National Institute of Standards and Technology
"NIST" redirects here. For other uses, see NIST (disambiguation). Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Agency overview Formed March 3, 1901 ; 117 years ago ( March 3, 1901 ) (as National Bureau of Standards), became NIST in 1988 Headquarters Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S. 39°07′59″N 77°13′25″W / 39.13306°N 77.22361°W / 39.13306; -77.22361 Employees 2900 Annual budget $1.2 billion (2018) [1] Agency executive Walter Copan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director of NIST Parent agency Department of Commerce Website nist.gov The National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST ) is a physical sciences laboratory, and a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into laboratory programs that include nanoscale science and technology, engineering, information t...