Infrastructure

NIST Research Is Setting the Standard to Help Buildings Withstand Tornadoes

May 8, 2024

Two NIST researchers have been recognized for their work to create new standards for buildings that can better withstand tornadoes.

Zach Grey poses outdoors with wind turbines in the background.

Riding the Wind: How Applied Geometry and Artificial Intelligence Can Help Us Win the Renewable Energy Race

January 10, 2024

A NIST researcher is using math and AI to help design an optimal wind turbine.

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

November 15, 2023

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

Protecting People From Plumbing Pathogens Is Personal to Me

August 16, 2023

Pathogens can get into our water through plumbing and are especially dangerous for people with compromised immune systems.

Being a Mom Helps Me Protect Our Communication Infrastructure

May 10, 2023

Jeanne Quimby's kids are the reason she came up with her team’s idea for how to detect cybersecurity events on our U.S. critical communication infrastructure.

Jazalyn Dukes poses in front of a display that reads "Engineering a Safer World."

How My Childhood Fascination With Bridges Helped Me Build a Career Protecting People and Buildings From Natural Disasters

February 22, 2023

NIST research engineer Jazalyn Dukes talks about what inspired her career and gives some advice to girls considering a career in structural and civil

On a rooftop overlooking a waterfront town, an equipment box is attached to a pole anchored with concrete blocks.

Data in Demand: How the U.S. Navy’s Bandwidth Can Boost Your Data Speed

January 25, 2023

What would we do if the world ran out of room in the radio-frequency spectrum? It’s something NIST and our partners are working to prevent through spectrum

Cruising Toward Self-Driving Cars: Standards and Testing Will Help Keep Autonomous Vehicles Moving Safely on the Road

January 18, 2023

NIST and its partners in government and industry are working toward replicating the vital aspects of human driving and building a supporting infrastructure.

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 4, 2022

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

Building in a Changing Climate: A Q&A With NIST’s Joannie Chin

July 27, 2022

The director of NIST’s Engineering Laboratory discusses the role of buildings in creating and mitigating climate change.

The sun rises over a green marsh with an open channel of water running through.

In a Changing Climate, Resilience Research Can Help Communities ‘Make Decisions for a Better Future’

March 8, 2022

Climate change keeps NIST economist Jennifer Helgeson up at night. Not with worry, but with work. For the last several weeks, Helgeson was working on the latest

Close-up of a map showing a city called Lumberton

The Trials and Triumphs of a Small City’s Hurricane Recovery Could Help Other Communities Bounce Back

January 19, 2022

In September 2018, a North Carolina city’s long road to recovery from Hurricane Matthew two years earlier became even longer. Lumberton, a small but diverse

Resilient Cedar Rapids: Rebuilding Better Pays Off

August 12, 2020

Many cities in the United States have experienced or will experience devastating losses caused by a natural disaster. In the aftermath of a disaster, the

Getting Food on Our Tables From the U.S. and Around the World, Safely and Less Wastefully

November 13, 2019

I’m still amazed to see strawberries, avocados and watermelons in my grocery store out of their “normal” season. As amazing as this is, I know it means that my

Improving the Quality of Life through Smart Cities and Internet of Things Innovation

June 11, 2019

How It All Started Six years ago, I joined the U.S. federal government as a Presidential Innovation Fellow. The White House established the program to bring in

Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover: The NIST Cybersecurity Framework

October 23, 2018

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework consists of standards, guidelines and best practices to manage cybersecurity-related risk. The Framework’s prioritized

a drop of water springing up from a pool

‘Day Zero’ Denied: Solving the Looming Water Crisis

June 12, 2018

“When the Well's dry, we know the Worth of Water.” —Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack In early 2018, Cape Town, South Africa, became the first major

Before the Storm: Measuring and Predicting Hurricanes

June 5, 2018

The Atlantic hurricane season is now upon us, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just released its 2018 seasonal hurricane

A Framework for Protecting Our Critical Infrastructure

November 1, 2017

There’s no disputing the importance of a reliable and well-functioning critical infrastructure when it comes to our daily lives—in fact, our national and

Why Security and Privacy Matter in a Digital World

September 28, 2017

One cannot pick up a newspaper, watch TV, listen to the radio, or scan the news on the internet without some direct or veiled reference to the lack of

Printing with Concrete: How I Spent My Summer Vacation

September 4, 2017

Since they came out a few years ago, the capabilities of commercially available 3-D printers have radically expanded. At first, they could only print little

'Cybersecuring' the Internet of Things

June 27, 2017

I recently had the chance to talk with the legendary Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet. We had a wide-ranging discussion about the past

Taking Measure