INSTITUTION PROFILE / MATERIALS INFORMATICS
NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
The U.S. standards laboratory that supplies yardsticks for materials data, not research grants
NIST is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is not a body that hands out research grants to universities and companies on a large scale. Its job is to provide ways of checking the quality of data, and the yardsticks used to measure and compare things. Within the U.S. Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), it looks after the data infrastructure. It publishes JARVIS, a database of computed materials data, and expert-evaluated Standard Reference Data. This profile looks at one question only: how much influence NIST has over materials informatics (MI).
- NIST in 30 seconds
- What kind of body it is: the four types of influence
- What it does for materials informatics
- How far its influence reaches (powers and geography)
- Who else is involved
- Outlook
- Glossary, references and claim-to-source audit
1. NIST in 30 seconds
NIST is neither a funder of MI research nor the body that sets MGI policy. The MGI is a cross-agency effort, and its direction is coordinated by a subcommittee under the White House's science council Sourced. What NIST takes on is how materials data are exchanged, how the quality of data and models is checked, and new measurement methods Sourced. Its influence comes not from the power to decide but from other people choosing to refer to and use NIST's data and yardsticks. Because that use is voluntary, NIST has no way to enforce it.
2. What kind of body it is: the four types of influence
Unlike companies, the institutions in MI articles do not sell new materials themselves. They can be sorted into four types by the route through which they influence the field. NIST belongs to the third type, "Standards".
"Standards" here does not necessarily mean rules that must be obeyed. NIST describes itself as a non-regulatory agency Sourced, so its data and measurement methods spread only when other people adopt them.
3. What it does for materials informatics
NIST's involvement falls into the following main areas. Most of the figures are self-reported on NIST's own pages, and everything was checked on 22 October 2026.
| Activity | What it is | Scale and funding | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data and standards role in the MGI | NIST says it has taken a leadership role within the MGI. It is setting up data-exchange protocols, ways to check the quality of data and models, and new measurement methods | No MI-specific budget or headcount could be found | Sourced |
| JARVIS (computed data and AI models) | Databases from density functional theory (DFT) calculations, machine-learning models, and an OPTIMADE endpoint (a common query interface for materials databases) | Started January 2017. Funded by the MGI and CHIPS. 80,000+ materials and 150,000+ users, both self-reported on NIST's page | Sourced |
| JARVIS-Leaderboard (comparing methods) | A venue where AI, electronic-structure, force-field, quantum-computing and experimental methods are compared on the same data. A paper appeared in 2024 | 300+ benchmarks and about 9 million data points (as stated on the page) | Sourced |
| Standard Reference Data and Standard Reference Materials | Expert-evaluated reference data (SRD) and samples with certified composition or properties (SRM). They underpin measurement | 49 free and 41 fee-based SRD databases; more than 1,200 SRMs. Not specific to MI | Sourced |
| Participation in the Genesis Mission | The White House announcement of July 2026 lists NIST, together with the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services and NSF, in the "AI-driven autonomous laboratories" challenge. The NIST Director's remarks there concern applying AI to manufacturing and cybersecurity challenges | No amounts could be found | Sourced |
| CHIPS R&D call on AI and autonomous experiments | In October 2024 the Department of Commerce announced that it expected to invest up to $100 million in university-led, industry-informed work on AI-powered autonomous experimentation for semiconductor materials. The MGI lists it among its 2024 challenges | An expected amount at the time of the notice. No award results could be found | Not yet confirmed |
The data NIST publishes do not all carry the same level of quality assurance. NIST says Standard Reference Data are assessed by experts and must meet rigorous critical-evaluation criteria Sourced. JARVIS, by contrast, is a collection of computed (DFT) results, not measured values. As far as we could tell, JARVIS's page does not describe an evaluation standard of the same kind. If you use these data as a materials supplier, separate "published by NIST" from "guaranteed by NIST", and treat computed values as leads to be confirmed by experiment. JARVIS-Leaderboard is a place to compare methods under the same conditions. It does not guarantee how a material will perform.
