The National Research Council released a report on the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program.  The report highlights successes, achievements, and remaining challenges of the program, which aims to strengthen U.S. manufacturing through a national network of manufacturing extension centers.  Georgia Tech is home to Georgia’s MEP center, the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership.  Georgia Tech’s Philip Shapira of the School of Public Policy served as Chair of this study panel.  The report, titled 21st Century Manufacturing: The Role of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program, is available at http://nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18448.