The NIST Chapter of Sigma Xi will hold its annual awards banquet on May 25th at (time) at il Porto on 245 Muddy Branch Road here in Gaithersburg.  The event will begin at 6:00 PM.  The cost of the event will be $40, including complimentary beer and wine. 

NIST’s Matt Staymates will present a talk, “The Measurement Science of Trace Detection” (abstract below).

We will also present our annual awards, which will include, among others:

The Katharine B. Gebbie Young Scientist Award

Outstanding Service in Support of NIST Scientists Award

Outstanding Posters from the Postdoctoral Poster Presentations

Abstract

The detection of trace explosives and narcotics has become a growing area of research and development within the scientific community and homeland security, owing its status to the ever-increasing threat of terrorist activities around the world. NIST has developed a measurement science and standards infrastructure to support this homeland security effort by ensuring that the current technology is functioning as expected, and also accelerating the development of next-generation contraband detection technology. This presentation will provide an overview of a large research program at NIST that focuses on the measurement challenges associated with trace contraband collection and detection. Activities such as optimized swipe sampling, aerodynamic sampling, chemical detection techniques, optical, electron, and ion microscopy, next-generation prototype development, and standard explosive test materials will be discussed.