4. How far its influence reaches (powers and geography)
| Aspect | What NIST has | What NIST does not have |
|---|---|---|
| Powers | Statutory authority to work with industry, other agencies and other countries on standards. Provision of reference data and reference materials. A hand in running the MGI day to day (in the 2021 plan the executive secretary of the subcommittee was a NIST staff member) | Regulatory power (it is a non-regulatory agency). The power to decide MGI policy (coordination sits with a cross-agency subcommittee). Any power to require particular data formats or AI evaluation methods |
| Geography | A U.S. federal agency. Public data can be used from outside the U.S. after registration. It also takes part in the international framework for mutual recognition of measurement standards | Any power to make companies or governments in other countries adopt its data formats or evaluation methods |
| Funding | Its own laboratory budget (Laboratory Programs, US$743.5 million in FY2024 enacted) and individual programs such as CHIPS R&D | A standing grant scheme that openly solicits university MI research. A total for MI-specific external grants could not be found |
| Scale | About 3,400 federal employees; US$1.46 billion (all fields) | Published headcount or budget for MI alone |
The US$1.46 billion is NIST's enacted total for FY2024 (October 2023 to September 2024) across all fields. It is not an MI budget. Of that, US$319.0 million sits in the "Standards Coordination & Special Programs" line, and US$222.8 million of it is for external projects whose use Congress specified Sourced. For FY2026, the minutes of NIST's advisory committee (March 2026) say the total budget appears to have grown to about US$1.8 billion, but US$663 million of that is congressionally directed spending for outside recipients, and NIST's core internal research budget (STRS) falls by US$13.25 million Sourced. The minutes are a summary of a meeting, and the spend plan was still awaiting approval at the time.
5. Who else is involved
The MGI itself is not a NIST program but an effort shared by several agencies Sourced. In the 2021 Strategic Plan, the subcommittee's co-chairs came from the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the Department of Energy (DOE), NIST and NASA were among its members. NSF supports university research through grants, and DOE supports research through national laboratories and research centers. We cover those in separate institution profiles.
6. Outlook
| What can be read | Primary source | Category |
|---|---|---|
| The 2021 Strategic Plan set goals for "the next five years". Whether a successor plan exists could not be confirmed | MGI Strategic Plan (November 2021). The MGI website says it is "under construction" and that some information is out of date | Not yet confirmed |
| The outcome of CARISSMA could not be confirmed. At the time of the notice the figure was an "expected" US$100 million at most | NIST news release (2 October 2024; updated October 2025; the item is shown as archived) | Not yet confirmed |
| Because NIST's internal core research budget is shrinking, the pace of its own data-building, MI included, may slow | Minutes of NIST's advisory committee, March 2026 (a US$13.25 million cut to STRS; internal research funds described as shrinking) | Inference |
| NIST's influence will depend on how widely its data are used (for example, JARVIS users), not on regulation or subsidies | NIST describes itself as non-regulatory. JARVIS requires registration, and no binding rule was found | Inference |
7. Glossary
- Materials informatics (MI)
- Using data, AI and computation in materials research to shorten the search for new materials.
- Materials Genome Initiative (MGI)
- A cross-agency U.S. effort begun in 2011 to discover, develop and deploy materials faster and at lower cost.
- NSTC / OSTP
- The National Science and Technology Council and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. They align science policy across agencies; the MGI subcommittee sits under the NSTC.
- JARVIS
- A set of databases and tools run by NIST for finding materials with computation and AI.
- Standard Reference Data (SRD)
- Scientific and technical data that NIST says have been evaluated by experts and can be relied on.
- Standard Reference Materials (SRM)
- Samples with certified composition or properties, used to calibrate instruments and compare measurements.
- Non-regulatory agency
- An agency without the power to enforce rules on companies or individuals. NIST describes itself this way.
8. References
- NIST About NIST (founded 1901; part of the Department of Commerce; mission). https://www.nist.gov/about-nist
- NIST Glossary entry "National Institute of Standards and Technology" (describes NIST as a non-regulatory federal agency). https://www.nist.gov/glossary-term/27831
- NIST NIST in Maryland (more than 2,800 federal employees and 3,200 visiting associates, FY2024). https://www.nist.gov/states/maryland
- NIST NIST in Colorado (Boulder: 560 employees and 940 contractors and visiting associates, FY2024). https://www.nist.gov/states/colorado
- NIST NIST Appropriations Summary FY 2022 to FY 2024 (enacted amounts, US$ millions). https://www.nist.gov/congressional-and-legislative-affairs/nist-appropriations-summary
- NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT) minutes, March 2026 (status of the FY2026 budget). https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2026/06/01/Final%20VCAT-Minutes_March%202026.pdf
- NIST Materials Genome Initiative (NIST's own page describing its role). https://www.nist.gov/mgi
- NSTC / NIST Official Materials Genome Initiative website (definition of MGI, 2021 Strategic Plan, 2024 Challenges). https://www.mgi.gov/
