|
Founded in 1901, NIST
is a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Commerce Department's
Technology Administration. NIST's mission is to develop and promote measurement,
standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and
improve the quality of life. NIST carries out its mission in four cooperative
programs:
-
the NIST Laboratories, conducting research that advances
the nation's technology infrastructure and is needed by U.S. industry
to continually improve products and services;
-
the Baldrige National Quality Program, which promotes
performance excellence among U.S. manufacturers, service companies,
educational institutions, and health care providers; conducts outreach
programs and manages the annual Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
which recognizes performance excellence and quality achievement;
-
the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a nationwide
network of local centers offering technical and business assistance
to smaller manufacturers; and
-
the Advanced Technology Program, which accelerates
the development of innovative technologies for broad national benefit
by co funding R&D partnerships with the private sector.
In
FY 2005, NIST has an operating budget of about $858 million and operates
in two locations: Gaithersburg, Md., (headquarters - 234-hectare/578-acre
campus) and Boulder Colo., (84-hectare/208-acre campus). NIST employs
about 3,000 scientists, engineers, technicians, and support and administrative
personnel. About 1,800 guest researchers complement the staff. In addition,
NIST partners with 1,400 manufacturing specialists and staff at affiliated
centers around the country.
NIST/Information Technology Laboratory (ITL)
ITL is one of the measurement and standards laboratories of NIST. ITL
works with industry, research, and government organizations to make information
technology more usable, more secure, more scalable, and more interoperable
than it is today. ITL develops the tests and test methods that both the
developers and the users of the technology need to objectively measure,
compare and improve their systems. For many years, ITL has been mandated
by legislation to provide computer security standards and guidelines to
federal agencies for the protection of sensitive unclassified information
in their IT systems and networks.
News and general information
about NIST programs and services are available on the World Wide Web at
http://www.nist.gov, or by calling General Inquiries at (301) 975-NIST
(975-6478), TTY (301) 975-8295 or e-mail: inquiries@nist.gov.
http://www.nist.gov
|
.jpg)
