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Budget

Administration Seeks $577.5 Million for NIST in FY 2003

President Bush has submitted to Congress a fiscal year (FY) 2003 budget request for the Commerce Department’s NIST of $577.5 million.

Included in the FY 2003 request are three separate appropriations: $402.2 million for Scientific and Technical Research and Services (including $396.4 million for the NIST Laboratories and $5.8 million for the Baldrige National Quality Program); $120.8 million for Industrial Technology Services (including $107.9 million for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and $12.9 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP); and $54.5 million for Construction of Research Facilities to begin highest priority construction at NIST’s Boulder, Colo., laboratories, provide the final funding needed to complete the Advanced Measurement Laboratory (AML) now under construction at NIST’s Gaithersburg, Md., headquarters, and maintain and improve existing facilities at both facilities.

The MEP request would return the assistance program for small manufacturers to its original funding plan. This called for the phase-out of federal monies to centers affiliated with the MEP nationwide network after six years of funding.

The FY 2003 request for the NIST Laboratories also includes a $75.5 million increase from the FY 2002 appropriation. Among the initiatives the increase would fund are: $35 million to equip the AML; $6 million to upgrade the NIST Center for Neutron Research; $4.7 million for NIST’s intramural program to speed the development of cutting-edge measurement capabilities; $4 million for NIST programs in nanotechnology measurements and standards; $3 million for support of health care measurements and standards; $2 million to develop standards, technology and practices to improve the safety of buildings, occupants and emergency first responders; $2 million to strengthen the security of critical information infrastructures; and $1 million for the Computer Security Expert Assist Team to help federal agencies identify and fix information technology vulnerabilities.

More data on the proposed FY 2003 budget may be obtained at www.nist.gov (click on “Budget”).

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

 

Technology Partnerships

Commerce Secretary Releases Proposals for Improving the ATP

Commerce Secretary Don Evans has announced the release of The Advanced Technology Program: Reform with a Purpose, a report that presents six recommendations for improving NIST’s 12-year-old Advanced Technology Program (ATP) to accelerate the development of innovative technologies for broad national benefit by partnering with the private sector.

The proposed reforms would:

1. Recognize the significant value of the resources that institutions of higher education offer by allowing universities to lead ATP joint ventures;

2. Offer universities increased incentive to participate in developing commercially relevant technologies by allowing them to negotiate with joint venture partners over the rights to hold the intellectual property that results from research;

3. Limit large companies’ participation in ATP to joint ventures;

4. Reinvest a percentage of revenues derived from awards back into ATP to fund additional high-risk research and help stabilize the program;

5. Identify the scientific or technological barrier to product development during deliberation on funding decisions and explain why the removal of that barrier will allow the technology to move forward without further government support; and

6. Determine, where appropriate, whether additional private-sector, non-proprietary input would improve the ability of ATP’s selection boards to assess funding requests.

The report may be reviewed in full at http://www.atp.nist.gov/atp/secy_rept/.

Media Contact:
Jim Dyke, Dept. Commerce, (202) 482-4883

 

Quality

Are You Ready to Go for the Gold? Baldrige Gold, That Is!

It’s that time of year when many people are thinking about “going for the gold.” Not by shooshing down a mountainside or doing a triple lutz, but by submitting an application for the 2002 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s premier award for performance excellence and quality achievement. Last year, 37 organizations submitted applications and five—including the first education winners—were named as 2001 Baldrige Award winners.

All organizations that apply receive a comprehensive review and a detailed feedback report based on an independent, external assessment conducted by a board of specially trained experts. In addition, all organizations that submit an eligibil-ity form will get a guaranteed seat on the board of examiners.

“There is no better assessment of your organization’s performance available than applying for the Award. The Baldrige Award criteria for performance excellence are unique in addressing all the critical elements of your performance system,” says Bruce Woolpert, president and CEO, Graniterock, a 1992 Baldrige Award recipient.

Organizations that are not ready to apply can use the criteria to assess performance on a wide range of key indicators, including satisfaction of customers, employees and stakeholders (such as students and patients); process management; leadership; and results. The criteria can help any organization align resources, improve communication, productivity and effectiveness; and achieve strategic goals.

