Mathematics and Statistics

Listening to the Data: How a NIST Tool Helps Labs Worldwide Harmonize Measurements

April 3, 2024

In a global economy, measurements need to be reliably comparable across the world. But how do we ensure that actually happens?

Zach Grey poses outdoors with wind turbines in the background.

Riding the Wind: How Applied Geometry and Artificial Intelligence Can Help Us Win the Renewable Energy Race

January 10, 2024

A NIST researcher is using math and AI to help design an optimal wind turbine.

A medical worker wears gloves as she prepares to swab the nose of a female patient.

Measuring the Accuracy of PCR Tests Can Improve Health Care Beyond COVID-19

September 13, 2023

Many of us have taken a COVID-19 test. But, have you ever wondered, after your sample goes off to a lab, exactly how they arrive at a positive or negative

Renaissance-style illustration shows Blaise Pascal

Under Pressure: Blaise Pascal, the Barometer and Bike Tires

June 14, 2023

On his 400th birthday, we celebrate the scientist whose name is the unit of measurement for air, bike and car tire pressure. You should read it. No pressure.

NIST researcher Justyna Zwolak reads a book about Ada Lovelace to her young daughter

Ada Lovelace: The World’s First Computer Programmer Who Predicted Artificial Intelligence

March 22, 2023

During Women’s History Month, I am remembering Ada Lovelace’s contributions and thinking about the impact she had on me as a scientist and mathematician.

AMO for All: How Online Portals Are Democratizing the Field of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics

November 2, 2022

Portals allow less-experienced researchers to do real calculations without knowing how to build the code themselves.

Jeffrey Fong poses smiling in front of a railing overlooking a concrete dam.

My Journey From Designing Dams to Helping Structures Live Their Longest Lives

August 4, 2022

Jeffrey Fong writes about how his personal drive for safe engineering design led him to work at NIST.

Left: Machine that looks like an old fashioned typewriter in a box. Right: picture of Alan Turing along with a bio. Both are from a museum exhibit.

Alan Turing’s Everlasting Contributions to Computing, AI and Cryptography

June 23, 2022

Suppose someone asked you to devise the most powerful computer possible. Alan Turing, whose reputation as a central figure in computer science and artificial

The NIST Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program Goes Virtual

February 2, 2021

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) designed the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program to inspire undergraduate students

The Future Is Now: Spreading the Word About Post-Quantum Cryptography

December 2, 2020

I consider myself a quiet guy — on a Friday night you can usually find me at home doing crossword puzzles. Public speaking doesn’t come naturally to me, and I

A.I. for Smarter Factories: The World of Industrial Artificial Intelligence

September 2, 2020

As the digital age moves forward, it’s becoming impossible to avoid interacting with artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Computer assistants and AIs perform

Shaping the Future of the NIST Mass Spectral Library

July 7, 2020

When one thinks of mass spectral libraries — well, let’s be honest here, the very idea of mass spectral libraries will never cross most people’s minds, even

Women in STEM: Igniting Young Minds, Illuminating the Future

March 19, 2020

I am a research chemist and lab officer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). From November 2019 to February 2020, I worked as an

One Statistical Paradigm to Rule Them All?

April 9, 2019

Now, if you’re familiar with either statistics or J.R.R. Tolkien, I know the title grabbed your attention. And if not, don’t worry, all will become clear in

Top NIST Images of 2018

February 6, 2019

There’s nothing quite like a captivating image to make you want to learn more. And nowhere is that more apparent than when it comes to sometimes hard-to

It All Adds Up: Being a NIST NRC Postdoc in Applied Mathematics

September 4, 2018

I first learned about the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) while a graduate student in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the

Local Realism, Bell’s Inequality, and T-Shirts: An Entangled Tale

April 30, 2018

For this past Christmas my wife, Rebecca, gave me a T-shirt that says "Quantum mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of." This is an allusion to the book The

man standing in front of a white board filled with equations. Four other men sit around a table watching.

Quantum Information: Changing the Rules of the Game

August 2, 2017

I was a math researcher at the University of Michigan back in 2008 when I had the crazy—one could even say random—notion to shift from studying pure mathematics

Plotting a Path from NASA Grids to NIST Graphics

April 27, 2017

Before “Hidden Figures” was a movie, it was a book. Actually, two books—the regular book and a young readers’ edition. I liked the movie, but I loved the books

Photo of man in white space suite on surface of moon at night.

Mooning Over Measurement

January 31, 2017

I’ve worked with many valuable materials in my career. Precious metals like gold and platinum, rare engineered nanomaterials, and fragile gemstones nearly as

Photo of purplish black sky with a streak of bright lightning

In Pursuit of Plasma Power: Hot Stuff, Snowstorms, and Starry Skies

September 15, 2016

Do we really need hot stuff? I’m not talking about Donna Summer’s disco hit of 1979 or global warming. I’m not talking about anything so lukewarm as the surface

Ida Rhodes and the Problem with ‘Water Goats’

March 16, 2016

As a professional reference librarian and amateur history buff at NIST, I have had the opportunity to become acquainted with all kinds of extraordinary

A Slice of Math Functions for Pi Day

March 14, 2016

Happy Pi Day! No, not pie day, Pi Day. That Greek character pi, π, that you’ve heard of but aren’t quite sure what the big deal is. Pi is the ratio of a circle

Taking Measure