STORAGE

The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today awarded $34.12 million in grants for measurement science and engineering research. The NIST Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grants Program, made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will fund 27 projects at higher-education, commercial, and nonprofit organizations in 18 states.

"While we’ve seen some recent signs of progress, we cannot rest until every American looking for a job finds one,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. “These new projects will create high-tech jobs and spur economic growth while supporting U.S. world leadership in science.”

The 27 projects will receive one-time funding ranging from $408,996 to $1.5 million to carry out research programs that last three years. The projects will advance the state of knowledge and practice of measurement science in six identified research areas of critical national importance:

• Energy;
• Environment and climate change;
• Information technology and cybersecurity;
• Biosciences/health care;
• Manufacturing; and
• Physical infrastructure.

"With these grants, we are leveraging our nation's brightest minds in measurement science to address important national needs," said NIST Director Patrick Gallagher. "These projects will bolster U.S. scientific and technological infrastructure, increasing our nation's ability to innovate, compete, and solve scientific and technological problems."

NIST received over 1,300 proposals for the grants. The proposals underwent exhaustive administrative and technical review by more than 300 NIST scientists and engineers working intensively on an accelerated time frame.

U.S. innovation and competitiveness in areas such as automobile manufacturing, cybersecurity, climate change studies, cloud computing and renewable energy sources depend on measurement science research.

State-of-the-art measurement science provides the infrastructure that industry and science need to develop and commercialize new technologies. The air conditioning and refrigeration industry, for example, has saved millions of dollars over the past 20 years due to NIST’s work on the measurement of the thermophysical properties of alternative refrigerants, including alternatives to ozone-depleting compounds.