Scholars Award: A Study of Interdisciplinary Materials Research and Training in the United States

抽象?美国跨学科材料研究与培训研究？PI: Hyungsub Choi（化学遗产基金会）技术描述本项目为科学和科学政策中的一个关键当代问题提供了历史基础：美国联邦政府如何最好地最大化其在研究上的投资？今天，许多联邦研究政策强调跨学科合作作为解决关键社会问题的有效途径的重要性。这一思路反映在许多跨学科领域，包括纳米技术、能源技术和生物医学研究，企业集团和大型研究中心的激增。因此，用Vannevar Bush在1945年经常被引用的报告《科学：无尽的边疆》（Science: the Endless Frontier）中的话说，跨学科研究和培训的理念巩固了？健康，繁荣和安全作为一个国家在现代世界。简而言之，跨学科研究是？基础研究?21世纪初，构成现代国家的关键组成部分之一。尽管美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）一直通过组织研讨会和发表报告来密切关注这一主题，但学术文献迫切需要一个历史维度。这种研究和资助实践的起源可以追溯到20世纪60年代初建立的大型跨学科材料研究中心，这些中心是本研究项目的重点。基于广泛的档案研究和口述历史访谈，该项目将追踪20世纪下半叶跨学科研究和联邦资助实践的连续性和不连续性，并使用康奈尔大学材料科学中心、宾夕法尼亚大学物质结构研究实验室和西北大学材料研究中心作为比较案例研究。确定机构、学科界限和资金流的持久模式，从20世纪60年代早期的材料研究到20世纪70年代的过渡阶段，再到跨学科纳米技术研究。更广泛的影响化学遗产基金会将作为一个有效的基地，向更广泛的受众传播这个项目的成果。摘要报告将作为化学传统基金会的材料创新研究白皮书系列的一部分发表和分发。美国当代历史与政策研究中心。本系列面向全国各地企业和政府实验室的研究经理和首席技术官。该报告的副本将提供给美国国会议员，特别是众议院科学、空间和技术委员会以及参议院商业、科学和运输委员会的成员。

Abstract?A Study of Interdisciplinary Materials Research and Training in the United States?PI: Hyungsub Choi (Chemical Heritage Foundation)Technical descriptionThis project brings historical grounding to a crucial contemporary issue in science and science policy: How can the U.S. federal government best maximize its investment in research? Much of federal research policy today emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration as an effective pathway toward solving critical societal problems. This line of thought is reflected in the proliferation of conglomerate and mega research centers in many interdisciplinary fields, including nanotechnology, energy technologies, and biomedical research. Thus, the idea of interdisciplinary research and training undergirds, in the words of Vannevar Bush in the oft-cited 1945 report Science: The Endless Frontier, the ?health, prosperity, and security as a nation in the modern world.? In short, interdisciplinary research is the ?basic research? of the early 21st century, one of the key building blocks that constitute the modern state.While the National Science Foundation has kept a keen eye on this topic through organizing workshops and publishing reports, the scholarly literature is sorely in need of a historical dimension. The origin of such research and funding practices can be traced back to the large-scale interdisciplinary materials research centers established in the early 1960s, which serve as the focal point of this research project. Based on extensive archival research and oral history interviews, this project will trace the continuities and discontinuities of interdisciplinary research and federal funding practices in the second half of the 20th century using as comparative case studies the Materials Science Center at Cornell University, the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Materials Research Center at Northwestern University), identifying the enduring patterns of institutions, disciplinary boundaries, and funding streams from the early years of materials research in the 1960s through the transitory phase in the 1970s to interdisciplinary nanotechnology research.Broader impactThe Chemical Heritage Foundation will serve as an effective home base to disseminate the results of this project to a broader audience. The summary report will be published and distributed as part of the Studies in Materials Innovation white paper series in the Chemical Heritage Foundation?s Center for Contemporary History and Policy. This series reaches an established audience of research managers and Chief Technology Officers at corporate and government laboratories across the country. Copies of the report will be made available to the members of the U.S. Congress, specifically those sitting on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.