List of directors of the National Institute of Standards and Technology

The National Institute of Standards and Technology succeeded the National Bureau of Standards in 1988. Following is a list of the directors of both agencies.

Number	Name	Dates	Notes
1st	Samuel W. Stratton	1901–1922	The Samuel Wesley Stratton Award was created in 1962.
2nd	George K. Burgess	1923–1932
3rd	Lyman J. Briggs	1932–1945
4th	Edward U. Condon	1945–1951
5th	Allen V. Astin	1951–1969	Forced to resign over AD-X2 battery additive fraud that he stood up against - reinstated after 5 months after public and scientific uproar.
6th	Lewis M. Branscomb	1969–1972
7th	Richard W. Roberts	1973–1975
8th NBS / 1st NIST	Ernest Ambler	1975–1989	Ambler served as acting director from 1975 to 1977. He was first appointed as director of NBS and continued as director of NIST following the agency's reorganization in 1988.
2nd	John W. Lyons	1990–1993
3rd	Arati Prabhakar	1993–1997
4th	Raymond G. Kammer	1997–2000
acting	Karen Brown	2000–2001	acting director
5th	Arden L. Bement Jr.	2001–2004
acting	Hratch Semerjian	2004–2005	acting director
6th	William A. Jeffrey	2005–2007
acting	James M. Turner	2007–2008	acting director
7th	Patrick D. Gallagher	2008–2014	Gallagher served as acting director from September 2008 to November 2009.
8th	Willie E. May	2014–2017	Resignation effective January 3, 2017 at the end of the Obama administration
acting	Kent Rochford	2017	Permanent Assistant Director for Laboratory Programs, Acting NIST Director
9th	Walter Copan	2017–2021	Resignation effective at the end of the Trump administration
acting	James K. Olthoff	2021-2022	Permanent Assistant Director for Laboratory Programs, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology
10th	Laurie E. Locascio	2022-