Honorary President’s Address at the National Conference of Weights and Measures Meeting

Remarks as prepared.

NIST and the National Conference on Weights and Measures share a long and close history going back 118 years. It was so exciting to be with you last year in Norfolk, Virginia, to celebrate the signing of the MOU to continue our collaborative work, including the NCWM National Price Verification Survey launched earlier this year.  

Our partnership has been so long-lasting and fruitful I think in large part because of our shared goal and responsibility of facilitating uniformity in weights and measures laws, regulations, standards, and practices. 

Our work touches so many aspect of the lives of each person in the United States. From the accuracy of the scales that weigh our produce in grocery stores to the consistency of charging devices for electric vehicles, our work ensures marketplace equity and enables trust that consumers get what they pay for.  

Our work is the bedrock of the laws and regulations that are adopted by federal, state, and local regulatory agencies that ultimately ensure and strengthen marketplace equity for both consumers and sellers in commercial transactions based on weights and measures. This goal and our work are especially relevant today given current consumers’ uncertainties about increasing prices.

Because we’re not just delivering methods and tools for measurement; we’re inspiring confidence and trust in new technologies, the products of quintessential American innovation, so that industry and consumers can experience the benefits fairly and more quickly.

And as all of us know, this is not easy to do; the work that goes into delivering measurements and developing methods that will build trust and inspire confidence to benefit both consumers and sellers takes an immense amount of work. And what’s more, our work is really never done; technology is constantly evolving and changing, bringing with it new opportunities as well as new challenges for weights and measures.

That is why this year’s theme, “staying relevant,” perfectly captures this, our biggest and most consistent challenge.

New technologies can be powerful enablers of economic security and better quality of life. For example, digitalization and new algorithms made possible by the rapid advancements in technology like AI are changing the way we live and work. These advancements can be exciting in helping us achieve our goals. For example, cameras and image recognition software are being used to automatically recognize commodities in the next generation of retail scales.  

But if we don’t have trust in a new technology, it won’t be used. And if people do not integrate and use new technology in their day-to-day lives, we lose the opportunity to reap the rewards of innovation.  

As digitalization continues to increase, and groundbreaking new capabilities such as artificial intelligence continue to evolve and emerge and become entangled with our daily lives, there is a constant need to build that trust. And at NIST, we believe that measurement enables trust. This has been our foundational principle for almost 125 years.

Well-understood, verified measurements, are critical for every step in the product development and commercialization cycle — from invention and refinement, to manufacturing and sales.  

Measurements are also important for quality control and standardization. Comparison of measurements is an important tool to uncover deviations in systems, processes, and products. Quality control and standardization not only build consumers’ trust that they are getting what they pay for, but also ensure equitable trade between international economies throughout the supply chain.

NIST’s measurement and standards solutions form the basis for the nation’s innovation to flourish — and not just for a month, or a year, but to set up U.S. businesses for decades of technological leadership.

At NIST, we are proud to be working with you to meet this challenge and stay relevant. It is crucial that the weights and measures community leverages our cooperative strengths to plan for these changes and develop new standards and measurements, sometimes even developing completely new approaches to metrology.  

I would like to highlight a few of the areas that NIST has been focusing on to position ourselves to stay relevant and support the evolving measurement needs of the new economy.

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

NIST recognizes the need for fair and dependable EV charging infrastructure. EV drivers should have the same experience as gas pump users everywhere in the country. But to make this goal a reality, NIST has work to do to develop and share good practices for measurement and device reliability for EV chargers. Fortunately, with our experience in measurement and instrumentation, we are already leading in this area. We’re developing new measurement services that can be leveraged for testing electric vehicle supply equipment, that will support state regulators, manufacturers, and federal agencies to ultimately roll out a uniform and reliable EV charging infrastructure across the U.S.

