Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here are
solely those of the contributors and not of their places
of employment or TMS.
INTRODUCTION
Materials Technology@TMS is designed
to gather the professionals of
TMS into one of four virtual “communities:”
Established Materials, Emerging
Materials, Education, and Materials
and Society. At the start of a new
presidential administration, members
of TMS technical committees engaged
in the four community topics were
asked to respond to questions about
policies and priorities President Barack
Obama should undertake during his
term of office. Following is a sampling
of their comments, organized by community.
Visit materialstechnology.tms.org and access the archive of each
community to read all the contributions.
ESTABLISHED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY
Courtney Young
Past Chair, Hydrometallurgy and
Electrometallurgy Committee
First and foremost, the president
must recognize what drives our economy
and what it will take to make it better.
Of course, it’s all tied to our high
standard of living and ultimately comes
down to natural resource consumption
for producing energy and various commodities.
With the population expanding,
our collective demand for natural
resources increases. With our desire to
improve our standard of living, our individual
demand for natural resources
increases even more.
Health, safety, and environmental issues
require that we extract and process
our natural resources efficiently. Unfortunately,
this is not practiced globally.
In fact, not even all of the developed
countries practice it consistently
because the associated costs minimize
or nullify profits. Companies have
moved abroad to not only avoid these
costs, but the associated high salaries
as well. Consequently, we have become
a nation of natural resource importers.
Soon, developing countries will realize
that our standard of living is coming at
their expense. This national security issue
will be worsened if the Mining Act
of 1872 is modified.
The president must find a way to
make us self-sufficient again or, at
least, find a happy medium. This is currently
the case regarding oil, is becoming
the case for coal, and will become
the case for all commodities such as
copper and gold. We need to throw less
away and recycle more. We need to develop
alternative energy sources, including
nuclear power, as well as renewable
energy resources. And we
need to get other countries to become
conscientious about their health, safety,
and environmental issues.
Lastly, the president must recognize
that this will not happen overnight. It
will take a plan that will need to be
implemented quickly and acted on far
beyond his term in office.
Eric Nyberg
Chair, Magnesium Committee
These troubled and turbulent times
are without precedent. Two very high
priorities for President Obama are
bringing the U.S. economy to a viable
and sustainable state and reducing our
dependence on foreign petroleum.
One of the key pieces to accomplishing
this is reviving the domestic automotive
industry to be internationally competitive,
while also including the infrastructure
necessary to power alternative-fueled vehicles. Increased use of
lightweight magnesium in many aspects
of the power generation and
transportation industry is one component
of a successful transportation and
energy strategy.
I believe that President Obama
should work first on immediate and
tangible energy savings. These include
producing lightweight automobiles,
while also developing long-range solutions,
such as increased use of nuclear
power and electric/hybrid vehicles.
It must also be recognized that no
single solution, short of a scientific
miracle, will solve the problems we
face, but that many techniques and
technologies must be employed.
Further,
it is necessary for each American
to examine his or her world view and to
take appropriate actions to mitigate the
adverse effects that each of us cause to
our economy and our environment, to
the benefit of foreign entities selling
many of the natural resources that we
consume with little or no concern for
the environmental impact of their production
methods.
MATERIALS AND SOCIETY
Cynthia K. Belt
Vice Chair, Energy Committee
Promotion of technical solutions to increase
energy efficiency, decrease energy
consumption, and minimize process
emissions must be a high priority
for the United States. Work with energy
efficiency improves the environment,
decreases dependency on foreign energy sources, conserves vital natural resources,
reduces greenhouse gases, and
makes American
companies more
cost-effective to
retain jobs.
As with any
government program,
the paperwork
and time required
to access
funding must be reduced. While some
government funds have been available,
many programs are cumbersome in
practice.
Neale R. Neelameggham
Chair, Energy Committee
The new administration should encourage
co-generation technologies,
including capture
and re-use of process
emissions and
gases, improvement
of energy efficiency of industrial
processes, and use of alternative
energy sources for conventional processes.
Co-generation
technologies inherently use
most of the input energy, which reduces
thermal emissions and improves the energy
efficiency of the process. Re-use
of process emissions and gases implies
the need to use alternative energy
sources, such as solar or wind power,
with a synergistic reduction in fossil
fuel dependency and reduction of carbon
footprint.
Applied research emphasizing demonstration
of tangible results and
conducted on a pilot scale through collaborative
efforts between industries
and universities should be included in
President Obama’s proposed job creation
plans. These efforts should benefit consumers and producers instead
of being lopsided toward one party—which could hurt the economy.
EDUCATION COMMUNITY
Adam C. Powell, IV
Chair, Education Committee
New materials have been the primary
enabling technology for major new
technologies which have brought great
benefit to our society. For this reason,
empowering students in materials science
and engineering is one of the best
long-term investments we can make in
the nation’s technological future.
At this juncture, the most compelling
new tool for materials students is called
Integrated Computational Materials
Engineering (ICME), as described in
the National Research Council report
by that name [Committee on Integrated
Computational Materials, Integrated
Computational Materials Engineering:
A Transformational Discipline for Improved
Competitiveness and National
Security, Washington, D.C.: National
Academies Press, 2008].
Using ICME,
it is possible to design a new material,
or a process for making a new material,
at low cost and in a short time. To
take full advantage of this opportunity,
materials students should have firsthand
experience with the use of these
tools before they graduate. The government
role in providing access to ICME
is outlined in the National Research
Council report, which offered the following
recommendations:
- Fund cross-disciplinary research
and engineering partnerships to
develop the taxonomy, knowledge
base, and cyber-infrastructure required
for ICME.
- Establish incentives and requirements
for materials researchers to
place their materials information
in open-access infrastructures, together
with procedures to ensure
that the information and models
can be used effectively.
- Develop engineering talent for
ICME by supporting innovative
curricula and student internship
programs.
Subhadarshi Nayak
Vice-Chair, Professional Registration
Committee
I think there are three priorities for
President Obama
- The Economy: An infrastructure
revamp can create many jobs, provide
an impetus to the economy,
and help business run more efficiently for years to come
- Energy: Renewable energy, particularly
solar, should be fully
exploited. Energy conservation efforts
and addressing environmental
issues will also create new opportunities
- National security: Satellite mapping,
sensors, and detectors technology
should be a focus to address
security threats
Education will play a significant role
in addressing these issues. For example,
innovations in
materials science
can play a major
part in making
more cost-effective
and reliable
solar and hydrogen
fuel cells.
Newer materials
will be vital in developing fuel-efficient
vehicles, health care innovations,
weapon sensors, and communication
technology. More traditional support
sectors, such as steel, metals, and electronics,
will also experience boosts as a
result of massive infrastructure efforts.
We need to encourage younger generations
to choose science and engineering
as a career, develop science
and engineering educational programs
that will boost innovation and creativity,
and supply a highly qualified labor
pool so good jobs do not get shipped
overseas.
Jeffrey LaCombe
Education Committee
Many of President Obama’s stated
priorities are well-aligned with materials
education. Most notably, he has
proposed a broad-based investment in
science by doubling funding for basic
research over the next 10 years, expanding
the roles of America’s universities
in research, and making research and
development tax credits permanent.
The materials community should be reinforcing
these initiatives with our own
elected representatives, and making
clear the important roles of materials in
everything from energy independence
to homeland security.
The future challenges to American
competitiveness are significant. We are
good at what we do, but the competition
is catching up quickly—and they
outnumber us greatly. Innovation is the
key to our future success, and we must
re-establish the pipeline we once had
for our technical workforce.
There is some recent evidence that
we are turning the corner on science
and math literacy in the United States, but we need to establish policies that
will make our K-12 education system
competitive with the rest of the world.
A key, and currently missing, element
we need is to bring “engineering” into
K–12 education. Engineering brings
relevance to math and science.
