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Computer Security

NIST Seeks Final Comments on Advanced Encryption Standard

On Feb. 28, 2001, NIST formally published details of its new Advanced Encryption Standard in the Federal Register, opening a public comment period on the new technique for securing the confidentiality of sensitive, unclassified electronic data.

The AES specifies the Rijndael encryption algorithm, which was selected by NIST in October 2000 at the end of a multiyear, worldwide competition.

NIST’s Information Technology Laboratory is asking cryptographers and other interested parties to comment on the draft Federal Information Processing Standard. Following the 90-day comment period which ends May 29, 2001, NIST will make any necessary revisions to the draft standard, which then will be submitted to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans for his review and approval.

If all steps of the process go as planned, NIST will publish the final standard in the fall of 2001. The AES will be a public algorithm designed to protect sensitive government information well into the 21st century. It will replace the aging Data Encryption Standard, which NIST adopted in 1977.

Comments may be sent electronically to AEScomments@nist.gov or mailed to the Chief, Computer Security Division, Information Technology Laboratory, Attn: Comments on Draft FIPS for the AES, NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8930, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-8930.

For more information on the AES and to download the Feb. 28, 2001, Federal Register notice, go to www.nist.gov/aes.

Media Contact:
Philip Bulman, (301) 975-5661

 

 

World Wide Web

NIST Proves You Can Go Home (page) Again

If you’re a regular user of the NIST site on the World Wide Web, www.nist.gov, there’s a pleasant surprise in store on your next visit. And if you haven’t tried out the site before, now is a great time to get acquainted.

An improved, more customer-friendly NIST homepage is now in operation. The homepage’s new features include an extensive “A to Z” subject index, connections to pages designed for special audiences (industry, researchers, the news media and the general public), a link to atomic time in all eight U.S. time zones, up-front access to information on NIST products and services, and a section describing how others can work with the agency.

Visitors to the new NIST homepage also will find several different routes to useful information and favorite sites such as “NIST in Your House” (detailing NIST connections to everyone’s daily life), “NIST and Your City” (detailing NIST connections to communities), the Guide to NIST (short, technical descriptions of several hundred NIST projects), the photo gallery and list of available videos.

Crowning the upgraded NIST homepage is a link to 100 years of NIST history and achievement at the NIST centennial web site, www.100.nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Michael E. Newman, (301) 975-3025

 

 

Fire Research

Revamped NIST Division Dedicates Itself to Fewer Fire Losses

This reorganization will accelerate our path-breaking fire technology research and enable NIST’s Building and Fire Research Laboratory to provide more efficient, valuable support to the entire fire services and fire protection community.” That’s the way William Grosshandler describes BFRL’s new Fire Research Division and its mission. Grosshandler serves as chief of the newly formed group, created from the old Fire Safety Engineering and Fire Science divisions.

In announcing the reorganization, Grosshandler pledged renewed research efforts to significantly reduce annual national fire losses—now estimated at 3,600 lives, 22,000 serious injuries and $10 billion in direct property destruction. The new division’s action plan calls for work to (1) accelerate the development and use of advanced fire prevention and fighting technologies; (2) reduce the risk of fire “flashover” (the condition in which deadly fire and gases consume all objects in a room); and (3) develop and apply new fire measurement and prediction methods in real life situations.

The division’s research agenda includes conducting fire and environmental sensing experiments; improving upon past NIST advances in fire dynamics computer simulations; developing, defining and disseminating performance, cost and environmental impact tests for both fire suppression technologies and state-of-the-art fire resistant materials; and testing and integrating fire detection systems into building sensing controls. In addition, the new division will be making maximum use of BFRL’s newly renovated Large Fire Facility, scheduled to begin operation later in 2001 (for more information, see the fact sheet at www.nist.gov/public_affairs/largefire.htm).

Media Contact:
John Blair, (301) 975-4261

 

 

Manufacturing

New Members Named to MEP Advisory Board

Two prominent small manufacturers have been appointed to serve on the nine-member National Advisory Board for NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership. They are: Dan Marcum, chairman, Micro Craft Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., and John Yngve, chairman, Bondhus Corp., Golden Valley, Minn.

Members of the advisory board are selected for their expertise in the area of manufacturing and industrial extension and for their work on behalf of small manufacturers. Meeting three times a year, the board provides advice on MEP programs, plans and policies. Annually, the board summarizes its findings and recommendations in a report to the Secretary of Commerce.

Other board members are: Ron Auger, president and CEO, American Industrial Casting, East Greenwich, R.I.; Rich Bendis, president and CEO, Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp., Topeka, Kan.; Maria de Rios, vice president of corporate affairs, Orion International Technologies, Albuquerque, N.M.; Kellie Dodson, president, Ace Clearwater Enterprises, Torrance, Calif.; Irwin Feller, director, Institute for Policy Research and Evaluation, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.; Dean Garritson, vice president small and medium manufacturers, National Association of Manufacturers, Washington, D.C.; and Ed Noha, chair of the MEP advisory board and chairman of the board, CNA Financial Corp., Chicago, Ill.

Media Contact:
Jan Kosko, (301) 975-2767

 

 

 

Constants

Define the Universe on a Wallet-Sized Card

When you come right down to it, the world around us is pretty much defined by a bunch of numbers—the so-called “fundamental constants.” These constants range from relatively familiar numbers like the speed of light in a vacuum (299,792,458 meters per second) to fairly obscure numbers like the helion molar mass (3.01493223469 × 10-3 kilogram per mole). Taken together, they specify the way atoms are built, how stars burn, why chemical reactions happen and how the universe works.

Concurrent with the NIST centennial, the NIST Physics Laboratory has issued a new chart of the best available values for more than 100 of the most widely used fundamental constants in physics and chemistry. A thorough and handy reference for teachers, students and researchers, the chart summarizes the most recent recommended values from CODATA—the Committee on Data for Science and Technology—that was established in 1966 by the International Council of Scientific Unions to improve the quality and reliability of key data in all fields of science and technology. CODATA values are developed after a thorough review and examination of the best available experimental measurements, observations and calculations. NIST has been a
significant contributor to CODATA since the committee’s inception.

The new CODATA Recommended Values wall chart (NIST SP-961) is available in two sizes: 17 by 22 inches and 8.5 by 11 inches (English dimensions reflect the standard paper sizes used in U.S. printing). An abbreviated set of the constants is available on a wallet card (NIST SP-959).

To request copies, send e-mail to inquiries@nist.gov, call (301) 975-NIST (6478) or fax to (301) 926-1630. A complete list of the recommended values of the fundamental constants of physics and chemistry is available online at physics.nist.gov/constants.

Media Contact:
Michael Baum, (301) 975-2763

 

 

 

Electromagnetics

Bibliographies of Electronics-Related Work Now Available

Each year the optoelectronics, electronics and electromagnetic research programs of the NIST Boulder, Colo., laboratories publish bibliographies of technical work in those programs dating back to 1970. The 2000 edition of those bibliographies is now available. It includes:

Copies of all three bibliographies are available at no charge from Sarabeth Harris, MC104, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80305-3328; (303) 497-3237.

Media Contact:
Fred McGehan Boulder, (303) 497-3246

 

 

 

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Editor: Michael E. Newman

Date created: 3/6/01
Last updated: 3/6/01
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