Engineering research centers established

In one way or another, chemistry and chemical engineering provide a gloss on the activities of four new engineering research centers approved last month by the National Science Board, the policy-making body of the National Science Foundation. The four bring to 18 the number of NSF engineering research centers established since the program began in 1985. The four, chosen from among 66 proposals by 48 institutions, include: • An Engineering Research Center for Interfacial Engineering at the University of Minnesota that will focus on ways to improve products and manufacturing processes whose success depends on the chemical and physical phenomena that occur between matter in different gas, liquid, or solid states. Such products and processes include, for example, oil and mineral recovery, polymer production, controlled drug delivery, paints, ceramics, and membranes for industrial separators. Chemical engineering and materials science professor D. Fennell Evans is director of the new center. • An Engineering R...