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Quality
49
Organizations Try for Nation's Top Honor for Excellence
Forty-nine
U.S. organizations, including 14 large manufacturers, five service
companies, 11 small businesses, 11 education and eight health
care organizations have submitted applications for the 2000 Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's premier award
for performance excellence and quality achievement. Fifty-two
organizations applied in 1999.
Applicants
for the award must show achievements and improvements in seven
categories: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market
focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process
management, and results. For the next four months, each of the
49 applicants will receive a minimum of 300 hours of review by
the award's mostly private-sector examiners.
Organizations
passing an initial screening this summer will be visited by a
team of examiners in the fall to verify application information
and to clarify issues and questions. Every applicant receives
an extensive feedback report highlighting strengths and opportunities
for improvement.
Winners
of the 2000 award are expected to be announced in November by
President Clinton.
For
more information on the Baldrige National Quality Award, go to
www.quality.nist.gov
on the World Wide Web.
Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko, (301) 975-2767
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Fire
Software
Gives Firefighters Computerized View of Deadly Blaze
New
NIST fire modeling computer software recently enabled District
of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department investigators
to gain insight into a 1999 townhouse fire that claimed the lives
of two D.C. firefighters and critically burned another.
As
part of the investigation of the tragedy, fire safety engineers
at NIST's Building and Fire
Research Laboratory were asked to employ two just-released
programs: the Fire Dynamics Simulator, which numerically models
the movement of smoke and hot gases caused by fire, wind and ventilation
systems; and Smokeview, which permits visualization of the data.
The investigators asked NIST to model the fire behavior with the
first floor sliding glass door fully closed (as existed during
the fire) and with this door fully ventilated (as required by
the fire department's standing operating procedures).
FDS
calculations relied on specific timeline details contributed by
fire investigators, townhouse measurements gained from a site
visit by NIST staff and the system's own database of material
properties. Based on the FDS data, Smokeview's visualization of
the actual fire indicated that an opening of the basement sliding
glass doors provided outside air (oxygen) to a pre-heated, underventilated
fire compartment, which then developed into a post-flashover fire
within 60 seconds. It also showed that some of the resulting fire
gases flowed up the basement stairwell with high velocity and
collected in a pre-heated, oxygen-depleted first floor living
room with limited ventilation. The second model scenario demonstrated
that differences in ventilation could have significantly changed
fire conditions in the first floor area where the firefighters
were operating.
The
FDS and Smokeview programs, as well as the NIST report on their
use in modeling the D.C. fire, may be downloaded from the World
Wide Web at www.fire.nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
John
Blair, (301) 975-4261
Measurement
Ground
Broken for World's Premier Metrology Research Lab
Perhaps
one of the most significant milestones in the nearly 100-year
history of NIST occurred on June 9, 2000, when ground
was broken in Gaithersburg, Md., on the Advanced
Measurement Laboratory.
When
it is ready for occupancy in 2004, the 47,480-square-meter (511,070-square-foot),
$235.2 million AML will give NIST and its partners access to research
and development capabilities not available anywhere else in the
world. The laboratory's unique characteristics will yield higher
quality reference materials, improved measurements and standards,
and more rapidly developed research advances.
The
AML will feature stringent controls on particulate matter, temperature,
vibration and humidity that are unattainable in current NIST buildings.
Such conditions are vital for housing the institute's most advanced
metrology, physics, chemistry, electronics, engineering, manufacturing
and materials science research.
The
AML will consist of five lab sections: two below ground (for improved
vibration isolation and temperature control), two above ground
and one ultraclean room wing above ground. Specialty areas within
the AML include 48 precision temperature control laboratories
(constant temperatures within ± 0.1 degree Celsius or ± 0.01 degree
Celsius depending on need) and 27 extremely low-vibration laboratories.
Characteristics
that will be uniform throughout all of the AML lab modules are:
HEPA filtration for all laboratory air; a baseline temperature
control of ± 0.25 degree Celsius; mechanical, electrical, and
structural systems designed to minimize vibration; and a power
system rated for critical electronic loads. Mechanical services
(piping, ventilation and electrical) as well as laboratory support
equipment (such as gas canisters) are located in a service corridor
located between laboratory modules, maximizing flexibility and
cleanliness.
Finally,
natural daylighting, energy conservation and recycling are incorporated
into the "green" building design and planned operation of the
AML.
For
more details on the AML, including graphics and artist renditions,
go to the World Wide Web at www.ta.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/aml.htm.
Media
Contact:
Michael
E. Newman, (301) 975-3025
International
Standards
Grant
to ANSI to Strengthen U.S. Participation in ISO, IEC
A
$500,000 NIST grant to the American National Standards Institute,
coordinator of the U.S. voluntary consensus standards system,
will help ANSI advance U.S. interests in international standardization
and conformity assessment-technical areas that define the terms
of access to global markets.
