MRS Forum on the Materials Science and Engineering Study
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As can be deduced from the titles of the panels, the study is charged with a broad assessment of materials science and engit v neering. Items for study include an evaluation of research needs and opportunities in MSE, a definition of the field of MSE and its impact on society, an assessment of the roles of the federal and private sectors in , achieving a balanced materials effort, the ^ effectiveness of the materials infrastructure ^in developing and commercializing new technologies, the effectiveness of materials research and education at our universities, and the role of international cooperation and competition in materials science and engineering.
Another important goal of the study is to bring a sense of unity to the materials science community. Because materials science is such a diverse field with needs and interests that bridge the entire spectrum of science and technology, it is difficult to conceive that a single discipline or entity could speak eloquently for all factions. Nevertheless, there are strong political, practical, and economic reasons why such a cooperative sense is needed. There is little doubt that materials science suffers politically from not having a spokesgroup recognizable by Congress and the federal agencies when they decide scientific and funding priorities. The consequence is that w h e n d i s a g r e e m e n t s such as the bigversus-small science issue arise, the entire community suffers because of a lack of unity and consensus. From a practical and economic point of view, materials research and engineering is having an ever-increasing impact on all fields of science and technology, and a lack of unity has the potential to adversely affect the economic competitiveness and national well-being of the United States. For example, a critical area affecting the U.S. electronics industry is the need for new materials and materials processing techniques; and government projects from fusion reactors to weapons systems hinge on materials development. The logic for more unification of materials science is reflected in the trends of several major institutions toward interdisciplinarity as a way of facilitating materials research. The national laboratories have long recognized interdisciplinary R&D as the most effective
way to solve large project problems; the materials research laboratories at universities resulted from early recognition of the same approach; and more recently the National Science Foundation has encouraged interdisciplinarity on university campuses through the formation of Engineering Research Centers. A more unified materials community should benefit all of materials science, and hopefully, the MSE Study can further this goal. The success of MRS itself is testimony to the need and benefits of a more unified materials c o m m u n i t y . MRS is u n i q u e among professional societies in that its base is not in service to a particular discipline, such as metals or ceramics, but in a multidisciplinary approach to materials research and engineering in general. Conseq u e n t
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