NISO Member News
On April 19, Laurie E. Locascio was sworn in as the 17th director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. As one of the nation’s oldest physical science laboratories, NIST conducts research and standards development activities that support innovation in a wide array of disciplines, including cybersecurity, manufacturing, health care, greenhouse gas measurement, and quantum physics and computing. Locascio was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 7, 2022.
Locascio most recently served as vice president for research at the University of Maryland College Park and University of Maryland Baltimore, where she focused on the development of large interdisciplinary research programs, technology commercialization, innovation and economic development efforts, and strategic partnerships with industry, federal, academic and nonprofit collaborators. She also served as a professor in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the A. James Clark School of Engineering with a secondary appointment in the Department of Pharmacology in the School of Medicine.
Before joining the University of Maryland, Locascio worked at NIST for 31 years, rising from a research biomedical engineer to eventually leading the agency’s Material Measurement Laboratory. She also served as the acting associate director for laboratory programs, the No. 2 position at NIST, providing direction and operational guidance for NIST’s lab research programs.
As director, Locascio will guide NIST’s collaborative efforts with industry, academia and other government agencies to develop and apply the technology, measurements and standards needed for innovative products and services. She will also oversee NIST’s work on two ongoing National Construction Safety Team investigations, into the June 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, and the impacts of 2017’s Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico.
For additional details, see the full text of the announcement here.