Businesses and education and health care organizations are eligible to apply. Eligibility forms are due by March 18, 2002. Applications must be received by May 30, 2002.

The Baldrige performance excellence criteria, the application package, a beginner’s guide to Baldrige and other materials are available free of charge by calling (301) 975-2036 or can be downloaded from www.quality.nist.gov.

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

 

 

Physics

Critical Data Derived for Integrated Circuit Manufacturing

The next generation of microlithography tools under development utilizes deep-ultraviolet radiation at wavelengths near 157 nanometers. This is characteristic of molecular fluorine lasers and is refracted (focused) by special materials such as calcium fluoride and barium fluoride. However, the index of refraction varies rapidly with wavelength, requiring precise determination of the location of the lasers’ actual spectral lines for the design of the very costly lens systems in the chip-making equipment.

Physicists in NIST’s Atomic Spectroscopy Group have performed very accurate measurements (plus or minus 0.0001 nanometer, or 100 million times smaller than the diameter of a human hair) of six wavelengths of a molecular fluorine laser of the type to be used for production of integrated circuits. Three of the lines were newly observed. The NIST 10-meter vacuum spectrometer was used to record the spectra, which were calibrated by spectral lines from a platinum hollow cathode lamp. Accurate wavelengths for this lamp had been determined previously.

The experiment was conducted in collaboration with Lambda Physik Co. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., a major supplier of molecular fluorine lasers. The results are being used by the microelectronics industry.

For technical information, contact Joseph Reader, (301) 975-3222.

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

 

 

Communications

NIST Leads Development of Broadband Standard

The first broadband wireless access standard from an accredited standards body was published recently by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) as IEEE Standard 802.16, “Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems.” This global standard for 10- to 66-gigahertz wireless networks will foster the use of microwaves as an economic alternative to cable or fiber optics for connecting users to the Internet and other high-speed public networks.

“The new WirelessMAN standard is a groundbreaking development that changes the landscape for providers and customers of high-speed networks,” said NIST’s Roger Marks, chair of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group. “The standard makes highly efficient use of bandwidth and supports voice, video and data applications with the quality that customers demand.”

The standard creates a platform on which to build a broadband wireless industry using high-rate systems that install rapidly without extensive metropolitan cable infrastructures. It was created in a two-year, open-consensus process that involved hundreds of engineers from the world’s leading operators and vendors. The standard enables interoperability among devices from manufacturers around the globe.

The published IEEE Standard 802.16 may be obtained at http://WirelessMAN.org/published.html. For technical details, contact Roger Marks, (303) 497-3037.

Media Contact:
Collier Smith, (Boulder), (303) 497-3198

 

 

Honors

NIST’s Cahn to Receive Bower Award in April

NIST materials scientist John Cahn will receive the prestigious 2002 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute.

A winner of the 1998 National Medal of Science, Cahn is being recognized for “his lifelong dedication to understanding materials, his influence and inspiration upon generations of scientists and engineers, and his seminal contributions to the understanding of the thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transformation.”

Cahn’s theories have sprouted productive lines of research not only in metallurgy but also in physics, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, economics and demographics.

Early in his career, Cahn was vexed by the failure of prevailing theory to account for the clumping and segregating of atoms during metals processing. With General Electric colleague John Hilliard, Cahn developed a “simple generic equation” to explain the phenomenon known as phase separation.

Since it was first published in 1961, the Cahn-Hilliard equation has become a pillar of materials science and engineering. It has been used to explain occurrences ranging from the simple (such as the curdling of cream in coffee) to the complex (the clumping of galaxies in the early universe).

Cahn also was a key member of the team contributing to the discovery of “quasicrystals” in 1984. Practical payoffs from these fivefold symmetrical crystals have included inexpensive non-stick, non-scratch coatings for cookware and hardening agents for medical instruments.

The Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science carries a cash prize of $250,000. Cahn and seven other leaders in science, engineering and business will be honored by the Franklin Institute during ceremonies on April 25, 2002, in Philadelphia.

Media Contact:
Mark Bello, (301) 975-3776