NIST's Information Technology Image Group Were Recognized with the Service and Leadership Award at the 2022 Federal Identity Forum

The NIST Image Group is being nominated for the Service and Leadership team award for their substantive guidance and leadership to the federal identity community.  Many of the group’s subject matter experts (SME’s) have been with the team for 15 years or more, and all have made lasting positive changes to the federal community.

The NIST Image Group supports a variety of identity programs and standards whose products over the years have helped shape and mold federal identity systems into what they are today.  Some well known products include NIST Fingerprint Image Quality or (NFIQ), the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard for biometric data exchange, and the group’s suite of biometric algorithm technology evaluations.  While certainly of benefit to the federal community, these products and technology evaluations have undoubtedly driven significant development within their respective industries.  As one specific example, the NIST Face Recognition Vendor Testing (FRVT) program has both propelled the face recognition industry to generate the most accurate FR algorithms in history, address fairness, and supported federal and state agencies in ensuring their systems are operating at the highest level of performance and accuracy.  The results of their FRVT program have been consumed by highest levels of the United States Government to provide trustworthy unbiased information to better inform policy and legislation about the capabilities of face recognition in the U.S.  Over the last few years the FRVT program has routinely been reported on by the media, and even earned an interview spot with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

Given all their substantial contributions over the decades, it’s hard to imagine where the identity community would be without the NIST Image Group SME’s.  And having served this community for so long, these SME’s are on a first name basis with federal, state, local agencies, and the FR community all over the country; and they have become the first group sought out for technical information related to operational issues or when seeking guidance on new capabilities.  There is truly no other group within the identity community who have done so much for so many