Toward a Coherent Look at Federal Activity in MS&E

Extract

Dr. D. Allan Bromley, President Bush's science adviser, is firmly committed to the administration's gaining a better understanding of materials science and engineering and then going forth with a cohesive program from there. The MRS BULLETIN interviewed him on July 17 in his office in the Old Executive Office Building. Following is an excerpt of that interview.

BULLETIN: The Department of Commerce recently issued a report that identified advanced materials as by far the leading emerging technology. Is special consideration being previded to spur this critical technology sector?

BROMLEY: First of ail, we are preparing so that next year we will work with the Office of Management and Budget to develop a coherent federal program that spans ail the agencies together to get a coherent look for the first time at federal activity in materials science and engineering. I have long thought that was an orphan area, not only in government but in many of the universities, because it doesn't fit into department or agency boundaries.

At the same time, the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, chaired by Ralph Gomory, the former chief scientist at IBM and now president of the Sloan Foundation, will be focusing on advanced materials and manufacturing as two very important areas that bear on economie competitiveness.

Third, the new National Critical Materials Council will be focusing specifically on advanced materials and will be comparing the program planned for research in that area next fall.