FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                  NIST 96-08
March 1, 1996

Contact:  Michael E. Newman             CARLSON NAMED TO
          (301) 975-3025                NIST'S PRIVATE-SECTOR
          michael.newman@nist.gov       ADVISORY BOARD

     Dwight D. Carlson, founder and vice chairman of Perceptron Inc.,
has been appointed by Arati Prabhakar, director of the Commerce
Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, to serve a
three-year term on the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology, the
agency's primary private-sector policy adviser.

     Carlson co-founded Perceptron in 1981. The company, located in
Farmington Hills, Mich., is a global leader in three-dimensional,
non-contact sensing solutions. Carlson also serves as chairman of
Michigan Future Inc., an Ann Arbor, Mich., organization bringing
private-sector leaders together to create several networks that focus on
family, neighborhood, education and competitiveness issues for Michigan.

     One entity launched from the Michigan Future Competitiveness
Network was the Auto Body Consortium. It teamed eight technology
companies with Chrysler Corp., General Motors Corp., the University of
Michigan and Wayne State University to build car bodies with design
variations of no greater than plus or minus 2 millimeters. The
consortium has received three awards of cost-shared funds from NIST's
Advanced Technology Program. Perceptron Inc. has received one ATP award
on its own.

     The VCAT was established by Congress under the Omnibus Trade and
Competitiveness Act of 1988. The nine-member board reviews and makes
recommendations on NIST's policies, organization, budget and programs.
The committee summarizes its findings and recommendations to the
Secretary of Commerce in an annual report that the Secretary in turn
submits to Congress.

     In addition, the VCAT writes reports on specific policy matters and
other subjects as it deems appropriate and as requested by senior NIST
managers and Department of Commerce officials.

     The committee meets at least quarterly for reviews and discussions
with NIST senior management, and meets at least once a year with senior
officials in the Department of Commerce to discuss its findings.

     VCAT members have distinguished records of achievement in fields
that are relevant to NIST and its programs, such as business, research,
engineering, labor and education. At least five members must be from
U.S. industry and none may be federal employees. Members are appointed
to three-year terms by the NIST Director.

     Along with Carlson, the committee includes: Craig I. Fields, vice
chairman, United Gaming Inc.; Robert Hermann, senior vice president,
science and technology, United Technologies Corp.; Fred W. Kittler Jr.,
vice president, J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc.; James C.
McGroddy, vice president, IBM; Robert J. Saldich, president and chief
executive officer (retired), Raychem Corp.; Howard D. Samuel, senior
fellow, Council on Competitiveness, and vice president, Economic
Strategy Institute; Maxine L. Savitz, general manager of ceramic
components, AlliedSignal Inc.; and George M. Whitesides, Mallinckrodt
Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University.

     A non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology
Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by working with
industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.

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