The National Institute of Standards and Technology is on the short list of Speaker Newt Gingrich and other budget cutters in Congress. But NIST's director deftly defends technology grant programs there with her own catalog of accomplish-ments NIST recently helped industry achieve. In an exclusive interview with RDMagazine, Arati Prabhakar emphasized how the Advanced Technology Program (ATP)-cited by the GOP as an example of reckless federal spending-has brought more than 10 technology projects close to commercialization since its inception in 1990. The companies-receiving less than 2 million dollars each-are from an array of hightech industries. Examples include: Diamond Semiconductor Group, Gloucester, Mass., requested 1.3 million dollars for an ion implantation project in 1992. Today the company is close to commercializing optical technology.
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