SSSC Annual Forum Features Progress Reports on MSE Study
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SSSC chairman A. Narath (AT&T Bell Laboratories) welcomes participants to the SSSC Spring Forum.
t u r e , and s y n t h e s i s / p r o c e s s i n g of materials. Using an illustration of these four components located at the vertices of a tetrahedron, he graphically demonstrated their interrelationship, indicating that the tetrahedron may become the logo of the MSE Study report. Flemings particularly cited the synthesis/processing vertex as the weakest of the four aspects of MSE in the United States and as the one requiring the most attention. In closing he noted that MSE is a crucial element of U.S. industrial competitiveness and that universities, industry, and government in various combinations have a critical role in strengthening MSE in the United States. After the panel reports (described below) on the morning of March 12, the Forum participants attended one of five smaller sessions in order to critique the Status of each panel. The results of these critiques were reported to the conclave the following morning by individuals chosen to summarize the previous day's discussions. The Organizers of the MSE Study hope to incorporate suggestions and midcourse corrections, if needed, as the MSE Study proceeds to its final stages. Panel 1 — Research Opportunities and Needs in MSE
Representing Panel 1 was Prof. James Langer of the University of California at Santa Barbara. His panel, which is charged to assess the needs and opportunities for MSE, found that the intellectual vitality of research in MSE is good. A summary of findings so far by eight industry-related subpanels and one federal needs subpanel has shown advances in many areas. New materials states, phenomena, processes, technologies, tools and computational capabilities have been developed in recent times; and interactions with other fields such as biology, astrophysics, information science and geology are healthy. Among
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the advances Langer listed were quasicrystals, high Tc superconductors, the quantum Hall effect, heavy fermions, chemical precursors for ceramics, diamond films, photonics, composite structural materials, atomic resolution microscopy, picosecond time scale measurements, ab initio calculations of structure, theoretical understanding of nonlinear phenomena, and advances in biomaterials. Langer also pointed out that Panel 1 noticed a "weak coupling" between research and applications. He particularly mentioned gaps in the American steel industry, in dynamic random access memory production, in magnetic materials for information storage, in advanced ceramics, and in Instrumentation for VLSI. Four preliminary recommendations from Panel 1 cite the following needs: • to encourage all institutions — government, university, industry, and federal laboratories alike — to treat MSE as a whole rather than subdivide it; • to respond to weaknesses in materials synthesis, Instrumentation research, and processing/manufacturing research; • to devote special attention to U.S. strength in analysis and modeling; and
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