Toward a National Agenda in Materials Science and Engineering
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Toward a National Agenda in Materials Science and Engineering Publication of the comprehensive report, Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials, has proved to be a watershed event in the materials science and engineering (MS&E) community. Completed in 1989, this report has fundamentally changed the way we look at MS&E. The conséquences are far reaching: the récognition of MS&E as a cohérent field, the émergence of unity in the MS&E community at the grassroots level, and the acceptance of materials as a national priority. The architects of this report and the report's subséquent national exposure hâve created a compelling case for a national agenda in MS&E. Cohérence and unity in MS&E hâve been the subject of much discussion in récent years. The MS&E report has articulated thèse issues and placed into motion a national dialogue among practitioners of the discipline which has in effect demonstrated this cohérence and unity, producing for the first rime a strong national voice for the materials community. Make no doubt about it: the political stock of the materials community has changed. The MS&E study, chaired by Praveen Chaudhari and Merton Flemings, involved the work of hundreds of scientists and engineers. Following the report's publication, the study was discussed at numerous public forums (including the 1989 Fall Meeting of the Materials Research Society). Thèse discussions produced a consensus that the study's key findings should be acted upon, and that régional meetings should be held in the MS&E community to involve working scientists and engineers in the process of further developing and implementing the recommendations. Four régional meetings were held in 1990 involving more than 400 scientists and engineers from industry, academia, and government laboratories. Although each régional meeting was organized independently, it is highly significant that many common recommendations were forwarded. The individual meeting reports
MRS BULLETIN/APRIL1991
The community that developed the transistor, superalloys, and high-Tc superconductivity is learning to speak with one voice.
hâve now been assembled into a consensus document, A National Agenda in Materials Science and Engineering: Implementing the MS&E Report, which was presented to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the fédéral agencies on January 25,1991. This report was published by MRS in February and presented to the scientific community at the Solid State Sciences Committee Forum on February 27. In summary, the consensus report recommends a stratégie, goal-oriented planning process for MS&E; increased industry, university, government laboratory coopération; improvements in MS&E curricula and instructional equipment; and new initiatives in MS&E based on national planning and prioritization. The price tag: $1.25 billion per year. I refer you to the article on the consensus report in this issue for the détails. The point of this message is not the spécifie recommendations of the re
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