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3 The Status of Activities in the Discovery and Growth of Crystalline Materials
Pages 95-125

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From page 95...
... Finally, it gathered information from public hearings and other sources. According to the information collected, the consensus of those in the crystal-growing community is that education in crystal growth and crystalline materials discovery is achieved through an apprenticeship model: graduate students are trained at universities by researchers in the field and then have postgraduate opportunities available to develop their skills further.
From page 96...
... In biology, for example, crystal growers seek to understand biomineralization and biological control of crystal growth, while in geochemistry researchers seek to understand molecular-scale processes as they relate to geological processes. However, this report focuses only on crystal growth and new materials discovery as they manifest in research in physics, chemistry, and materials science.
From page 97...
... A comparison of the institutions of the authors of papers in that journal in 1992 and 2007 illustrates the point. Of the lead authors published in this journal in the period October–December 1992, 48 percent were at institutions in Europe or the United Kingdom, 23 percent were at Asian institutions, and 28 percent were at institu tions in the United States or Canada.
From page 98...
... Jobs in TABLE 3.1  The Top 10 Sources of Papers on Crystal or Crystalline Materials Published in the Years 1990-1992, 1996-1997, and 2006-2007, by Nationality of Lead Author 1990-1992 1996-1997 2006-2007 Rank % of % of % of Among Country of Lead 131 Country of Lead 252 Country of Lead 748 Top 10 Authors Papers Authors Papers Authors Papers 1 United States 33.6 United States 22.2 Peoples Republic 20.4 of China (PRC) 2 Japan 11.6 Germany 14.8 United States 19.6 3 United Kingdom 11.0 Japan 12.2 Japan 11.6 4 Germany 9.4 United Kingdom 9.0 Germany 11.2 5 France 8.6 France 8.2 France 6.6 6 Italy 4.8 Peoples Republic 7.8 Russia 5.4 of China (PRC)
From page 99...
... Although confidentiality factors make gathering detailed data on tenure outcomes extremely difficult, anecdotal evidence indicates that it is not uncommon for granting tenure to a scientist in this field to be made significantly more difficult because members of the tenure committee share but one or another of the views described above. Another barrier to the hiring of young crystal growers is the start-up cost of equipping their laboratories.
From page 100...
... For example, during the mid-1980s, one of the preeminent industrial research facilities, Bell Laboratories, employed more than 110 full-time staff in DGCM research, at an annual budget in present-day dollars of approximately $30 million. Sometimes this role evolved in support of direct -- though usually long-term -- practicalities: for example, the development of zone refining for silicon crystal growth as a necessity for the semiconductor   Private correspondence between committee members and Bell Laboratories personnel -- Cherry Murray, Frank DiSalvo, Leonard Feldman, and Walter Brown.
From page 101...
... . MBE and other epitaxial crystal growth methods are now routine and widely used in academia and industry, but they were pioneered in several major industrial laboratories in the 1970s.
From page 102...
... industry U.S. national laboratory European university European industry Asia FIGURE 3.1  Origin of 10 most-cited papers revealed by a citation search of "crystal AND epitax*
From page 103...
... A sharper analysis of this trend is provided by looking at the career trajecto ries of a number of leading crystal growers, shown in Figure 3.4. By analyzing the careers of these researchers at different stages, it is clear that until the mid-1990s a common career path involved a first position at an industrial laboratory.
From page 104...
... The industrial laboratories his torically provided leadership in both fundamental and applied materials research until the 1990s, and while the United States has kept preeminence in many areas, this position rides substantially on fundamental investment that was made more than two decades ago and which has not been maintained. Particular concern arises over the training and support of young researchers.
From page 105...
... It is clear that the future strategy of condensed-matter materials must include a vigorous component focused on such groundbreaking research. The importance of materials discovery science is quantified in Figure 3.5, in which for three materials classes (the colossal magnetoresistance [CMR]
From page 106...
... to a key discovery paper (blue) is compared to the total number bitmaps published annually b, c labels topic.
From page 107...
... T h e S tat u s of Activities 107 18 16 Number of Each Year's Top 25 Cited Papers 14 by Country of Measurement 12 United States 10 Europe Japan 8 China/Korea 6 4 2 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Year 16 14 figure 3-6 top.eps Number of Each Year's Top 25 Cited Papers by Country of Materials Synthesis 12 10 United States Europe 8 Japan China/Korea 6 4 2 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Year FIGURE 3.6  Country of origin of the 25 most highly cited papers in superconductivity by year, 1995 figure 3-6 bottom.eps through 2005, distinguished by country of measurement (top) and country of materials synthesis (bottom)
From page 108...
