NiTiFe shape memory alloys can undergo transformations between cubic, trigonal and monoclinic phases at low temperatures. The low hysteresis associated with the trigonal R phase transformation makes them candidates for actuator applications at low temperatures. This talk will present an overview of ongoing National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) funded research to develop NiTiFe alloys for low temperature thermal switches. Aspects addressed will include: thermomechanical processing of NiTiFe alloys; testing using in situ neutron diffraction during loading at cryogenic temperatures at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), instrumented nanoindentation, liquid helium dilatometry and differential scanning calorimetry; incorporation of NiTiFe actuator elements in prototype thermal switches and their subsequent testing. The development of a new capability to investigate deformation in shape memory alloys at cryogenic temperatures on the Spectrometer for Materials Research at Temperature and Stress (SMARTS) at LANL will also be outlined and recent measurements on NiTiFe at 92 and 216 K will also be presented. Support of NASA (NAG3-2751), NSF (CAREER DMR-0239512) and SRI grants is gratefully acknowledged.