ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN MATERIALS RESEARCH

In the fall of 1989 the National Research Council issued a major report on materials science and engineering, known more familiarly as the Chaudhari-Flemings report (after Praveen Chaudhari and Merton Flemings) or simply the MS&E report. This was followed in 1990 by a series of regional meetings in four different parts of the US involving hundreds of participants from industry, academia and government. The results of those meetings were summarized in a 1991 proposal for a -National Agenda-in materials, addressed to the Office of Science and Technology Policy. In turn, this proposal has led to a Presidential initiative for fiscal year 1993 entitled Advanced Materials and Processing. Solutions to technologically important problems in materials science-such as pattern formation during solidification-are within reach. Yet, while US researchers may have the tools to find solutions, their opportunities for doing so in the US are slipping rapidly. © 1992, American Institute of Physics. All rights reserved.