Award Data

Categorical theory has recently been successfully applied to translate information from one computer system to another. Researchers at MIT have developed a prototype software tool based on category theory for solving information-integration programs. The tool has successfully solved small-scale information-integration problems including a problem identified by NIST about enriching the manufacturin ...

Maine Fresh Sea Farms (MFSF) will build a multi-species, multi-season prototype farm with the goal of having crops of fresh sea vegetables available throughout the year. What isn’t utilized fresh will be dried for longer-term storage and used in other products. Our team will gather data on water quality, nutrients, light levels, and hydrodynamics to assemble profiles of key parameters that deter ...

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are primary drivers of global climate change. Hence there is a crucial need to quantify their sources and sinks. A powerful method to constrain source and sink strengths is the analysis of the relative proportions of isotopic variants of GHG’s in atmospheric samples like those collected globally by NOAA’s Cooperative Air Sampling Network. Measurements that are ca ...

There are currently no inexpensive, expendable air-deployed monitoring systems (Dropsondes) that measure atmospheric data and oceanographic as a function of depth. These are important data in predicting the intensity and path of hurricanes. Boston Engineering proposes to provide NOAA with a solution to this challenge with the Multi-Purpose Above Surface/Below Surface Expendable Dropsonde (MASED) p ...

During the harmful algal blooms (HAB), marine algal toxins reach concentrations high enough to cause various neurological and gastrointestinal disorders through inhalation of the toxin or consumption of contaminated shellfish. Brevetoxins, produced by dinoflagellate Karenia brevis, are known to disrupt neurological processes to cause an illness called neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. The timely rec ...

Areté Associates proposes the Coastal Eyes, a multi-mission sensor system to respond to NOAA’s core mission objectives for coastal emergency management measurements to map land and surface water topography over coastal, waterways and fresh water regions; surface (fresh and oceans) currents, debris detections and storm surges. Areté will develop a responsive, cost-effective sensor solution, whi ...

A central part of NOAA’s mission is to develop and distribute scientific data, including large-scale climate, weather, marine, and coastal information for regional and national analysis. NOAA has also developed local data gathering tools on an as-needed basis. While these approaches demonstrate the power of local data collection, no existing tool meets the broad needs of environmental community ...

Leveraging Agiltron’s industrial leading developments for optical measurement of motion in MEMS devices, we propose to use electro-optical sensors for measuring the displacement and gap in the NIST micro-rheometer. No electrical connections are required to the moving parts. All electronics and optics are removed from the chip so that it is inexpensive and disposable. A fixed, simple micro-fluidi ...

Nanometrology International, Inc. (NMI) proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of 3-dimensional (3D) characterization of nanoscale objects using scanning probe microscopy (SPM) with a measurement uncertainty of less than 0.7 nm. To accomplish this task, we propose a novel method of 3D tip characterization and use of an innovative surface reconstruction algorithm recently introduced by NIST and th ...

To further advance the characterization and utility of microcantilevers, next generation optical detectors with higher frequency response, improved displacement resolution and lower noise for weak signal detection are needed. Consequently, Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc. (RMD) will develop a turnkey optical detector module for use in characterizing the displacement and resonant frequencies of m ...