When the clocks ‘fell back’ last month, I found myself wondering, “Is there still a phone number to call to get the time?” When I Googled this question, I found a sarcastic response to the same question that said something along the lines of, “Since you’re on the computer, you could just look down to the bottom right hand corner and see the time there.” True, but the technology behind our computers has to get the time from somewhere, and that somewhere is right here in Boulder, Colorado!
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute (NMI), which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. NIST’s activities are organized into various laboratory programs and several extramural programs. NIST is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland and has a campus here in Boulder.
NIST’s Boulder laboratories are probably best known for NIST‑F1, which houses an atomic clock and serves as the source of the nation’s official time. From its measurement of the natural resonance frequency of cesium—which is used to define the second—NIST broadcasts time signals via longwave radio station WWVB in Fort Collins, Colorado, and shortwave radio stations WWV and WWVH, located at Fort Collins, Colorado and Kekaha, Hawaii, respectively.
NIST also offers a telephone time-of-day service that is used to synchronize clocks and watches and for the calibration of stopwatches and timers. It receives about 2,000 calls per day! If you want to try it, dial (303) 499-7111.
But while Boulder’s NIST laboratories are probably best known for ‘keeping the time’, my guess is that you would be even more impressed by the cutting edge research being conducted within the facilities each day. Research areas include: electromagnetics, optoelectronics, physical and chemical properties, quantum physics, time and frequency, and more.
NIST’s cutting edge research requires state-of-the-art facilities. This can be a challenge however for an organization that is facing budget cuts just like the rest of us. And that’s where Ascent comes in. We’ve had the pleasure of working with NIST for more than 3 years now. We help them stretch their funding as far as it can go by making unused and/or aging facilities functional again.
One recent project including converting an old 1950’s laboratory building used for storage into a modern machine shop that supports the many different types of experiments performed at the NIST Boulder Laboratories every day. We also helped create a safer work environment in a majority of the laboratories all over the NIST Boulder campus with the fume head, shower system and panic button project updating their safety features. The end result of rehabilitating and re-purposing the aging laboratory building and upgrading the laboratories was spectacular and extremely cost effective. We’re seeing this trend across the Front Range and throughout the country at other federally funded facilities. We even had the chance to visit WWVH in Hawaii recently to help make that facility more handicap-accessible. I didn’t need to dial any numbers to get the time that day!
