chemistry

Laurie E. Locascio

Laurie E. Locascio is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Laurie E. Locascio rather than just read about it. In short: Laurie Ellen Locascio (born November 21, 1961) is an American biomedical engineer, analytical chemist, and president and CEO of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). She was formerly the under secretary of commerce for standards and technology and the 17th director of National Institute of Standards and Technology from 2022 to 2024.

Key takeaways

Laurie E. Locascio belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Laurie E. Locascio to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Laurie E. Locascio from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Laurie Ellen Locascio (born November 21, 1961) is an American biomedical engineer, analytical chemist, and president and CEO of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). She was formerly the under secretary of commerce for standards and technology and the 17th director of National Institute of Standards and Technology from 2022 to 2024. From 2017 to 2021, Locascio was vice president for research of University of Maryland, College Park, and University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Early life Locascio was born November 21, 1961, in Cumberland, Maryland. Her father was a physicist at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory. He fostered her interest in science. She attended Bishop Walsh High School. In 1977, she was awarded an educational development certificate. Locascio had an early interest in biology and won her school's senior science award. She graduated in 1979.

Education and early career Locascio attended James Madison University from 1979 to 1983 where she earned her B.Sc. in chemistry with a minor in biochemistry. In 1982, Locascio was a research assistant in the department of chemistry at West Virginia University. She attended the University of Utah from 1983 to 1986 while working as a research assistant in the department of bioengineering. Locascio completed her M.Sc. in bioengineering in 1986. From 1986 to 1999, Locascio was a research biomedical engineer in the molecular spectroscopy and microfluidic methods group in the analytical chemistry division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She received a certificate of recognition from the United States Department of Commerce in 1987, 1989, and 1990. Locascio was awarded the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 1991. While working at NIST, she was encouraged by her manager Willie E. May and mentor Richard Durst to pursue a doctoral degree. From 1995 to 1999, Locascio completed a Ph.D. in toxicology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. At the University of Maryland, Katherine S. Squibb and Bruce O. Fowler, the director of the toxicology program, supported Locascio's efforts to attend graduate school while also working at NIST. Her dissertation was titled Miniaturization of bioassays for analytical toxicology. Cheng S. Lee was her doctoral advisor and Mohyee E. Eldefrawi served on her advisory committee.

Career Locascio is an interdisciplinary researcher. She worked at NIST for 31 years, rising from a research biomedical engineer to eventually leading the agency's material measurement laboratory. Locascio also served as the acting associate director for laboratory programs, the number two position at NIST, providing direction and operational guidance for NIST's lab research programs across two campuses in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Boulder, Colorado. She received the 2017 American Chemical Society Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management, and the 2017 Washington Academy of Sciences Special Award in Scientific Leadership. Locascio has published 115 scientific papers and has received 12 patents in the fields of bioengineering and analytical chemistry. During her time at NIST, she received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal, American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Arthur F. Findeis Award, the NIST Safety Award and the NIST Applied Research Award. Locascio is also a fellow of the American Chemical Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. In late 2017, Locascio joined University of Maryland's faculty. She was the first person to serve as the vice president for research of both the College Park and Baltimore campuses. In this role, Locascio oversaw the University of Maryland's research and innovation enterprise at these two campuses, which garner a combined $1.1 billion in external research funding each year. Within Locascio's purview was the development of large interdisciplinary research programs, technology commercialization, innovation and economic development efforts, and strategic partnerships with industry, federal, academic, and nonprofit collaborators. She also served as a professor in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the A. James Clark School of Engineering with a secondary appointment in the department of pharmacology in the School of Medicine. In 2021, Locascio inducted as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. At the University of Maryland that same year, she was succeeded by interim vice president Amitabh Varshney. On July 16, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Locascio as the under secretary of commerce for standards and technology. She was confirmed by the Senate on April 7, 2022. On April 19, 2022, Locascio was sworn in by U.S. secretary of commerce Gina Raimondo. She was the fourth Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and 17th director of NIST. Locascio was the third female head of NIST. She resigned her governmental positions on December 31, 2024. In January 2025, she assumed the role of president and CEO of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

References

Citations

Bibliography

"NIST Director Updates". National Institute of Standards and Technology. Archived from the original on January 16, 2025.

External links Media related to Laurie E. Locascio at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Laurie E. Locascio

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Laurie E. Locascio claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Laurie E. Locascio before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Laurie E. Locascio ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Laurie E. Locascio

In research: Laurie E. Locascio appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Laurie E. Locascio in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Laurie E. Locascio is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1961 births, 21st-century American chemists, 21st-century American engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Laurie E. Locascio outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Laurie E. Locascio in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Laurie E. Locascio means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Laurie E. Locascio out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Laurie E. Locascio in simple terms?

Why does Laurie E. Locascio matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Laurie E. Locascio?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Laurie E. Locascio.