An Assessment of the Impact of the NSF's Materials Research Science & Engineering Centers Program

Statement of Task

The purpose of this study is to:

1. Assess the performance and impact of the National Science Foundation's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program;

2. On the basis of current trends and needs in materials and condensed matter research, recommend future directions and roles for the program.

Committee and Staff Members
Committee Membership	Matthew Tirrell, Chair, University of California at Santa Barbara Kristi S. Anseth, University of Colorado at Boulder Meigan Aronson, University of Michigan David M. Ceperley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Paul M. Chaikin, New York University Ronald C. Davidson, Princeton University Duane Dimos, Sandia National Laboratories Francis J. DiSalvo, Cornell University Edith Flanigen, UOP Thomas F. Kuech, University of Wisconsin at Madison Bruce Margon, Space Telescope Science Institute Andrew Millis, Columbia University Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Harvard University Ralph Nuzzo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Douglas D. Osheroff, Stanford University Stuart Parkin, IBM Almaden Research Center Diandra L. Leslie-Pelecky, University of Nebraska Julia M. Phillips, Sandia National Laboratories Lyle Schwartz, retired, Air Force Office of Science Research Eli Yablonovitch, University of California at Los Angeles
Consultants	Neil E. Paton, LiquidMetal Technologies
NRC Staff	Donald C. Shapero, Director Timothy I. Meyer, Program Officer David B. Lang, Research Assistant

Activities

The committee will be composed of members drawn from both inside and outside the materials research science and engineering community. From within the community, members are to include experts in polymers, chemical physics, soft and wet materials, materials science, and condensed matter physics. Members will be sought from the university, national laboratories, and industry sectors. Several members of the committee will bring perspectives from outside the materials program at NSF including science education.

The study will be carried out by an independent NRC committee over a 2-year period. The committee will meet up to 4 times. The committee will also invite users, managers, and directors of MRSECs to provide testimony at its meetings. Plans for site visits and additional data-gathering activities will be developed and carried out. The final meeting will discuss the text of the final report and achieve consensus on the committee’s findings and recommendations. In case of need, a reviewed prepublication report will be issued before the final publication. The final report will be prepared in an elegant, attractive and accessible format.

Past Meetings
November 18 – 19, 2005 Keck Center of The National Academies Washington, DC Agenda and Presentations		September 19 – 20, 2006 Beckman Center of the National Academies Irvine, CA
March 8 – 9, 2006 Materials Research Laboratory University of California at Santa Barbara Agenda and Presentations
June 12 – 13, 2006 Keck Center of The National Academies Washington, DC Agenda

Final Report

The committee’s final report was publicly released in unedited, prepublication form on June 20, 2007, at 9:00am EDT. The report may be freely downloaded in PDF form from the National Academies Press website after registering with a valid e-mail address.

Dissemination

The committee’s final report has attracted the following attention.

Feedback

To send comments or suggestions to the committee, please send e-mail to bpa@nas.edu.

Collaboration

The BPA conducted this study in consultation with the Board on Science Education and the National Materials Advisory Board. Julia Phillips, Duane Dimos, and Lyle Schwartz are recognized as liaisons to the Board on Physics and Astronomy, the Solid State Sciences Committee and the National Materials Advisory Board, respectively.

The committee is pleased to acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation.