NIST Tech Beat for March 3, 2015

A biweekly digest of science and technology research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Issue for March 3, 2015

Double Vision: New NIST Technique Can See Nanoscale 'Tree' and Microscale 'Forest' Simultaneously A close-up view of an individual tree won't tell you much about what's going on in the forest. The same goes for studying nanoparticles. What is happening in one small area might not be indicative of what's going on with the nanoparticle as a whole. In fact, the light you shine on the area may actually affect the reaction processes, giving a skewed reading. To correct for this experimental myopia, NIST researchers have developed a relatively simple setup that makes it possible for scientists to image simultaneously nanoscale features and microscale (nano x 1,000) chemical interactions.

New Imaging Technique Finds Formation of Aluminum Alloys to Blame for Next-Gen Battery Failures Researchers working at NIST, the University of Maryland and Sandia National Laboratories, have for the first time imaged the inner workings of experimental solid-state batteries as they charged and discharged while making detailed measurements of their electrochemical health. Their work has helped explain why the batteries rapidly lose performance and suggests a way for improving them.

New NIST Reference Material Provides a Silver Lining for NanoEHS Research NIST has issued a new silver nanoparticle reference material to support researchers studying potential environmental, health and safety risks associated with the nanoparticles, which are being incorporated in a growing number of consumer and industrial products for their antimicrobial properties.

NIST Invites Applications for the 2015 Standards Services Curricula Development Program NIST is offering financial support for the development of undergraduate and graduate-level curricula that integrate standards and standardization information and content into seminars, learning resources and courses. Accredited institutions of higher education, both non-profit and commercial organizations; and state, local and Indian tribal governments located in the United States and its territories are eligible.

NIST's Michael Boss to Receive Tech Transfer Award for MRI Calibration Standard NIST physicist Michael Boss will receive the 2015 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer. Boss designed a tool called a phantom for calibrating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners. The head-sized phantom is designed to standardize imaging used to diagnose traumatic brain injury (TBI), neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer. NIST has applied for a patent on the phantom, which was commercialized only a year after it was first conceived.

Other News from NIST —

DARPA Launches Robots4Us Video Contest for High School Students The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a competition for high school students to create short videos envisioning the impact of robots on peoples lives in the future. "How will the growing use of robots change people's lives and make a difference for society? How do teens want robots to make a difference in the future? As ever more capable robots evolve from the realm of science fiction to real-world devices, these questions are becoming increasingly important. And who better to address them than members of the generation that may be the first to fully co-exist with robots in the future? Through its new Robots4Us student video contest, DARPA is asking high school students to address these issues creatively by producing short videos about the robotics-related possibilities they foresee and the kind of robot-assisted society in which they would like to live." The video competition is related to this years DARPA Robotics Challenge, an engineering contrest to demonstrate new robots and robot capabilities for disaster response. NIST robotics experts devised the test methods for the DARPA Challenge. The finals will be held in June, 2015. Read more ...

NIST Awards $26 Million to Support Manufacturing in 10 States The NIST has announced the award of new cooperative agreements to 10 nonprofit organizations and universities to manage Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers. NIST's MEP program helps small- and mid-size manufacturers create and retain jobs, increase profits and save time and money. In an open competition, the existing MEP centers in Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, were selected to receive a total of $26 million in federal funding, an increase of about $10 million or nearly 60 percent. The funding will allow the centers to reach new customers and offer new services. This competition is part of a multi-year effort to update MEP's funding structure to better match resources with needs. The original awards to these states were made more than 10 years ago, and the MEP investment in terms of dollars per manufacturing establishment was below its national average, making them the most underfunded of MEP's 60 centers. Read more ...

NIST Awards $20 Million for Research Center to Help Communities Increase Resilience to Disaster NIST has announced the award of a $20 million cooperative agreement to Colorado State University (CSU) to establish the Community Resilience Center of Excellence. Working with NIST researchers and partners from 10 other universities, the center will develop computer tools to help local governments decide how each can best invest resources intended to lessen the impact of extreme weather and other hazards on buildings and infrastructure and to recover rapidly in their aftermath. The Fort Collins-based center will receive $4 million annually for five years. NIST has the option to renew the award for five additional years, depending on performance and the availability of funds. Read more ...

MedImmune and NIST Partner to Advance Development of Biological Therapies MedImmune and NIST have announced the signing of a five-year agreement to jointly support research that will help advance drug discovery and manufacturing. The effort will focus on tools and measurements that will be used in the development and production of biopharmaceuticals, which are drugs and treatments derived from biological, rather than chemical, sources. Under the new agreement, MedImmune is providing first-year funding for seven NIST postdoctoral scientists, each working on a joint MedImmune/NIST research project. These projects will seek to better understand mechanisms of action, structures and other biological and chemical principles useful in drug development, engineering and formulation, and help create measurement tools to facilitate that knowledge. Read more ...