Nomination Process for NIST Gallery of Distinguished Alumni

The NIST Gallery of Distinguished Alumni (formerly the NIST Gallery of Distinguished Scientists, Engineers, and Administrators, commonly called the Portrait Gallery) honors NBS/NIST alumni for outstanding career contributions to the work of NBS/NIST. Portraits and biographies of those selected are displayed in the corridor of the NIST cafeteria at Gaithersburg, and in the Digital Portrait Gallery at NIST Gaithersburg and NIST Boulder sites. No more than 10 persons are added to the Portrait Gallery each year.

Nominations are welcome for NBS/NIST alumni. Any current or former NBS/NIST staff member may nominate a candidate for the Gallery.

Please consider submitting a nomination for a former NBS/NIST colleague during the 2025 cycle. We are very interested in improving the diversity of the applicant pool, in terms of gender, ethnicity, career paths, etc. at NBS/NIST.  Please think of a qualified candidate you might nominate.

Candidates who have been nominated in previous years, but not selected, may be nominated again, but no candidate may be nominated in more than two successive years. For example, candidates may again be nominated in a fourth year or later, so long as they are not nominated in more than two successive years. Resubmission should be seen as an opportunity for the nominator to improve the nomination of a worthy candidate.

Nomination instructions and a link to an example are found below. Please address questions to the Standards Alumni Association Portrait Gallery Committee at portrait_gallery [at] standardsalumni.org (portrait_gallery[at]standardsalumni[dot]org) or at bjlide [at] gmail.com (bjlide[at]gmail[dot]com). Nominations shall be received by the Standards Alumni Association on or before the March 5, 2025 deadline.

2025 NIST Gallery of Distinguished Alumni Nomination Instructions

Click here to download nomination example (Microsoft Word document)

1. Nominee must be a NBS/NIST alumnus or alumna and the nominator must be a present or past NBS/NIST employee.  For the information requested below, the Jury, on a case-by-case basis, may consider employment as a guest worker or research associate at NBS/NIST, or with the NBS/NIST-affiliated programs such as JILA and IBBR (the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research), as equivalent to employment at NBS/NIST.
2. Nominations shall be received by the SAA Portrait Gallery Committee no later than c.o.b. March 5, 2025 (no exceptions).  Please submit the password protected file (see directions below) by email to portrait_gallery [at] standardsalumni.org (portrait_gallery[at]standardsalumni[dot]org) and bjlide [at] gmail.com.  If you are unable to submit by email, please write to one of the above email addresses for instructions on how to submit hard copy.  Any questions may be submitted to the emails above.  Nominations will be acknowledged to the nominator(s) when received.  Nominators, please follow up if acknowledgement is not timely.
3. Nominations may not exceed two pages, single spaced, in Times New Roman 12 or similar sized font, with 25 mm minimum margins.
4. Nominations must be presented in the format given below, preferably as an electronic file.  Please contact the Portrait Gallery Committee at one of the emails above if this is not possible.
5. Nominations must be confidential and may not be divulged to the nominee.

To password protect a Word document, before saving the nomination, under the tab “File,” go to “Info” and then “Protect Document,” and, finally, to “Encrypt with password.”  Use a password of your choice.  You will be asked to enter the password twice, to make sure you have typed it correctly.  Then save the file and submit the nomination.  Send the password to the same addresses in a separate email

Format

(As you prepare the nomination please follow the format heading below.)

1. Nominee’s name and, for a living nominee, address, telephone and email. If the nominee is deceased, please provide, if possible, the name, address, telephone and email for an heir.
2. Years at NBS/NIST:   xxxx-yyyy
3. Citation/Impact (nominee’s claim to honor in thirty or fewer words).
4. Birth year and Birthplace.
5. Education (post-secondary) (universities, degrees, dates).
6. Principal positions held at NBS/NIST, with dates.
7. Describe outstanding work at NBS/NIST, including scientific, technical, managerial or administrative contributions, and cite its impacts.
8. List, at most, six significant examples of products of work at NBS/NIST such as publications, patents, and administrative products.  If relevant, give the total number of publications and patents based on NBS/NIST work.
9. Important external professional and governmental committee memberships and work, while employed at NBS/NIST, and cite the impacts of this external work.
10. Recognitions, awards and distinctions, within and external to NBS/NIST, as a consequence of work performed at NBS/NIST.
11. Name and contact information for the nominator.  Additional current or former NBS/NIST staff members wanting to support the nomination are welcome.  The names and contact information for the nominator and one co-nominator must fit within the two-page limit for the application.  Additional supporters of the nomination may be listed on a third page.  Jury members are encouraged to contact the nominator and/or co-nominator.