quality management system standard. They were pursing the AS9100 certification to better position themselves in the aviation, space and defense market. The company needed a gap assessment to ensure

ISO Certification Drives Sales for Vision Composite Products

Reported Year
2024
When Vision Composite Products contacted ATN, part of the MEP National Network™, they were a start-up company preparing to launch a new product line. In order to better position themselves in the marketplace to maintain and capture new business in the automotive market, they needed assistance in developing and implementing an ISO 9001 Quality

News & Updates

Learn how NIST improves the lives of all Americans by conducting research and fostering collaborations that make possible everything from reliable vaccine storage and fair fuel transactions to next-generation MRIs and fair stock trades. Check out NIST Works for You.

Blog Posts

Research Projects

Theory of Spin-Orbit Torque

The working of countless electronic devices involves electric and magnetic effects interacting within nanostructured materials. In the phenomenon known as spin