Nist publishes online e-handbook of statistical methods. (General Developments).

NIST teamed up with International SEMATECH and a consortium of worldwide major semiconductor companies to produce the NIST/Sematech e-Handbook of Statistical Methods. The e-handbook expands and updates Handbook 91, Experimental Statistics, originally published by NIST in 1963. Engineers and scientists worldwide have relied on the printed version for nearly four decades. The e-handbook will also be available on CD later this year and is now available at http://www.nist.gov/stat. handbook.

The e-handbook provides a comprehensive overview of statistical methods, including experiment design, data analysis, and quality control, and is tailored to the needs of engineers and scientists for rapid understanding and quick solution of statistical problems. The approach is problem-oriented and includes detailed case studies from the semiconductor industry and NIST laboratories to illustrate statistical approaches to solving engineering and scientific problems.

A demonstration of the e-handbook was featured as part of the Quality and Productivity Research Conference, hosted by International SEMATECH in Austin, Texas. Thousands of scientists and engineers from industry, academia, and government have used a beta-test version of the Web site and have contributed valuable suggestions that have been implemented. Already, users in more than 24 foreign countries, multiple federal agencies, universities, and industries have praised the e-handbook for coverage of statistical topics, relevance of the case studies, and for the ease of application of statistical methodology.

CONTACTS: Jim Filliben, [phone]; james. [e-mail] or Will Guthrie, [phone]; [e-mail] or Alan Heckert, [phone]; [e-mail].