Another way NIST stays relevant in this space is by engaging directly with communities through our Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, a nationwide network with one Center in each state and Puerto Rico. MEP Centers work with small and medium-sized manufacturers to improve their global competitiveness and productivity. MEP Centers are working with manufacturers as they navigate the transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) manufacturing to EV manufacturing. MEP Centers also have knowledge of various funding opportunities that may exist within a state to help with this transition. Through MEP, small and medium-sized manufacturers can access technical expertise, resources, and training tailored to their specific needs, ranging from adopting new technologies and optimizing supply chains to workforce development and regulatory compliance.  

Our NIST MEP team actively serves on the White House Interagency Policy Committee for Automotive EVs in support of the Made in America office, especially around the policy matters impacting the ICE to EV transition. NIST MEP is taking a proactive approach to understand the current concerns and market forces in play around the transition of ICE to EV and its impact on technology, innovation, labor, and manufacturing.

Critical and Emerging Technology

NIST is prioritizing investment into critical and emerging technology areas, including artificial intelligence, quantum information science, biotechnology, advanced communications, and energy technologies. Our work in these areas is intended to drive the United States’ innovation ecosystem, providing industry with the measurements, standards, and methods they need to innovate and commercialize to realize the economic and societal benefits of the next big paradigm shifts in science and technology.

NIST is proud that we have not only stayed relevant, but we have even been ahead of the curve on providing the tools, guidance, and methods to help catalyze innovation and promote economic security.

I want to share a specific example from our work in biotechnology and biomanufacturing.  NIST’s programs in these areas develop measurement science for assessment of biomolecules, quantitative tools for cell characterization, analytics for biomanufacturing processes and measurements, and models for cells within populations.  These foundational and applied research endeavors ultimately lead to highly characterized standards which provide industry with QA/QC or benchmarking materials or datasets to then use as a metric for quality assurance of their own products.      

One example where NIST has had tremendous impact on industry is with NIST’s monoclonal antibody reference material, or NIST mAb.  With over 100 approved mAbs to treat a range of diseases and maladies in the U.S., mAbs represent 6 out of the top 10 selling drugs in the world in 2024. First released in 2016, NIST mAb has been widely used across the biotechnology and biomanufacturing industry, in fact, it is consistently one of NIST’s top selling Reference Materials. This is because NISTmAb meets industry’s measurement needs by helping to ensure that these pharmaceuticals meet the quality needed to effectively treat and protect the public. Not only has NIST’s work supported industry in developing biopharmaceuticals to improve health and wellbeing, but our work also has filled an important measurement gap that can potentially help accelerate the development and quality control of new biological drugs in the future.    

One reason we’ve been so successful in our vision of the future of technology time and time again is because we work so closely with our stakeholders and partners like all of you gathered here today.

Not only do our stakeholders come to us to work together on critical and emerging technologies, but engaging with stakeholders is baked into our processes when we develop guidelines and when we plan new research areas. We listen closely to our stakeholders’ needs to help ensure that the United States has the measurements that it needs when major technology changes are happening. This collaboration is the key for NIST to identify both technical and policy needs within the critical and emerging technology industries and ensure our work is relevant today and for years to come.  

USG National Standards Strategy for CETs

Another important leadership role for NIST lies in our efforts to work with stakeholders in the development of international standards, which are critical for international trade and commerce.  These international standards form the basis for the import and export of commodities and manufactured goods, and many are impacted by legal metrology regulations.

Standards development is another example of how we aim to ‘stay relevant.’ Last year, the Biden-Harris administration released the United States Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology (USG NSSCET). It outlines how the United States will work with likeminded partners and allies to advance U.S. competitiveness, protect the integrity of standards developing ecosystems, and ensure the long-term success of our innovation ecosystem. NIST is charged with leading the implementation of the Strategy for the Nation, with objectives focused on Investment, Participation, Workforce, and Integrity and Inclusivity. This leadership role for NIST is one that I am particularly passionate about as it presents an opportunity for us to show what our dedicated staff can accomplish when counted on.  

In closing, I wanted to thank you all for your dedication and the role you play in protecting consumers and businesses and ensuring a strong economy for our nation. And I want to thank you for the opportunity to celebrate our long history and continue working together to not only ‘stay relevant’, but to ensure marketplace equity and confidence for years to come.