Future of materials science examined

Some 200 materials scientists and engineers gathered last week for a one-and-a-half-day brainstorming session on how to capture the public's and the policymakers' attention in the quest for more human and financial resources for their discipline in the coming decade. The forum, held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., also marked the official unveiling of the first comprehensive survey of materials science and engineering in 14 years. The survey is similar in plan and purpose to the 1985 report on the state of chemistry prepared under the leadership of the late George C. Pimentel. Despite its intellectual vitality and successes, materials science and engineering in the U.S. is hurting. Federal support for research in this field has been declining. Student enrollments in programs in the field have been static. Foreign competition has grown and the U.S. no longer dominates the field, in part because of its weakness in a key area: synthesis ...