[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 109 (Tuesday, September 14, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE'S LABORATORIES IN 
                              BOULDER, CO

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                         HON. VERNON J. EHLERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 14, 2004

  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 50th 
anniversary and rededication of the Department of Commerce laboratories 
located in Boulder, Colorado. Three Commerce Department agencies have 
labs located in Boulder: the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology (NIST), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA), and the National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration (NTIA). As chairman of the House Science Subcommittee on 
Environment, Technology, and Standards, I have the honor and pleasure 
to be responsible for overseeing the research work of these three 
important research laboratories.
  The Boulder laboratories were first dedicated by President Dwight D. 
Eisenhower on September 14, 1954. Since then they have made significant 
contributions in such fields as precision timekeeping, nanotechnology, 
wireless communications, and atmospheric and climate science. This 
research has been critical to developments in public and private 
infrastructure, homeland security, and a variety of technology-based 
industries.
  The Boulder laboratories are located on land that was donated by the 
citizens of Boulder who, in 1950, raised the necessary $90,000 in funds 
in two weeks to purchase 217 acres for the first buildings. This 
generous act set the stage for the strong relationship between the 
Commerce laboratories and the community in Boulder that continues to 
this day.
  The Commerce laboratories have two joint institutes with the 
University of Colorado at Boulder: the Joint Institute for Laboratory 
Astrophysics, or JILA, a partnership with NIST, and the Cooperative 
Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES), a 
partnership with NOAA. As a young physicist, I spent a year doing 
research at JILA, and have happy memories of the research and collegial 
atmosphere fostered by this relationship between NIST and the 
university.
  Let me mention just a few of the recent accomplishments of the 
employees at the Department of Commerce's Boulder laboratories and 
Joint Institutes. NIST staff at Boulder include Eric Cornell, who in 
2001 won the Nobel Prize for Physics together with Carl Wieman of the 
University of Colorado for creation of a Bose-Einstein condensate, a 
new state of matter. Deborah Jin recently won a MacArthur ``Genius'' 
Award to pursue research on the science of atomic clocks and lasers. 
Staff at the NOAA laboratories include Susan Solomon, recipient of the 
``Blue Planet Prize'' and the 1999 National Medal of Science for her 
work on identifying the cause of the Antarctic Ozone Hole. Dr. Hans 
Liebe of NTIA won the 2002 Harry Diamond Memorial Award, the highest 
recognition for technical achievement given by the 235,000-member 
United States unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics 
Engineers (IEEE). This is just a sample of the hundreds of hard-
working, dedicated personnel at the Boulder labs, and their 
contributions to American science and technology.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the Department of Commerce 
laboratories in Boulder, Colorado on their first 50 years. Based on 
their performance since 1954, I believe we can expect at least another 
50 years of pioneering scientific research from these outstanding 
institutions, their academic and industrial partners, and their many 
scientists and technicians.




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