Search Taking Measure

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Trey Diulus poses sitting in the lab with a large, complex scientific instrument in the foreground.

Curiosity to Career: Encouraging Students to Pursue STEM Education

September 6, 2024

A NIST researcher is volunteering to educate young students about life as a scientist — and encourage kids to envision a career for themselves in STEM.

A researcher wearing safety gear kneels at the open door of a lab fridge, displaying a tray of samples.

Sinking Our Teeth Into Science: How Biomedical Engineering Can Help Make Us Healthier

August 21, 2024

Robert A. Gutierrez

From safer dental products to tracking the movement of tiny plastics through gut tissues, regenerative medicine can make us healthier.

Thomas Forbes wears safety glasses as he looks at the screen attached to a piece of equipment in the lab.

Your Future Medications Could Be Personalized for You on a 3D Printer

May 28, 2024

Lawrence Goodman

Your future medications could be made on a 3D printer, and a NIST researcher is working to make sure that process is safe.

Four people sitting outside on a green tarp wear eclipse glasses as they peer up into the sky.

NIST Researchers Measure Greenhouse Gases During the Solar Eclipse

May 9, 2024

Alex Boss

Check out some of the things happening at NIST during the past few months through the lens of social media.

Brad Sutliff wears safety glasses as he stands in the lab in front of a computer monitor.

From Trash to Cash: How AI and Machine Learning Can Help Make Recycling Less Expensive for Local Governments

May 3, 2024

Bradley Sutliff

Can AI help us recycle better? A NIST researcher is working to make that happen.

Close-up shows shiny metal patches with areas of green corrosion and open holes.

Houston, We Have the Engine Remnants: How My Lab Pieced Together a Forgotten Part of an Apollo Rocket

March 5, 2024

Adam Creuziger

Like many people, I had dreams of flying into space as an astronaut when I was a child. That interest in aerospace and space exploration has continued throughout my life.

A small orange is packaged in a plastic container with a lid.

A Polymer Scientist Wrestles — Literally and Figuratively — With the Frustrations of Plastic Packaging

January 4, 2024

Kate Beers

If you’ve resolved to be a more eco-conscious consumer this year, learn about how NIST’s circular economy lead thinks about plastic packaging in our everyday lives.

Melinda Kleczynski poses sitting at her desk, with a monitor showing data and graphs behind her.

From Diamonds in Your Computer to Safer Medications, NIST Researchers Look at What’s Next for 2024 and Beyond

December 18, 2023

Our up-and-coming researchers look ahead to 2024 and beyond — and tell us how their work will impact the world.

A man in safety gear crouches to examine a damaged wall inside a building after an earthquake.

The Highs and Lows of Studying the Aftermath of One of Turkey’s Deadliest Earthquakes

October 16, 2023

Matthew Speicher

Our goal at NIST is to not only document and learn from disasters, but to also spur innovation and make recommendations to help lessen the impact of the next disaster.

Diana Ortiz-Montalvo, wearing safety glasses and holding a small circular filter with tweezers, poses with Abigail Lindstrom in the lab.

Microplastics Mystery: Sampling Airborne Microplastics at a Recycling Facility

October 4, 2023

Diana Ortiz-Montalvo

During National Hispanic Heritage Month, a NIST researcher shares how her upbringing in Puerto Rico inspired her to study air quality.

Christine McGinn wears safety glasses as she handles plastic bottles and other materials in the lab.

My Science Project Collapsed, but My Science Career Was Just Getting Started

May 24, 2023

Christine McGinn

Representation and mentors are key to promoting diversity in America’s science and technology workforce into the future.

NIST researcher Jessie Zhang, wearing a protective suit, mask, and safety glasses holds up a piece of foil in the lab.

Foiled! NIST Unwraps What’s Baking Under Aluminum in Its Labs

March 29, 2023

Megan King

Here at NIST, we do a different kind of baking, but we often use the same foil you use in your own kitchen.

Camila Espina Young poses outdoors for a head shot

Hurricane Maria Recollections, Software Nostalgia, The Brothers Engineering: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

November 2, 2022

Riley Wilson

The work happening at NIST can often be described as more than simply “work.”

Two women in hiking gear stands at the top of a canyon, which is in the background.

Speeding Up Carbon Capture: A Q&A With NIST Scientist Pamela Chu

August 23, 2022

She explains what NIST is doing to speed up the chemical reactions — and the innovations — that might help slow down climate change.

Jeffrey Fong poses smiling in front of a railing overlooking a concrete dam.

My Journey From Designing Dams to Helping Structures Live Their Longest Lives

August 2, 2022

Jeffrey T. Fong

Jeffrey Fong writes about how his personal drive for safe engineering design led him to work at NIST.

Yellowish blades of kelp are growing under the surface of the water.

Improving Recycling, Tracking Mercury and Analyzing Kelp: A Sample of Eco-Friendly Research Featured on NIST Social Media

June 8, 2022

Riley Wilson

Preserving our planet's health is no small feat, and NIST researchers are tackling the challenge from multiple angles.

Clothes rack. Sign in middle. Left pointing arrow says Donate with clothes hanging. Right facing arrow says "keep" pointing to other clothes.

Your Old Clothes Can Come Full Circle With Textile Recycling

May 2, 2022

Kelsea Schumacher

When NIST hosted the Facilitating a Circular Economy for Textiles workshop last fall, I learned that all unwanted textile products should be donated or recycled no matter their condition.

