GAITHERSBURG, MD — September 29,2000 — The National Institute of Standards and Technology is moving forward with its plan to open the Advanced Measurement Laboratory, which is being billed as one of the most technologically advanced buildings in the world. Two Maryland firms – Clark Construction Group, Inc. and Gilford Corp. -were recently selected to oversee construction, which is expected to be completed by 2004.

The facility, which will house the NIST’s most advanced metrology, physics, chemistry, electronics, engineering and material science research operations, will allow the NIST and its partners access to top-of-the-line research and development capabilities. The AML will include a cleanroom wing, laboratory sections, two single-floor measurement laboratory sections with 151 modules and two single-floor instrument laboratory sections with 187 modules.

According to officials, the AML’s state-of-the-art controls on particulate matter, temperature, vibration, and humidity will be a boon to US industry by providing improved measurements and standards which will in turn speed research advances.

The NIST is an agency of the Commerce Department’s Technology Administration.

–Jeff VanPelt