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Statement of Task

DEFENSE MATERIALS, MANUFACTURING, AND INFRASTRUCTURE STANDING COMMITTEE

Within the scope of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the general purpose of the Standing Committee on Materials, Manufacturing, and Infrastructure shall be the advancement of materials science and engineering, manufacturing, and infrastructure issues in the national interest.

Many of the issues that the Department of Defense (DoD) will need to address within the next several years are systems-based complex problems. Of these problems, those that are being addressed by this committee include significant issues regarding materials, manufacturing, and infrastructural activities, related to a military focus on personnel, platforms, facilities, and the manufacturing/industrial base, with transfer of relevant technologies to the commercial sector as appropriate. These issues will be affected by understanding the interactive role of materials, manufacturing, and infrastructure, which include, but are not limited to: maintaining technological superiority; creating energy-efficient, high-performance, and sustainable platforms; ensuring a safe, healthy, and energy-efficient infrastructure; securing the safety of facilities and ports; and assessing the critical availability and timeliness of the processes that provide our defense materials, parts, and products. Informed approaches to addressing these issues, although assessed from a defense focus, will enable the nation to more effectively sustain technological leadership, as well as to maintain the safety of people within national and private facilities, enhance infrastructural well-being, and improve the health of manufacturing.