New Program and Directions at the National Institute of Standards and Technology

The Trade Act of 1988 created the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). In addition to explicitly defining and reconfirming the traditional measurement services, the law assigned new responsibilities to NIST to assist U.S. industry in capitalizing on new technologies developed in the U.S. scientific and technical community at a faster rate. This article decribes the new programs being established at NIST to comply with this mandate and the new organizational unit at NIST that brings together the traditional services and these new programs.