F.A.Q
- Q: Who is allowed to have an account on materialsdata.nist.gov?
- A: Any interested material scientist or industry member with an interest in preservation, analysis, or dissemination of materials data. Any NIST employee has a login available to them. Others should request an account which will be provided on a case by case basis.
- Q: I am a NIST employee, how do I access the website?
- A: Click on any Login link and select the Single Sign On option for NIST employees.
- Q: I am a NIST employee with a Mac, and I receive an "Authentication failed" message when I try to use the Single Sign On link, what do I do?
- A: Open a command line and enter the command
kinit USERNAME@CAMPUS.NIST.GOVto re-initialize the authentication tokens. After this, the Single Sign On should work correctly. - Q: I have an account, but my password is not accepted. What do I need to do?
- A: As part of a recent upgrade process the authentication methods were migrated, but due to security restrictions, your old passwords were not able to be recovered, and you may need to perform a password reset the first time you attempt to access this site in order to set your password anew. To do so, navigate to any Login link, and select the "Forgot your password?" link and enter the email address you used to create the account. An email with further instructions will be sent to you. If you suspect your account has been locked, you may also wish to contact the administrators for assistance.
- Q: I am not a NIST employee, how do I request an account for uploading my data?
- A: to request an account, email mtldata@nist.gov including your desired email address, username, full name and a brief description of the reasons for your access (so that we can better direct your inquiry to the appropriate community administrators.)
- Q: Do I need an account to download data for use in my work?
- A: No. All information provided here is intended for public consumption, unless restricted for other reasons. An account is not more permissive with regard to data access. To access data within a restricted community, you will require permission from the community administrator. All unrestricted data are available without an account on this system.
- Q: Is an API available for this data?
- A: Yes, you can access the API documentation at https://materialsdata.nist.gov/rest/. Contact the administrators to assist with more complicated access needs.
- Q: Are there any differences between data accessible via the API or the website?
- A: No, although if your account has upload privileges you may need to contact an administrator for assistance in using your account to upload data.