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NATIONAL LABORATORIES AND UNIVERSITIES: BUILDING NEW WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER
GOAL
The overarching goal of this project is to improve collaborations between universities and national laboratories. The project is designed to explore the current state of collaborations between the national laboratories and universities and to examine new models for collaboration that can provide increased value to both parties through strategic alliances.
BACKGROUND
Federal laboratories and the Department of Energy's nine contractor-managed, multi-program National Laboratories in particular, have a long history of productive collaboration with universities. Traditional collaborative mechanisms have included joint proposals and programs, personnel exchanges, and utilization of laboratory facilities by university researchers. Several National Laboratories are managed by universities (e.g. Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, Lawrence Berkeley, and Argonne). Others are managed by partnership organizations with university participation (e.g. University of Tennessee-Battelle, LLC at Oak Ridge and Brookhaven Science Associates at Brookhaven) and have evolved close links with one or more universities in a range of research areas, often due to geographical proximity (e.g. Oak Ridge and the University of Tennessee).
Today, the relationship between national laboratories and universities becomes even more relevant in the context of homeland security. Much of the classified R&D work in this nation is performed in the national laboratories. Technology-based homeland security needs are thus likely to involve national laboratory researchers at some stage in their development and testing. Yet, this work cannot be conducted in a vacuum. The open peer review process available to unclassified researchers refines and sharpens scientific skills; it is important that laboratory researchers also have access to projects of this type. This requires access to universities and university collaborators. Furthermore, most laboratory personnel originally come from U.S. universities. Further recruiting also requires access to universities, and some solution to the dilemma of how to secure a U.S. citizen-based classified workforce when, for better or worse, over 50% of the Ph.D. S&E students at U.S. In the science itself, there is often a variety of expertise required to solve a single complex problem: how is this work to be divided up in a way that retains security but brings the best individuals from all sectors to bear? As these examples show, collaborations between the National Laboratories and universities are necessary. However, they face a number of barriers. For example, differences in procurement rules, human resource policies, and intellectual property policies can complicate the process of setting up and running joint research centers. Cultural and management differences between the labs and academia also play a role.
APPROACH
On July 10-11, 2003, The National Academies Policy and Global Affairs division, in conjunction with the National Materials Advisory Board’s Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design, held a workshop in Berkeley, California to address best practices and remaining challenges with respect to national laboratory-university collaborations. The major sessions covered (1) incentives and structures, (2) user facilities, (3) classified work, (4) human resources, and (5) perspectives on how to structure a broad-based national effort, employing universities and national laboratories alike, to address homeland security needs.
The report, based on the 2003 workshop presentations and discussions, was released in December 2004. Copies can be obtained from the National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20418, 201-334-3313, < http://books.nap.edu/catalog/11190.htm />.
COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL LABORATORIES AND UNIVERSITIES
JEROME H. GROSSMAN (Chair), Harvard University;
CHARLETTE GEFFEN, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory;
DAN HARTLEY, Sandia National Laboratories;
JOHN PEOPLES, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory;
JULIA R. WEERTMAN, Northwestern University;
ROBERT J. ZIMMER, Brown University.
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