Issues and Opportunities in Materials Research

Abstract

In the fall of 1989 the National Research Council issued a major report on materials science and engineering, known more familiarly as the Chaudhari‐Flemings report (after Praveen Chaudhari and Merton Flemings) or simply the MS&E report. This was followed in 1990 by a series of regional meetings in four different parts of the US involving hundreds of participants from industry, academia and government. The results of those meetings were summarized in a 1991 proposal for a “National Agenda” in materials, addressed to the Office of Science and Technology Policy. In turn, this proposal has led to a Presidential initiative for fiscal year 1993 entitled Advanced Materials and Processing. Solutions to technologically important problems in materials science—such as pattern formation during solidification—are within reach. Yet, while US researchers may have the tools to find solutions, their opportunities for doing so in the US are slipping rapidly.