US interagency meeting for materials science enhances research coordination

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US interagency meeting for materials science enhances research coordination

M

aterials research is an extremely multidisciplinary effort that has yielded major advances across a broad range of technologies and industries. But the breadth of materials research has also led to a funding structure, within the United States, that spans a large number of federal agencies and can hinder communication and collaboration and lead to possible duplication of efforts. To address these issues, an annual Federal Interagency Materials Representatives (FIMaR) meeting was established to bring

together program managers in materials research across the US federal agencies. The third annual FIMaR meeting, held on February 1, 2017, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Md., was organized by NIST scientists Nicholas Barbosa, Frank DelRio, James Fekete, and US Department of Energy (DOE) scientist Michael Markowitz. According to Barbosa, “scientists, program managers, and leaders across federal agencies recognized the increasingly complex,

Agencies That Have Participated in FIMaR DOC

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

DoD

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering OASD (R&E)

DoD

Air Force Offi ce of Scientifi c Research (AFOSR)

DoD

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)

DoD

Army Research Laboratory (ARL)

DoD

Army Research Offi ce (ARO)

DoD

Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)

DoD

US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)

DoD

Offi ce of Naval Research (ONR)

DoD

US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center (NSRDEC)

D0E

Offi ce of Energy Effi ciency & Renewable Energy (EERE)

DOE

Offi ce of Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

D0T

US Department of Transportation Offi ce of Pipeline Safety (PHMSA)

HHS

US Department of Health & Human Services–National Institutes of Health (NIH)

HHS

US Department of Health & Human Services–Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration–John H. Glenn Research Center (NASA) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) National Science Foundation–Division of Materials Research (NSF-DMR ) National Science Foundation (NSF) USDA US Department of Agriculture

multidisciplinary, and critical role that material science plays in supporting the missions of many federal agencies, which led to the initiation of FIMaR.” The meetings are only open to US federal employees. The recent 2017 meeting drew over 100 participants from a broad range of government agencies (see Table). The annual FIMaR meetings focus on different topics each year, but maintain an overarching goal of enhancing coordination between government agencies. Each meeting gives participants the opportunity to discuss key challenges facing the United States and helps to spread awareness of the different areas of materials expertise and available facilities across the government. Barbosa characterized the FIMaR meetings as “a platform connecting different agencies—for coordination, discussion of