... coauthors, and in four cases that person was the lead author. What is striking is that several different materials were featured in the top class (this is the single-paper discovery dominance noted above)
From page 109...
... Subsequently, however, top-cited Japanese papers have reached parity with those from the United States and Europe. Several subtopics in magnetic crystalline materials were initiated in the United States during the past 15 years, including skutterudites, heavy-fermion magnets, and geometrically frustrated magnetism.
From page 110...
... Based on searches conducted by the committee using the Web of Science, the 10 most highly cited papers in this field were published from 1993 to 1996; each has more than 500 citations. Four of these papers are from the United States, four are from Japan, and two are from Europe.
From page 111...
... Although binary structural intermetallics originated in the United States, Japan and the European Union now hold an edge in published research. The United States experienced a peak in the early 2000s as a result of research support by the U.S.
From page 112...
... . ing the top-cited papers in high-temperature structural intermetallics.
From page 113...
... is clearly in a growth mode in this field and is competitive with the European Union and Japan. Findings on Innovation and Discovery The Committee for an Assessment of and Outlook for New Materials Synthesis and Crystal Growth presents the following findings related to the role of innovation and discovery in DCGM activities: • The field of materials research is highly dependent on a few key discoveries that spawn much additional research; often a single paper sets a new trend.
From page 114...
... Breadth and Depth of RESEARCH IN THE DISCOVERY and Growth OF CRYSTALLINE MATERIALS Researchers who grow crystalline materials have an astonishingly broad impact on further research. To assess this impact, the committee compiled a list of 10 major senior researchers in this area and analyzed their publication records using a citation database.
From page 115...
... There have not been specific federal programs that fund basic research in the discovery and growth of crystalline materials, and thus it is hard to quantify the total invest ment or trends in investment in DGCM activities. However, in an effort to quan tify the present level of support and to determine the appropriate size of the U.S.
From page 116...
... Publication data were collected for 1996 to 2006. Survey of Experts in the Discovery and Growth of Crystalline Materials To help estimate the need in the science community for high-quality crystal line samples, the survey conducted by the committee asked 28 experts in DGCM about the number of materials requests that these experts receive in a given year.
From page 117...
... Requests for samples, even from respected ­researchers at research universities, often require multiple attempts. Furthermore, researchers from less prestigious institutions often do not even attempt to make materials requests, knowing that the requests will not be ful filled.
From page 118...
... The committee finds this factor to be consistent with its observations, given that the factor-of-two increase for these experts to meet current demand does not take into account the needs of existing scientists who would like crystals but are not well connected and so do not ask for new crystalline materials, nor does it reflect the fact that there are other researchers who, because of a lack of access to state-of-the-art crystalline materials, forgo the opportunity to work in this field. Such additional support is needed not only for DGCM research and materials growth for collaborative experiments but also for training students in this area.
From page 119...
... The industrial laboratories were also a significant training ground for new scientists interested in the discovery and growth of crystalline materials. Declining research in DGCM activities thus also negatively impacts opportunities for the education of young researchers.
From page 120...
... However, the overall funding for these programs has been approximately flat for the past decade. Thus, it is reasonable to estimate that DGCM research activities have also been held constant in this time frame. Findings on Support for Discovery and Growth of Crystalline Materials Activities The Committee for an Assessment of and Outlook for New Materials ­Synthesis and Crystal Growth presents the following findings related to U.S.
From page 121...
... In order for the United States to achieve the rank of world leader in DGCM research, the experts surveyed by the committee believe that funding would need to increase by a factor of three to four times current funding levels. Because there are no current federal programs whose focus is funding basic research in the discovery and growth of crystalline materials, it is hard to quantify current total investment or historic trends in investment in DGCM activities.
From page 122...
... dollars) , with approximately 43 percent provided by industry, 18 percent provided by the German government, and the balance of funding from international sources, with the large majority from the European Union.11 Other examples of focused DGCM centers can be found in China.
From page 123...
... Research Support In addition to the large centers for DGCM research, European and Asian countries have established programs that recognize the importance of and there fore provide funding for DGCM activities for individual researchers and smaller groups. In Japan, for example, DGCM activities are well supported as a part of group budgets.
From page 124...
... Similar programs supporting DGCM research can be found in Germany, France, and Switzerland. Canada also supports programs for DGCM research, under the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research,13 which funds research growing ultrahigh-purity single crystals of cuprates.
From page 125...
... cultural aspects of the education, training, and engagement in crystal growing and research, especially in Japan. These factors together have accounted for a large part of the success in DGCM research in these countries.


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