As
the official U.S. member to the International Organization for
Standardization (known as ISO) and to the International Electrotechnical
Committee, ANSI submits the U.S. position on all proposed ISO
and IEC standards. Totaling more than 15,000, these product and
performance standards often are referenced in technical regulations
by governments worldwide as well as in business-to-business transactions.
Among
the United States' top 10 trading partners, levels of government
support for national standards organizations in 1995 ranged from
nearly 4 percent for the United Kingdom to 100 percent for Japan,
Mexico, China and South Korea. The $500,000 grant from NIST is
equivalent to almost 3 percent of ANSI's annual budget.
ANSI
pays combined annual dues of almost $2 million and expends another
$2 million in support of international programs and efforts. It
will use the grant to help pay ISO and IEC dues and to support
its participation in the organizations' policy-making bodies.
The grant also may support U.S. involvement in standards activities
in the Americas and the Asia Pacific region.
"Regular
U.S. representation at the grass roots level and in key policy-setting
committees is critical to ensuring consistency of international
standards with U.S. standards and practices," said NIST Director
Ray Kammer. Congress included funds for the grant in NIST's budget
for the current fiscal year.
For
more information, contact Stacy
Leistner at ANSI, (212) 642-4931, sleistne@ansi.org.
Media
Contact:
Mark
Bello, (301) 975-3776
Technology
Assistance
New
Publication Helps Find State Programs for Tech Growth
State
and local governments have long understood the importance of fostering
start-up companies and small firms to promote economic growth
and development. Over the years, they have developed a network
of services and programs for the entrepreneur, ranging from assistance
with siting, business financing and workforce development to help
in the development, commercialization and diffusion of new technologies,
and in building manufacturing capabilities to advance their local
economies. The result has been a broad array of offerings for
small business, business and technology assistance services delivered
by a diverse set of organizations in each state, including agencies
of the state government, specially created non-profit corporations,
universities and public/private alliances among others.
To
help small technology-oriented companies find their way through
the maze of offerings to the services best suited to their needs,
the NIST Advanced Technology Program has produced a roadmap. A
Guide to State Business Assistance Programs for New Technology
Creation and Commercialization is the first volume of two
on "Reinforcing Interactions Between the ATP and State Technology
Program." Written by policy researchers at Johns Hopkins University,
the new guide discusses how different types of business support
programs are targeted at different phases of the technology development
cycle and address different issues from actual R&D; to business
planning and marketing strategies. Multiple examples are provided
of typical programs in different states, and an appendix gives
a state-by-state catalog of programs with contact information.
Copies
of A Guide to State Business Assistance Programs for New Technology
Creation and Commercialization (NIST CGR 00-788) are available
from the Advanced Technology Program, (301) 975-4332 or on the
World Wide Web (as a pdf file) at www.atp.nist.gov/atp/pubs.htm.
Media
Contact:
Michael
Baum, (301)
975-2763
Microwaves
New
Noise Measurement System Now in Service at NIST
Manufacturers
of electronic components and systems used in the 4-12 gigahertz
range, such as telecommunications gear, satellite receivers and
amplifiers, cellular phones and radar equipment, now have access
to an improved service at NIST for the measurement and calibration
of noise temperature.
A
new calibration system just placed in service, which includes
an automated coaxial (GPC-7) radiometer, will provide faster,
more economical measurements at multiple frequencies. The system
uses a vector network analyzer to measure reflection coefficients
and asymmetries, and stores them in a lookup table. The new strategy
is much faster than using six-port reflectometer measurements.
A
description of the new system and its uncertainty analysis has
just been published as NIST Technical Note 1518, Design and Testing
of NFRad:A New Noise Measurement System. To obtain a copy of TN
1518, contact Chriss
Grosvenor, MC 813.01, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80303-3328; (303)
497-5958.
Media
Contact:
Collier
Smith, Boulder
(303) 497-3198
Awards
Two
from NIST Honored for Government Service
Two
NIST scientists, Fern Y. Hunt, a research mathematician in the
Mathematical Modeling Group, and Paul D. Lett, a physicist in
the Laser Cooling and Trapping Group, were among 12 men and women
to receive the 2000 Arthur S. Flemming Award.
The
award, first presented in 1948, honors federal employees with
three to 15 years of public service and who have made extraordinary
contributions to the federal government. Hunt and Lett were selected
under the scientific category of the Flemming Award. Awards also
are given in the administrative and applied science categories.
Media
Contact:
Michael
E. Newman, (301)
975-3025
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