National Institute of Standards and Technology 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will meet in an open session on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time and Thursday, February 4, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The VCAT is composed of fifteen members appointed by the NIST Director who are eminent in such fields as business, research, new product development, engineering, labor, education, management consulting, environment, and international relations.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites and requests nomination of individuals for appointment to eight existing Federal Advisory Committees: Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, Manufacturing Extension Partnership Advisory Board, National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee, Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction, NIST Smart Grid Advisory Committee, and Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology. NIST will consider nominations received in response to this notice for appointment to the Committees, in addition to nominations already received. Registered Federal lobbyists may not serve on NIST Federal Advisory Committees.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Board) will meet in open session on Wednesday, December 2, 2015. The purpose of this meeting is to review and discuss the work of the private sector contractor, which assists the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in administering the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Award), and information received from NIST and from the Chair of the Judges' Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in order to make such suggestions for the improvement of the Award process as the Board deems necessary. Details on the agenda are noted in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

NIST announces the Synthetic Biology Standards Consortium (SBSC)-Planning and Progress Workshop to be held on Tuesday November 3, 2015 from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Pacific time. The SBSC is a standards setting consortium focused on the shared standards development needs of consortium participants. It will provide a forum for collaborative work through the formation of technical standards-setting working groups. Working groups are organized around a clear vision of specific metrology productsstandards, including reference materials; reference data; reference methods; and documentary standardsthat will enable interoperability and reproducibility. At this workshop the working groups will collaboratively develop work products.

This notice announces a modification to existing provisions of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Alternative Personnel Management System (APMS), changing the classification structure for the Administrative (ZA) career path, Pay Bands I through IV, based upon a classification review of the level of difficulty and responsibility associated with each Pay Band.

The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) will meet Wednesday, October 21, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, October 22, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and Friday, October 23, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. All sessions will be open to the public.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart Grid Advisory Committee (SGAC or Committee), will meet in open session on Thursday, July 30, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time and Friday, July 31, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. This meeting was originally scheduled for March 10-11, 2015 and was rescheduled for administrative reasons. The primary purposes of this meeting are to discuss the Grid 3.0 Strategic Planning Effort and NIST Transactive Energy, Distributed Energy Resources, Microgrid, and Smart City activities. The agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda will be posted on the Smart Grid Web site at https://www.nist.gov/smartgrid.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 8th NIST Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop will be held in Gaithersburg, Maryland on Tuesday, July 7, Wednesday, July 8, Thursday, July 9, and Friday July 10, 2015. The format is a four-day forum that emphasizes the participation and progress made by standard development organizations, researchers and the community of cloud computing experts. The Forum and Workshop will bring together leaders and innovators from industry, academia and government in an interactive format that combines keynote presentations, panel discussions, and breakout sessions. The forum and workshop are open to the general public. NIST invites presentations from interested speakers at this event as described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. In addition, NIST invites organizations to participate as exhibitors as described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other member laboratories of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) offer a variety of specialized scientific and technical facilities, products, and services to the public, including access to instrumentation, reference materials, software, and calibrations. Access to such services is provided in a variety of ways, and may require the payment of fees or other costs and/or an application or agreement. NIST and other members of the FLC request information from the public regarding recommendations for online platforms that can broaden awareness and make it easier for the public to search for, locate, learn about, and obtain access to these facilities, products, and services. The information received in response to this RFI will be provided by NIST to various interagency groups for consideration and used to publicize various federal facilities and resources.

The Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Board of Overseers) and the Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Judges Panel) will meet together in open session on Thursday, June 11, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. The Board of Overseers, appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, reports the results of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Award) activities to the Director of The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) each year, along with its recommendations for the improvement of the Award process. The Judges Panel, also appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, ensures the integrity of the Award selection process and recommends Award recipients to the Secretary of Commerce. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss and review information received from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and from the Chair of the Judges Panel. The agenda will include: Baldrige Program Update, Baldrige Fundraising Update, Baldrige Judges Panel Update, Ethics Review, Applicants and Eligibility, and New Business/Public Comment.

