Group Leader, Data Services Group, Office Of Data And Informatics, Material Measurement Laboratory
CurrentThe Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) serves as the national reference laboratory for measurements in the chemical, biological and material sciences through activities ranging from fundamental and applied research, to the development and dissemination of certified reference materials, critically evaluated data, and other programs and tools to assure the quality of measurement results. MML is also responsible for coordinating the NIST-wide Standard Reference Material and Standard Reference Data programs.Reliable Data to Support Critical Decisions: Standard Reference Databases provide carefully evaluated collections of data for a wide variety of substances. They help people make decisions based on reliable information. For example, the NIST ThermoData Standard Reference Database of the properties of more than 20,000 chemical compounds, 44,000 mixtures, and 6,000 reactions helps to ensure safety, quality and efficiency in thousands of chemical plants around the world. Plant operators use a computer program that relies on NIST data to predict the behavior of chemicals under various conditions. Another database, the Mass Spectral Library, contains hundreds of thousands of "signatures" of molecules. This enables the highly sensitive and discriminating identification of the molecular components in diverse complex mixtures of concern to the fields of health science, pollution monitoring, food safety and homeland security. NIST also provides crystallographic databases that provide the precise atomic arrangements for hundreds of thousands of nonorganic materials. Our activities range from fundamental and applied research on the composition, structure and properties of industrial, biological and environmental materials and processes, to the development and dissemination of tools including reference measurement procedures, certified reference materials, critically evaluated data, and best practice guides that help assure measurement quality