Materials Science and Engineering Where Are We Going?

1. Materials Science and EngineeringWhere Are We Going? W. Lance Haworth, Acting Director, DMR University Materials Council Meeting Washington, DC 14 May 2007

2. Outline • NSF perspective – DMR primer • Challenges for DMR and the materials community • One very specific challenge for UMC

3. NSF invests in the best ideas from the most capable people, determined by competitivemerit review Merit Review Criteria • Intellectual Merit • What projects are most likely to produce new knowledge? • Broader Impacts • Education, people, benefit to society, infrastructure, dissemination, impact on science and engineering… • See the DMR Dear Colleague Letter at www.nsf.gov/materials

4. NSB 2020 Vision for NSF (2005) “The National Science Foundation ensures that the Nation maintains a position of eminence in global science, technology, and knowledge development through leadership in transformational research and excellence in science education, thus driving economic vitality, an improved quality of life, and national security.”

5. We seek a fundamental understanding of materials and condensed matter “TRANSFORMATIVE MATERIALS” Can we understand and control processing/structure/properties relationships in engineering materials? Can we create new materials for science and technology? How can we explore and develop the frontier between materials and biology? Can we understand and apply the physics of condensed matter? How can we understand and exploit the nano-world?

6. Division of Materials ResearchFocus forDiverse Communities and Funding ModesNSF support for materials research is not limited to DMR • Individual Investigators and Groups • Condensed Matter and Materials Theory, Condensed Matter Physics • Solid State Chemistry, Polymers,Biomaterials • Metals, Ceramics, Electronic/Optical Materials • Cross-cutting Programs • Centers, Institutes & Partnerships • User Facilities and Instrumentation • Office of Special Programs (International Collaboration; Education) • Distributed Mechanisms • Focused Research Groups • NSF-wide programs– REU/RET, CAREER, GOALI, MRI, etc • DMR is a major partner in NSF-NANO • Connections & Co-funding

7. Directorate for Mathematical & Physical SciencesFunding History, 1997-2008*

8. DMR Proposal Pressure & Success Rates (Research Grants) Proposals Success Rate • Many strong proposals declined essentially for lack of funds • Does this inhibit “risk”? • Grant sizes not keeping pace with ‘scientific’ inflation • Success rates vary but NSF-wide average is no better

9. DMR Program Balance FY 2006 $252.2M(includes MRI) About 2000 faculty members, 600 postdocs, 2500 grad students and 1500 undergraduates “on budget”

10. DMR Funding History, 1996-2006 $242.6M in FY06 1.60 1.40 1.20 1.00 IMR, ITR and “other” included in total 96 98 00 02 04 06

11. ACI Everything DMR supports is relevant to American competitiveness! • Emphases • Tie fundamental discoveries to marketable technologies • Facilities and instrumentation • World class science and engineering workforce • Focus on Phys Sci & Engineering • Doubles NSF, DOE-OS, NIST over 10 years

12. Science, 11 May 2007

13. MPS by Division

14. Some New DMR Activities • Biomaterials Program • Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) • Materials World Network • Mid-scale Instrumentation

15. Management Challenges for DMR • Success rates and grant sizes • We MUST broaden participation in materials research • Support for young faculty • Balance among funding modes • “Transformative” research • Instrumentation and facilities • Bench-scale, mid-scale, and large scale • Light source panel • Collaborative research on complex problems • Centers, groups, networks • Cooperation: across NSF, interagency, internationally • ACI is our huge opportunity

16. Materials World Network NSF 06-590 “A globally engaged workforce” Since 2001 ~800 NSF proposals, 130 awards, $50.2M Map shows partnership-funded collaborations in 2006 International Materials Institutes are developing partnerships that include Asia and Africa…

17. Intellectual ChallengesFY 08 DMR Focus Areas • Via ‘core’ programs wherever possible • Nanoscale materials and phenomena • Computational discovery and innovation • Complex systems including biomaterials • Fundamental research addressing “Science Beyond Moore’s Law” • Expect the unexpected! What are the challenges for “MS&E”?

18. Read the report and post comments at www.mcc.uiuc.edu/nsf/ciw_2006/ • Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation • It’s a 2-way street:“Materials enable CI” and • “CI will have an enormous impact on the way we do research” Simon Billinge, Michigan St Ernest Fuentes, Cornell/CHESS Mark Novotny, Mississippi St Krishna Rajan, Iowa St Bruce Robinson, U Washington Fred Sachs, SUNY-Buffalo Susan Sinnott, U Florida Horst Henning Winter, U Mass

19. Transformative Research The National Science Foundation must support the most innovative and potentially transformative research – research that has the capacity to revolutionize existing fields, create new subfields, cause paradigm shifts, support discovery, and lead to radically new technologies… The Foundation must create an environment that is more open to and encourages transformative research proposals from the research community. National Science Board, 2020 Vision for the National Science Foundation, 2005

20. Transformative Research • Small grants for exploratory research • Creativity extensions • MRSECs – explicit support “to respond quickly and effectively to new opportunities, and to pursue high risk, high impact and transformative research.” • Most NSF awards are grants and offer a lot of flexibility • “Program directors will kill for the chance to support really exciting research” and yet… “There exists a substantial external perception that NSF does not support transformative research.” NSB 07-32 • Is NSF risk-averse? Are we doing enough to support risky and potentially transformative research??

24. Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering NAS Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, 2006 • Studies have not found any significant biological differences between men and women in performing science and mathematics that can account for the lower representation of women in academic faculty and leadership positions in S&T fields. • Compared with men, women faculty members are generally paid less and promoted more slowly, receive fewer honors, and hold fewer leadership positions. These discrepancies do not appear to be based on productivity, the significance of their work, or any other performance measures. • Measures of success underlying performance-evaluation systems are often arbitrary and frequently applied in ways that place women at a disadvantage.

25. Broadening Participation “The Under-represented Majority” – Shirley Jackson DMR Competitive Awards to Women and Minorities Women (66/385 in FY06) Minority (34/385 in FY06)

26. Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials • Competitive award to minority serving institutions • Interdisciplinary research teams involve both institutions • Education programs to build student participation • Competitions 2004 and 2006 • Now 10 Awards of ~ 500k/year for 5 years • Next open competition 2009 PREMs broaden participation in materials research and education by developing long-term, collaborative partnerships between minority serving institutions and DMR-supported groups, centers and facilities

27. Department Chair Workshops on Gender Equity “Presenters repeatedly stressed that more than an issue of fairness, gender equity is in the nation’s self-interest, since attracting the best minds to science promotes national security and the U.S. position in the global economy.” • Chemistry • January 29-31 2006, Arlington, VA (NSF, NIH, DOE) • Co-chairs Ken Houk (UCLA), Cynthia Friend (Harvard) • http://www.chem.harvard.edu/groups/friend/GenderEquityWorkshop/ • Physics • May 6-8 2007, College Park, MD (NSF, DOE) • Co-chairs Nora Berrah (WMU), Arthur Bienenstock (Stanford) • http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/gender-equity.cfm

28. Broadening Participation in MS&E Materials Science and Engineering Departments / UMC • A gender equity and/or diversity workshop for MS&E chairs • Define the goals • NSF will support this, and other agencies may join as well

29. DMR PRIMER www.nsf.gov/materials

30. Guidance and Advice • DMR Committee of Visitors • 2005 chair Horst Stormer • 2008 (next) – chair Paul Peercy • MPS Advisory Committee • Covers Astronomy, Chemistry, Mathematics/Statistics, Physics, and Materials Research • Current & recent ‘DMR-community’ members include Shenda Baker, Larry Dalton, Sue Coppersmith, Peter Green, Sol Gruner, Frances Hellman, Venky Narayanamurti, Monica Olvera, Ian Robertson, Wole Soboyejo • Workshops; NAS Studies and Reports; etc

31. When to Send Us Your Proposal * Watch for DMR proposal solicitation • Unsolicited Proposals to DMR Programs Window 17 Sept – 2 November 2007 (send early!) • CAREER proposals July 2007 (by Directorate) • MRSECs – NSF07-563 Pre-proposals 5 Sept 2007 Full proposals 18 January 2008 • Materials World Network* Fall 2007 • DMR Instrumentation Program* Mid-scale Fall 2007, Bench-scale January 2008 • Major Research Instrumentation (NSF-wide) January 2008

32. DMR Scientific Staff* ActingVisiting or Temporary Appt (Full Time)Part Time Current Search Division DirectorLance Haworth* Executive Officer Ulrich Strom* Sr Staff Associate Lorretta Hopkins CMP Wendy Fuller-Mora, Roy Goodrich, Satyen Kumar CMMT Daryl Hess, Michael Lee Metals Harsh Chopra,Bruce MacDonald Ceramics Lynnette Madsen Electronic Materials Verne Hess, Charles Ying Polymers Andy Lovinger, Freddy Khoury Solid State Chem David Nelson, Akbar Montaser Biomaterials David Brant, Joe Akkara Special Programs Carmen Huber, Uma Venkateswaran InstrumentationChuck Bouldin User Facilities G.X. Tessema MRSECMaija Kukla, Tom Rieker, (Charles Ying) Volunteers Udo Pernisz (CMP), Michael Owen (SSC)

33. Thank you! lhaworth@nsf.gov http://www.nsf.gov/materials NHMFL Open House