Rochford to run telecom technology lab

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has named Kent Rochford as its director of a new wireless telecommunications lab it runs with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

The Communication Technology Laboratory (CTL) is based at NIST's Boulder, Colo., research facilities and seeks to advance understanding of spectrum use with the goal of promoting better spectrum-sharing approaches. NIST and NTIA announced formation of the lab last year, and NIST said on March 26 that its appointment of Rochford was effective March 24.

The center will be jointly managed by Rochford and the director of NTIA's Institute for Telecommunication Sciences.

According to NIST's announcement, Rochford had been senior director of Sharp Labs of America. He is also a NIST veteran, having previously served as chief of NIST's Optoelectronics Division, director of its Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory, and director of operations at the agency's Boulder Laboratories.

CTL could provide a way to beat the growing national wireless spectrum crunch, said Willie May, associate director of laboratory programs at NIST, during a cloud mobility conference at the agency's headquarters on March 25.

CTL is the seventh of NIST's major research units. It aims to enhance agencies' effectiveness in coordinating research, standards development and testing functions in advanced communications technologies. According to agency statements, CTL will also promote interdisciplinary research and be a focal point for industry's and government's testing, validation and conformity assessments for those technologies.