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

Science History Institute, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract ?A Study of Interdisciplinary Materials Research and Training in the United States? PI: Hyungsub Choi (Chemical Heritage Foundation) Technical description This 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 impact The 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.