If our
youth recognize this, they may want to
become a part of inventing America’s
future. Let’s face it. If you want to truly
help change the world, become either a
politician or an engineer.
EMERGING MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY
Jud Ready
Chair, Nanomaterials Committee
The Obama campaign has always
been about “change.” That slogan has
resonated greatly
with Americans
who are fed up
with a great many
things related to
our government
and I see no need
to divert from
that successful
strategy. Nanotechnology is a physical
manifestation of this “change” and its
resulting impact on science—“nanoscience”
is the understanding that properties
change, often dramatically, at very
small length scales.
President Obama should continue
to fund basic research into nanoscale
technologies, but needs to impart
greater emphasis on applied research
that takes the basic “nano” principles
discovered and refined over the past decade
and puts them to use in commercial
products.
In a time where federal
funding will be scarce, a case must be
made for why those federal dollars are
relevant and beneficial—peer-reviewed
papers are extremely relevant and beneficial to the scientist, but in no way do
they resonate with those funding the
work (i.e., taxpayers). A key priority
should be for advancing applied nanotechnology
that benefits the American
taxpayer directly. Examples include
improvements to solar cells and other
energy technologies.
Roger J. Narayan
Chair, Biomaterials Committee
President Obama has indicated that he
supports an increase in federal research
funding, as well as the development of
“personalized medicine.” During his
campaign, President Obama pledged to
double support for federal funding agencies
over ten years. In addition, he is expected
to triple the number of graduate
fellowships provided by the National
Science Foundation and increase funding
to the Food and Drug Administration,
which regulates medical devices.
It
is also anticipated that he will provide
support for private research efforts and
overturn the current prohibition on federal
support for embryonic stem cell research.
However, President Obama is also
facing a number of financial challenges—a large federal budget deficit,
“bailouts” and other financial support
for several industries, financial difficulties
in many states, and ongoing military
conflicts. Due to these problems, it is unclear
whether President Obama will be
able to enact his research priorities in the
near term.
If they are enacted, these policies will
enhance biomaterials research efforts at
government laboratories, universities,
and medical device companies. In particular,
novel biomaterials for personalized
medicine will receive increased
support over the coming decade. Several
factors are currently driving interest in
portable sensing and treatment of human
disease.
With a significant portion of the population
suffering from chronic health conditions,
autonomous medical treatment
will reduce the number of patient visits
to health care facilities and improve
overall quality of life. Personalized
medicine technologies will also reduce
racial disparities in healthcare and provide
meaningful near-term outcomes.
Robert Shull
2007 TMS President
Past Chair, Nanomaterials Committee
President Obama should recognize
the close linkage
between leadership
in science
and technology
and the U.S. economy.
The United
States has had a
good standard of
living for the past
50 years precisely because it has led
the world in its scientific and technological
prowess. However, the rest of
the world is catching up and surpassing
us. The United States must recapture
that lead. This means that President
Obama should put much more money
into funding the nation’s scientific organizations,
including the National
Science Foundation (NSF), Department
of Energy (DOE), National Institute
of Standards and Technology
(NIST), Department of Defense (DoD),
and the National Institutes of Health
(NIH).
The most recent new horizon has
been the nanotechnology revolution,
and advances in nanomaterials have
been the enablers. Consequently, it is
imperative that President Obama continue
to support funding the National
Nanotechnology Initiative. Otherwise,
the vastly larger financial resources
presently supporting nanomaterials research
in other parts of the world will
result in the United States’ completely
losing that potential economic gold
mine.
As President Obama develops his
policies supporting basic and applied
research in nanomaterials, he must recognize
the need for balance in those
policies. About equal amounts should
be devoted to advances in the biological
sciences (e.g., biomaterials) as to
advances in the physical sciences. Neither
area advances very far without input
from the other. An initial action
would be to increase the NSF budget to
put it on a par with the NIH budget,
and then increase both of them in
step.
Lynne Robinson is the news writer for Materials
Technology@TMS. |
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