NIST debuts its $75 million chemical science facility

Abstract

The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) dedicated its new Advanced Chemical Science Laboratory at its headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., last week. The $75 million, 200,000-sq-ft building is a state-of-the-art facility that will be used for developing standards and methods for pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical diagnosis, pollution monitoring and cleanup, nutritional analysis, and other chemically related work, as well as accurate chemical measurement techniques. The facility, which will house about 190 NIST personnel and visiting researchers, features 162 laboratory modules with movable walls that can be reconfigured to meet special needs, ambient temperature controls accurate to within one-half degree Celsius, ambient humidity maintained at 40%, a high-purity recirculating water system, and a buildingwide uninterruptible power supply. The chemical lab was designed and built by Austin Co., Cleveland. It is the first of several planned major upgrades of NIST facilities to be completed. ...