NIST Insider Is Obama’s Choice For Agency’s Top Post
President Obama will nominate Patrick Gallagher, the acting head of the Commerce Dept.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, to be NIST’s director, the White House announced on Sept. 10.
For construction, NIST’s key unit is its Building and Fire Research Laboratory, which includes the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, applied economics, materials and construction research, building environment and fire research offices. The lab’s work included a three-year building and fire safety probe of the 2001 World Trade Center disaster.