The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has named 15 leaders from a cross-section of U.S. industry, academia, and trade and professional organizations to serve on its newly formed Smart Grid Advisory Committee, which convenes its first meeting on Sept. 29, 2010.

"We will benefit greatly from the knowledge and insights of this diverse group of experts," said NIST Director Patrick Gallagher. "We are grateful for their willingness to serve and to share their thinking on how NIST can maximize its technical contributions to modernizing and securing the nation's electric power grid."

The new committee will advise Gallagher on the direction of NIST's Smart Grid-related programs and activities. NIST leads a nationwide effort to expedite development of consensus interoperability standards that enable two-way flows of energy and information on the Smart Grid.  NIST also conducts Smart Grid research and testing programs on cyber security and advanced performance-monitoring devices known as synchrophasors, energy management systems for buildings, and other topics.

Under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, NIST has "primary responsibility to coordinate development of a framework that includes protocols and model standards for information management to achieve interoperability of smart grid devices and systems."

Dan Sheflin, chief technology officer at Honeywell Automation and Control Systems, will chair the committee. David Owens, executive vice president of business operations at the Edison Electric Institute, will serve as vice chair.

Other advisory committee members are:

Jon Arnold
Managing Director, Worldwide Power & Utilities Industry
Microsoft Corporation 

William O. Ball
Executive Vice President and Chief Transmission Officer
Southern Company 

Lynne Ellyn
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer
DTE Energy  

Evan R. Gaddis
President and Chief Executive Officer
National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) 

Lawrence E. Jones
Director, Strategy and Special Projects Worldwide
ALSTOM Grid 

Suedeen G. Kelly
Partner
Patton Boggs, LLP 

Susan M. Miller
President and Chief Executive Officer
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) 

Terry Mohn
Founder and Chief Strategy Officer
General MicroGrids, Inc. 

Kevin F. Nolan
Vice President of Technology
GE Appliances 

Simon Pontin
Vice President for Development
Itron Oconee Manufacturing Facility 

William H. Sanders
Director, Information Trust Institute and
Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

Thomas J. Tobin
Vice President - R&D
S&C Electric Company 

David Vieau
Chief Executive Officer and President
A123 Systems