Frontiers of Materials Research: A Decadal Survey
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MATERIALS RESEARCH IN THE NEW DECADE
Frontiers of Materials Research: A Decadal Survey Lori A. Wilson and Gopal R. Rao
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n 2007, the National Academies in the United States published a comprehensive report outlining opportunities and challenges in condensed-matter and materials physics from 2010 to 2020, highlighting opportunities for materials research and recommending specific steps to realize the full potential of materials research. The report identified six areas—complex emergent phenomena, energy, processes far from equilibrium, biological phenomena, nanoscience, and information technology—as being especially critical. The predictions have been accurate, and progress in these six broad areas, especially through a materials lens, has been enormous. Recently, the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) requested a new decadal survey of materials research. The National Academies will issue a report in 2018 that will offer guidance to federal agencies that support materials research, science policymakers, and researchers in materials research and other adjoining fields. The report will articulate the status of and promising future directions for materials research in the United States in
Considerations for technology and innovation • What is the best method to accomplish tech transfer in a timely fashion? • How can we best capture patentable ideas? • How can we facilitate the development of prototypes in materials-based startups? • Are the Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany a good model for technology innovation and transfer? • Is the US FDA timeline too long for medical devices and applications?
the context of similar efforts worldwide. For this assessment, materials research will be considered broadly in terms of material type, forms/structure, property, and phenomenon, as well as the full breadth of approaches to materials research (e.g., experiment, theory, computation, modeling and simulation, instrument/technique development, synthesis, characterization). This report will also evaluate recent trends in R&D investments by using case studies of representative areas of materials research that have either experienced recent growth or are anticipated to see significant near-term growth. Based on these trends, the report will recommend steps the NSF and DOE might take to secure progress and to enhance collaboration and coordination of such research support for identified subfields of materials research. As part of this effort, the Academies are assessing the progress and achievements in materials research over the past decade. To accomplish this, they are seeking community input on the future of materials research. As one step in this input gathering process, a town hall meeting was held at the 2017 MRS Spring Meeting in Phoenix, Ariz., to obtain the perspectives of MRS and its members and to see where the Society envisions opportunities and gaps in materials research in the next decade. Erik Svedberg, study director from the National Materials and Manufacturing Board, and Laura
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