The DOE Center of Excellence for the Synthesis and Processing of Advanced Materials: Research briefs

Robert Sproull, the director of AREA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) in the Pentagon, recorded that Pennsylvania State University and Carnegie Institute of Technology first made proposals in 1957 for “interdisciplinary block funding” in what would essentially become “materials” research. But it was the industrial push (by W.O. Baker of AT&T Bell Laboratories and C.G. Suits of General Electric) that helped ARPA start the funding of 12 interdisciplinary materials research laboratories (IDMRLs) between 1960 and 1963. Pennsylvania State University was added in 1963 as a special modest grant limited to materials preparation (synthesis and processing). NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission added six more within two years. The first interdisciplinary degree program in “materials” (then called solid-state technology), administered directly by a graduate school committee drawn from 10 departments, was started under my chairmanship, at Penn State in 1959-60. Probably the first departmental degree program in which a metallurgy department expanded its scope (and changed its name) to include other materials was started at nearly the same time at North western University by Prof. M.E. Fine. It is noteworthy that at least in these two cases the intellectual and curricular argument for integration of degree work preceded the research grants and organization. These two separate patterns have both now permeated the entire national system, and we should clearly distinguish between them. By 1969 the first national colloquy on materials, held at Penn State and published under the title Materials Science and Engineering in the U.S., took an evaluative look at materials education.

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Showcase for advanced materials research in the UK

Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials ◽

10.1108/acmm.12861aaa.013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 61 (1) ◽

Keyword(s):

Advanced Materials ◽

Materials Research ◽

The Uk

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Up Close: Northwestern University Materials Research Center

MRS Bulletin ◽

10.1557/s088376940005449x ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 36-36

Author(s):

Stephen H. Carr

Keyword(s):

Federal Government ◽

National Science Foundation ◽

Chemical Engineering ◽

Materials Science ◽

Advanced Materials ◽

Research Center ◽

Northwestern University ◽

National Science ◽

Materials Research ◽

Materials Science And Engineering

The Materials Research Center at Northwestern University is an interdisciplinary center that supports theoretical and applied research on experimental advanced materials. Conceived during the post-Sputnik era, it is now in its 26th year.The Center, housed in the university's Technological Institute, was one of the first three centers funded at selected universities by the federal government in 1960. The federal government, through the National Science Foundation, now supplies $2.4 million annually toward the Center's budget, and Northwestern University supplements this amount. Approximately one third of the money is used for a central pool of essential equipment, and the other two thirds is granted to professors for direct support of their research. Large amounts of time on supercomputers are also awarded to the Materials Research Center from the National Science Foundation and other sources.The Center's role enables it to provide partial support for Northwestern University faculty working at the frontiers of materials research and to purchase expensive, sophisticated equipment. All members of the Center are Northwestern University investigators in the departments of materials science and engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry, or physics. The Materials Research Center is a major agent in fostering cross-departmental research efforts, thereby assuring that materials research at Northwestern University includes carefully chosen groups of faculty in physics, chemistry, and various engineering departments.

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Leading the Pack in Advanced Materials Research

Advanced Materials ◽

10.1002/adma.201505795 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 12-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

James Cook

Keyword(s):

Advanced Materials ◽

Materials Research

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Advanced Materials Research and Technologies Development: Lithuanian Experience

Solid State Phenomena ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/ssp.165.210 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 165 ◽

pp. 210-215

Author(s):

Algirdas Vaclovas Valiulis ◽

Jelena Škamat

Keyword(s):

Critical Mass ◽

Advanced Materials ◽

High Tech ◽

Research Institutions ◽

Small Country ◽

Main Research ◽

Research Fields ◽

New Knowledge ◽

Materials Research ◽

Fundamental Research

Lithuania, as a small country, cannot afford creating new knowledge in all the fields of science. It is reasonable to firstly focus on those fields in which Lithuania already has scientific and industrial potential and that clearly declare the biggest demand for innovations as well as capability to invest into innovations. Research institutions here usually focus on fundamental research but both the revenues and the human resources of research institutions are rather poor. Dispersion of the Lithuanian potential of science and studies and the absence of critical mass represent the main reasons why R&D lacks effectiveness. The paper presents the main research fields and high-tech research institutions in Lithuania.

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