Letter from the President
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MRS Increases Communication with U.S. Policy Makers Advances in materials have contributed much to the quality of life we enjoy, and will continue to be important for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, we as materials scientists and engineers have done an inadequate job of educating U.S. policy makers in Washington about what "materials research" is, much less what it has accomplished. With the end of the Cold War, hard questions are being asked about federal funding for science and engineering, a part of the federal budget that had come to be viewed as more or less an entitlement for several decades. Such questions are likely to become increasingly pointed as the new Congress begins work on the 1996 budget. Consequently, many programs of importance to the materials research community are in jeopardy, and no one will come to the defense of materials research if the practicing scientists and engineers fail to speak up. Since 1990, the Materials Research Society has been seeking to "enhance the environment in the United States for conducting materials research, and effectively integrating this research into technologies for the benefit of society." With the help of Elton Kaufmann, the MRS Office of Public Affairs was opened in Washington, D.C. in 1990, in part "to provide a larger and more unified voice for materials-related issues." The MRS Public Affairs Committee, chaired by Tom Picraux, responds to and initiates opportunities for MRS to interact with government officials and public and private organizations on matters of science and technology policy, and participates in or plans events related to that policy. The Committee also aids the MRS Executive Committee in identifying policy issues relevant to the Society's interests and drafting proposed responses, with supporting background material, for Executive Committee and Council consideration and disposition. In recent years, the public affairs activities of MRS have been limited primarily to two areas: informing members about actions in Washington and providing information on materials-related issues to policy makers. MRS meeting attendees have had the opportunity to attend special forums and panels on materials policy developments. Dialogue with government officials has occurred as officers of the Society have on occasion responded to
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significant developments or visited government officials such as the director of the National Science Foundation and associate directors in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to emphasize issues important to the materials research community. Last summer, when Congress threatened to cut over $900 million from university research funding by the Department of Defense, officers of the Society reacted quickly, as did many other technical societies and concerned organizations such as universities, to voice their concerns to members of Congress. Much of the cut was restored in conference. In light of the challenges facing the materials research community, the Public Affairs Committee has recently increased its leve
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