Circular economy illustration has a circle with images of a dump, a scientist, a sea turtle, a water bottle.

Waste Not, Want Not: The ‘Circular Economy’ Gives NIST New Opportunities to Help Create a More Environmentally Sound Future

April 20, 2022

Kate Beers

Our program should enable technological solutions that can be scaled up from individual molecules to entire industries across the whole supply chain.

A couch is in flames in a mocked-up room inside a large fire testing facility.

Saving Lives by Making Upholstered Furniture More Resistant to Fire

February 7, 2022

Mauro Zammarano

Fires that begin on upholstered furniture such as sofas are the leading cause of home fire fatalities in the United States, accounting for about 600 deaths per year. They are not as frequent as cooking fires, but they are about 14 times more likely to result in death than other home fires. Since my

$Micrograph shows fractures appearing at junction of enamel and dentin.$

Teeth: From Materials Science to Dentistry and Evolutionary Biology

January 31, 2022

Brian Lawn

As a happily retired materials scientist from NIST, I have continued a long-standing interest in how materials deform and fracture under high stress. My research began in the 1960s with fundamental investigations into the way intrinsically brittle solids can sustain highly concentrated stresses

Clear glass "boxes" with tubes coming in and out

That’s a Wrap: Selects From the NIST Invent Calendar

January 3, 2022

Riley Wilson

We have a gift for you, packaged up in December 2021 and now ready to experience in full. Each day in December, the NIST Invent Calendar revealed innovations plucked from our 120-year history. Here are a few of the noteworthy patents to enjoy. DAY 1: AC Radio Receiver (Patent 1,455,141) Year Granted

collage of images from the WTC disaster, a blueprint of an airplane, a representation of one of the towers, the word modeling

Analyzing the Aftermath of the Twin Towers Aircraft Impacts

August 12, 2021

Steven W. Kirkpatrick

I consider myself lucky to have been able to perform contract engineering research and consulting for my entire career. The work environment has been somewhere between industry research and academia. I’ve had opportunities to work with recognized experts at universities, national laboratories, in

woman in a plaid shirt using a set of VR goggles and hand controls, a man sits at a computer in the background

Passing Photons Through Chicken, VR for First Responders, and 3D-Printed Metal: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

June 7, 2021

Riley Wilson

Sending “spooky” pairs of photons through biological materials, using virtual reality to test emergency communications technology, bolstering confidence in the latest manufacturing techniques — NIST has no shortage of exciting developments, despite our largely remote workforce at the moment. Here

Callie Higgins in a lab. She is standing in front of a reflective screen surrounding an atomic force microscope.

3D Printing With Light: A Q&A With NIST's Callie Higgins

April 28, 2021

Callie Higgins is a materials research engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She studies a special branch of additive manufacturing called vat photopolymerization, which uses light to solidify a liquid resin layer by layer into a 3D object. Callie is a finalist for a

cartoon of a young woman at her desk speaking by webcam with another person.

The NIST Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program Goes Virtual

January 27, 2021

Brandi Toliver

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) designed the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program to inspire undergraduate students to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) through a unique research experience that supports our mission

Taking Measure Blog Posts

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Curiosity to Career: Encouraging Students to Pursue STEM Education

Sinking Our Teeth Into Science: How Biomedical Engineering Can Help Make Us Healthier

Your Future Medications Could Be Personalized for You on a 3D Printer

NIST Researchers Measure Greenhouse Gases During the Solar Eclipse

From Trash to Cash: How AI and Machine Learning Can Help Make Recycling Less Expensive for Local Governments

Houston, We Have the Engine Remnants: How My Lab Pieced Together a Forgotten Part of an Apollo Rocket

A Polymer Scientist Wrestles — Literally and Figuratively — With the Frustrations of Plastic Packaging

From Diamonds in Your Computer to Safer Medications, NIST Researchers Look at What’s Next for 2024 and Beyond

The Highs and Lows of Studying the Aftermath of One of Turkey’s Deadliest Earthquakes

Microplastics Mystery: Sampling Airborne Microplastics at a Recycling Facility

My Science Project Collapsed, but My Science Career Was Just Getting Started

Foiled! NIST Unwraps What’s Baking Under Aluminum in Its Labs

Hurricane Maria Recollections, Software Nostalgia, The Brothers Engineering: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

Speeding Up Carbon Capture: A Q&A With NIST Scientist Pamela Chu

My Journey From Designing Dams to Helping Structures Live Their Longest Lives

Improving Recycling, Tracking Mercury and Analyzing Kelp: A Sample of Eco-Friendly Research Featured on NIST Social Media

Your Old Clothes Can Come Full Circle With Textile Recycling

Waste Not, Want Not: The ‘Circular Economy’ Gives NIST New Opportunities to Help Create a More Environmentally Sound Future

Saving Lives by Making Upholstered Furniture More Resistant to Fire

Teeth: From Materials Science to Dentistry and Evolutionary Biology

That’s a Wrap: Selects From the NIST Invent Calendar

Analyzing the Aftermath of the Twin Towers Aircraft Impacts

Passing Photons Through Chicken, VR for First Responders, and 3D-Printed Metal: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

3D Printing With Light: A Q&A With NIST's Callie Higgins

The NIST Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program Goes Virtual