May gets nod for permanent NIST job
Career NIST executive needs Senate confirmation to officially assume the role he's effectively played for months.
Willie May is a 42-year veteran of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Willie May, who has been running the National Institute of Standards and Technology in an acting capacity for some time now, was nominated by President Barack Obama on July 28 to be NIST director and Commerce Department undersecretary for standards and technology.
A 42-year veteran of NIST, May became acting director on June 13, when Patrick Gallagher stepped down to become chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. Gallagher, however, had been serving as Commerce's acting deputy secretary for more than a year, with May effectively heading NIST in the interim.
If confirmed by the Senate, May would officially take over an agency responsible for establishing security standards for federal information systems, voluntary cybersecurity guidelines for the private sector, and measurement and technical standards for a range of scientific, manufacturing, industrial and technological areas.