- NSTC SMGI Materials Genome Initiative Strategic Plan (November 2021; membership of the subcommittee; NSF Materials Innovation Platforms). https://www.mgi.gov/sites/mgi/files/MGI-2021-Strategic-Plan.pdf
- NSTC / NIST The 2024 Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) Challenges (mentions CARISSMA). https://www.mgi.gov/2024-materials-genome-initiative-mgi-challenges
- NIST JARVIS (Joint Automated Repository for Various Integrated Simulations) home page (start date, funding, self-reported usage figures). https://jarvis.nist.gov/
- NIST JARVIS-Leaderboard (list of benchmarks and counts). https://pages.nist.gov/jarvis_leaderboard/
- Paper Choudhary et al., "JARVIS-Leaderboard: a large scale benchmark of materials design methods", npj Computational Materials 10, 93 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-024-01259-w
- NIST Standard Reference Data (number of databases; evaluation criteria). https://www.nist.gov/srd
- NIST Standard Reference Materials (more than 1,200 materials). https://www.nist.gov/srm
- NIST News: "Biden-Harris Administration to Invest up to $100 Million to Accelerate R&D and AI Technologies for Sustainable Semiconductor Materials" (2 October 2024). https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/10/biden-harris-administration-invest-100-million-accelerate-rd-and-ai
- NIST NIST Standards-Related Authorizations (legal basis for NIST's work on standards). https://www.nist.gov/sco/nist-standards-related-authorizations
- White House "Trump Administration Announces More Than $5 Billion for the Genesis Mission, a National Mission on AI for Science" (July 2026). https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/45502/
9. Claim-to-source audit
| Claim in the article | Category | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Establishment in 1901, a Department of Commerce agency, headquarters location | Sourced | Reference 1 https://www.nist.gov/about-nist |
| NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency | Sourced | Reference 2 https://www.nist.gov/glossary-term/27831 |
| More than 2,800 federal employees and 3,200 visiting associates in Maryland (FY2024) | Sourced | Reference 3 https://www.nist.gov/states/maryland |
| 560 employees and 940 contractors and visiting associates in Boulder (FY2024) | Sourced | Reference 4 https://www.nist.gov/states/colorado |
| FY2024 enacted US$1.46 billion; Laboratory Programs US$743.5 million; Standards Coordination & Special Programs US$319.0 million, of which US$222.8 million is directed by Congress for external projects | Sourced | Reference 5 https://www.nist.gov/congressional-and-legislative-affairs/nist-appropriations-summary |
| FY2026 total of about US$1.8 billion, US$663 million congressionally directed, a US$13.25 million cut to STRS, spend plan awaiting approval | Sourced | Reference 6 https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2026/06/01/Final%20VCAT-Minutes_March%202026.pdf |
| NIST's own description of its data-exchange, quality-check and measurement role in the MGI | Sourced | Reference 7 https://www.nist.gov/mgi |
| The MGI is a cross-agency effort; the MGI website is under construction | Sourced | Reference 8 https://www.mgi.gov/ |
| The 2021 subcommittee co-chairs (DoD, NSF, OSTP), a NIST staff member as executive secretary, and a plan for the next five years | Sourced | Reference 9 https://www.mgi.gov/sites/mgi/files/MGI-2021-Strategic-Plan.pdf |
| CARISSMA is among the MGI's 2024 challenges | Sourced | Reference 10 https://www.mgi.gov/2024-materials-genome-initiative-mgi-challenges |
| JARVIS start date, funding, number of materials, number of users and OPTIMADE endpoint (self-reported) | Sourced | Reference 11 https://jarvis.nist.gov/ |
| JARVIS-Leaderboard benchmark and data-point counts (self-reported) and its paper | Sourced | Reference 12 https://pages.nist.gov/jarvis_leaderboard/ Reference 13 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-024-01259-w |
| Number of SRD databases and the evaluation criteria | Sourced | Reference 14 https://www.nist.gov/srd |
| More than 1,200 SRMs | Sourced | Reference 15 https://www.nist.gov/srm |
| Commerce's announcement of up to US$100 million expected for CHIPS R&D (2 October 2024) | Sourced | Reference 16 https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/10/biden-harris-administration-invest-100-million-accelerate-rd-and-ai |
| Statutory authority for NIST's work on standards | Sourced | Reference 17 https://www.nist.gov/sco/nist-standards-related-authorizations |
| NIST joins the autonomous-laboratories challenge of the Genesis Mission (July 2026) | Sourced | Reference 18 https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/45502/ |
| About 3,400 employees (2,800+ plus 560 added together) | Our calculation | Our sum of the figures in references 3 and 4 |
| The four types of institution | Our calculation | Our own classification |
| That JARVIS's page does not describe an SRD-style evaluation standard | Our calculation | Our comparison of references 11 and 14 |
| MI-specific budget and headcount, the total of MI-specific external grants, CARISSMA awards, any successor MGI plan | Not yet confirmed | Not stated in references 1 to 18; this article does not estimate them |
| The two points in the outlook about internal research funds and the nature of NIST's influence | Inference | Our reading of references 2, 6 and 11 |
Last updated 22 October 2026 / Troy Technical
Figures come from the websites of NIST and the MGI, NIST's budget documents and the minutes of NIST's advisory committee. Usage figures are all self-reported on NIST's pages. Items marked "Inference" are this article's reading of the primary information, not statements by NIST.