The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) will meet Wednesday, June 10, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, June 11 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and Friday, June 12, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. All sessions will be open to the public.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This is a notice in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(e) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i) that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (``NIST''), U.S. Department of Commerce, is contemplating the grant of an exclusive license in the United States of America, its territories, possessions and commonwealths, to NIST's interest in the invention embodied in U.S. Patent No. 8,918,884, entitled ``K-zero day safety,'' (NIST Docket No. 12-017) to the George Mason Research Foundation, Inc. The grant of the license would be for all fields of use.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces that the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Advisory Board will hold an open meeting on Tuesday, May 19, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requests information about the broader needs of the industrial community in the area of quantum information science (QIS). NIST requests this information through its role in the Interagency Working Group on Quantum Information Science of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committee on Science (CoS) Subcommittee on Physical Sciences (PSSC). NIST seeks input from stakeholders regarding opportunities for research and development, emerging market areas, barriers to near-term and future applications, and workforce needs. The information received in response to this RFI will inform and be considered by the Interagency Working Group making recommendations for the development and coordination of U.S. Government policies, programs, and budgets to advance U.S. competitiveness in QIS.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology announces a workshop on Quantum Information Science and the Needs of U.S. Industry, to be held on Friday, April 10, 2015. NIST is holding this workshop on behalf of the Interagency Working Group on Quantum Information Science of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committee on Science (CoS) Subcommittee on Physical Sciences (PSSC). The purpose of the workshop is to solicit input from stakeholders about the broader needs of the industrial community in the area of quantum information science (QIS). Topics to be discussed include opportunities for research and development, emerging market areas, barriers to near-term and future applications, and workforce needs. Information gathered at this workshop will be used in the development and coordination of U. S. Government policies, programs, and budgets to advance U.S. competitiveness in QIS.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart Grid Advisory Committee (SGAC or Committee), will meet in open session on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time and Wednesday, March 11, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. The primary purposes of this meeting are to discuss the Grid 3.0 Strategic Planning Effort and NIST Transactive Energy, Distributed Energy Resources, Microgrid, and Smart City activities. The agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda will be posted on the Smart Grid Web site at https://www.nist.gov/smartgrid.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce, in a cooperative partnership with the National Football League (NFL), the General Electric Company (GE) and Under Armour, Inc. (UA), is conducting a prize competition funding initiative to support the discovery, design and deployment of materials that improve the protection of athletes, members of the military, and society overall. The Head Health Advanced Materials Prize Competition (Head Health Challenge III, Challenge III, or Competition) is being conducted to broadly advance the science of materials for impact protection, as well as measurements and standards for assessing the performance of such materials. These advances are essential for the health of athletes of every age, and they will have a broad positive impact on the range of activities and occupations in our society that require protective gear. It is hoped that Head Health Challenge III will stimulate engagement with diverse science and technology communities across industry, academia and government (e.g. automotive, aerospace, light-weighting, and physical security) that can realize innovative approaches to this problem. Efforts to speed diagnosis and improve prevention, protection and treatment for mild traumatic brain injury hold promise for improved safety of athletes, members of the military and the American public. The NFL, GE and UA share a commitment to the importance of research and technology development to better understand, diagnose, prevent and protect against brain injury, as reflected in collaborations, including the Head Health Initiative. In this context, the development of energy- absorbing materials is highly aligned with the broader efforts of NIST under the President's Materials Genome Initiative, aimed at accelerating innovation in advanced materials to address critical national needs, and in keeping with NIST's mission. Previous Head Health Challenge collaborations by the NFL, GE and UA have addressed the detection and management of mild traumatic brain injuries, focused on discovering imaging and algorithms to better detect and analyze subtle changes in the brain (Head Health Challenge I: Methods for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries), and on novel technologies, system designs, or materials that can quantify head impact in real time, detect, track or monitor biologic or physiological indicators of traumatic brain injury, protect the brain from traumatic injury, mitigate or prevent short or long-term consequences of brain trauma, and assist in training to prevent traumatic brain injury (Head Health Challenge II: Innovative Approaches For Preventing And Identifying Brain Injuries). Information on Head Health Challenges I and II may be found at www.HeadHealthChallenge.com. The National Football League, Under Armour, GE and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have established a joint effort to advance the state-of-the-art in advanced materials for impact mitigation. The objective of Challenge III is to stimulate the development of a range of materials that provide excellent energy absorbing and energy dissipating properties. The NFL, Under Armour, GE and NIST look forward to receiving submissions consistent with the listed specifications that will aid in advancing safety and protection for athletes, the warfighter, and civilians.

The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will meet in open session on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Eastern Time and Thursday, February 5, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The VCAT is composed of fifteen members appointed by the NIST Director who are eminent in such fields as business, research, new product development, engineering, labor, education, management consulting, environment, and international relations.

The 100th Interim Meeting of the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) will be held in Daytona Beach, Florida, from Sunday, January 18, 2015 through Wednesday, January 21, 2015. This notice contains information about significant items on the NCWM Committee agendas, but does not include all agenda items. As a result, the items are not consecutively numbered.

The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) will meet Wednesday, February 11, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, February 12, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Eastern Time, and Friday, February 13, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until 12 p.m. Eastern Time. All sessions will be open to the public.