December 2016 OCLA Constituent Newsletter

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NIST Office of Congressional & Legislative Affairs         
December 2016 Constituent Newsletter

2017 Baldrige Award Applications & 2016 Award Winners
To improve the competitiveness and performance of U.S. organizations for the benefit of all U.S. residents, the  NIST  Baldrige Performance Excellence Program is a customer-focused federal change agent that manages the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards. The 2017 Baldrige Award application forms and guidance  are now available online here. Award eligibility certification  applications are due February 21, 2017. The deadline for award application packages is May 2, 2017.

The Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker recently named four organizations as the 2016 recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. This year’s recipients—two small businesses and two health care providers—represent four states, including the first awardee from Idaho; and feature four distinctly different operations, including the first winner ever from the long-term care and rehabilitation field and the first awardee from the textile industry since 1989. Complete information on this year's awardees (Don Chalmers Ford; the Momentum Group; Kindred Nursing and Rehabilitation Center;  Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital ) is available at the Baldrige website.

Critical Dates for 2017 NIST SURF Applications
NIST is soliciting applications from eligible colleges and universities in the U.S. and its territories, nominating undergraduate students to participate in the 2017 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program. The SURF Program will provide research opportunities for undergraduate students to work with NIST scientists and engineers, to expose them to cutting-edge research, and to promote the pursuit of graduate degrees in science and engineering. The 2017 SURF Program is anticipated to run between May 22 – August 4, 2017; adjustments may be made to accommodate specific academic schedules. Details of the separate application process for both the student and the university are posted online  for the NIST Gaithersburg campus and the NIST Boulder campus. An upcoming early December Federal Register Notice of Funding Opportunity will be accessible at the SURF website. The  2017 deadline date for application submissions is February 15, 2017. Students interested in competing for the 2017 award may find the FY 2016 Announcement of Federal Funding Opportunity helpful.  More information on the SURF programs at both the Gaithersburg Maryland and Boulder Colorado campuses  is posted online here.

Forensics @ NIST 2016 Symposium Webcast
On November 8-9, 2016, NIST hosted a two-day symposium showcasing NIST's Forensic Science Center of  Excellence's work and NIST's latest research addressing forensic science. The webcast of the Symposium is accessible online here.

NIST Mouse Cell Line Authentication Consortium
NIST invites  organizations to participate in  the Mouse Cell Line Authentication Consortium. The Consortium will collaborate to obtain concordant short tandem repeat (STR) profiles for mouse cell lines, draft consensus standards for mouse cell line authentication, and create a public database of STR profiles for mouse cell lines. The Consortium has been developed in collaboration with American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). NIST will accept responses for participation in this Consortium on an ongoing basis. The Consortium's activities will commence on or about December 15, 2016. Complete information is available online in the Federal Register Notice.