NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

This activity was supported by task order 1333ND24FNB100003 under contract 1333ND23DNB100003 between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-71456-3
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-71456-7
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/27444

This publication is available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu.

Copyright 2025 by the National Academy of Sciences. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and National Academies Press and the graphical logos for each are all trademarks of the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. An Assessment of Selected Research Programs and Goals of the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology: Fiscal Year 2024. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27444.

The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an Act of Congress, signed by President Lincoln, as a private, nongovernmental institution to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology. Members are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. Dr. Marcia McNutt is president.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to bring the practices of engineering to advising the nation. Members are elected by their peers for extraordinary contributions to engineering. Dr. John L. Anderson is president.

The National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) was established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to advise the nation on medical and health issues. Members are elected by their peers for distinguished contributions to medicine and health. Dr. Victor J. Dzau is president.

The three Academies work together as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The National Academies also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding in matters of science, engineering, and medicine.

Learn more about the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine at www.nationalacademies.org.

Consensus Study Reports published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine document the evidence-based consensus on the study’s statement of task by an authoring committee of experts. Reports typically include findings, conclusions, and recommendations based on information gathered by the committee and the committee’s deliberations. Each report has been subjected to a rigorous and independent peer-review process and it represents the position of the National Academies on the statement of task.

Proceedings published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine chronicle the presentations and discussions at a workshop, symposium, or other event convened by the National Academies. The statements and opinions contained in proceedings are those of the participants and are not endorsed by other participants, the planning committee, or the National Academies.

Rapid Expert Consultations published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are authored by subject-matter experts on narrowly focused topics that can be supported by a body of evidence. The discussions contained in rapid expert consultations are considered those of the authors and do not contain policy recommendations. Rapid expert consultations are reviewed by the institution before release.

For information about other products and activities of the National Academies, please visit www.nationalacademies.org/about/whatwedo.

PANEL ON ASSESSMENT OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY (NIST) ENGINEERING LABORATORY

JOSEPH J. BEAMAN (NAE), The University of Texas at Austin, Chair

VERONICA ADETOLA, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

SOMAYEH ASADI, University of Virginia

ASHLEY GAULDING, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

EMILY HERNDON, Woolpert

GREGORY HUDAS, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center

WAYNE KING, The Barnes Global Advisors

ADE MAKINDE, Independent Consultant

NABIL NASR, REMADE Institute

ABDALLA NASSAR, Applied Science and Technology Research Organization

RALPH NUZZO (NAS), University of Illinois (emeritus)

CHINEDUM (CHI) OKWUDIRE, University of Michigan

ZHENG O’NEILL, Texas A&M University

MELISSA ORME (NAE), The Boeing Company

PHILIP PARISI, JR., MG Engineering D.P.C.

MICHAEL POUCHAK, Honeywell

CURTIS A. RICHARDSON, Spirit AeroSystems, Inc.

BALAJI SANTHANAKRISHNAN, IBM Corporation

CAROLYN SEEPERSAD, Georgia Institute of Technology

MOHSEN SEIFI, ASTM International

VISHALDEEP SHARMA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

LARRY M. SWEET, Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute

G. KUMAR VENAYAGAMOORTHY, Clemson University

GARY WALKER, Seattle Children’s Hospital

YUNSONG XIE, ExxonMobil Technology & Engineering Company

Study Staff

KATIE BRATLIE, Director, Laboratory Assessments Board

JAMES MYSKA, Senior Program Officer, Study Director

MAURA WALSH, Administrative Coordinator

LABORATORY ASSESSMENTS BOARD

TJ GLAUTHIER, TJG Energy Associates, LLC, Chair

ROBERT D. BRAUN (NAE), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

DAVID S. C. CHU, Institute for Defense Analyses

DONA L. CRAWFORD, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (retired)

THOMAS R. KURFESS, Georgia Tech Manufacturing Research Institute

JUAN DE PABLO (NAS/NAE), The University of Chicago

CAROL SCHUTTE, Air Force Office of Scientific Research (retired)

Staff

KATIE BRATLIE, Director

LIZA RENEE HAMILTON, Senior Program Officer

JAMES MYSKA, Senior Program Officer

MAURA WALSH, Administrative Coordinator

Reviewers

This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

DIANE CHONG (NAE), Boeing

CAROLYN DURAN (NAE), Apple, Inc.

JENNIFER HITCHCOCK, Defense Acquisition University (retired)

MANYALIBO JOSEPH MATTHEWS, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

KATIE MCGIMPSEY, Affiliated Engineers, Inc.

WANDA REDER (NAE), Grid-X Partners, LLC

SUSAN SMYTH (NAE), GM Global Manufacturing (retired)

CHARLES WARD, ARCTOS Technology Solutions

XIAOHUI ZHOU, Slipstream Group, Inc.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by ELSA REICHMANIS (NAE), Lehigh University, and DAVID W. JOHNSON, JR. (NAE), Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

Contents

SUMMARY

1 INTRODUCTION

2 OVERVIEW OF THE ENGINEERING LABORATORY

3 ADVANCED MANUFACTURING GOAL: MEASUREMENT SCIENCE FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING PROGRAM

4 ADVANCED MANUFACTURING GOAL: MEASUREMENT SCIENCE FOR MANUFACTURING ROBOTICS PROGRAM

5 ADVANCED MANUFACTURING GOAL: ADVANCED MANUFACTURING DATA INFRASTRUCTURE AND ANALYTICS PROGRAM

6 ENERGY-EFFICIENT, HIGH-PERFORMANCE BUILDINGS GOAL: NET-ZERO ENERGY, HIGH-PERFORMANCE BUILDINGS AND EMBEDDED INTELLIGENCE IN BUILDINGS PROGRAMS

7 OVERARCHING THEMES, KEY RECOMMENDATIONS, AND CHAPTER-SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS

APPENDIXES

A Acronyms and Abbreviations

B Panel Member Biographical Information