Smaller Facilities Letter Report (2004) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Letter Report
Letter Report
Pages 1-6
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
This interim report identifies the key topics that the committee will explore in greater detail to develop the findings anal recommendations for its final report, to be released in the second half of 2004. Although they play a major, recognized role in materials research in this country, small and mid-sized multiuser facilities for materials research Referred to here simply as smaller facilities)
|
From page 2... ...
Sensitive to the need to obtain information about the resources, needs, and perspectives of other geographical areas, the committee agreed to invite additional testimony at future meetings and to develop a suitable questionnaire for distribution to a broact range of smaller facilities' managers and users. The committee's five separate site visit trips concentrated on the approximate geographical areas of Boston, upstate New York, Illinois, the San Francisco Bay Area, anti the Pacific Northwest.
|
From page 3... ...
Likewise, learning about and clarifying the challenges that smaller facilities face are essential steps toward developing approaches that can be mapped and implemented at the national level as appropriate to tackle their problems. Working Definition of a Smaller Facility For the purposes of this study, the committee proposes the following working definition of a smaller facility in materials research: A smaller facility is a facility that owns and operates one or more pieces of equipment at an institution and is characterized by the following criteria: Facilitates scientific and/or technological research for multiple users; Has a resident staff to assist, train, and/or serve users; Provides services on local, regional, or national scales; Is open to all qualified users subject to generally agreed-upon rules of access; and Has a replacement capitalization cost of between approximately $ ~ million and $50 million and an annual operating budget (including staff salaries, overhead, supplies, routine maintenance and upgrades, and so on)
|
From page 4... ...
A smaller facility often meets one or more of the following aciclitional criteria: Provides a unique or special service that is not generally available at an indiviclual investigator's laboratory; Fulfills a particular scientific niche/role in the research enterprise; Has a clear mission that addresses a well-defined or emerging need for a well-defined community; Plays a leading role in education, workforce training, and workforce development; Facilitates instrument/technology development and/or training; Promotes synergy and communication among its users and with others; Fosters cross-disciplinary and cross-sector interactions, including scientific, medical, and engineering endeavors; and Represents a means for coordinating scientific endeavors among other facilities or institutions with complementary capabilities. As a result of its continuing study, the committee may modify its definition to reflect other considerations yet to be identified.
|
From page 5... ...
Proposals for "workhorse" instruments for routine characterization are not as well received as those requesting "racehorse" types, yet both types are equally important for the national infrastructure in materials research. Future Plans In abolition to dissemination of this interim report in the spring of 2004, the committee will be conducting a series of town-hall meetings, coinciding with annual meetings of the major related scientific societies (e.g., the March American Physical Society Meeting and the Spring Materials Research Society s
|
From page 6... ...
The facility manager and facility user questionnaires will be distributed at both town meetings to solicit responses from the broader community; additionally, the questionnaires are being distributed by committee members to their colleagues and by NRC staff to the targetecI sets of smaller facilities such as the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers ant! the DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.