From advances in AI and blockchain to precision agriculture, statistical innovation drives progress and supports U.S. competitiveness across practically every field and sector. Frontiers of Statistics in Science and Engineering: 2035 and Beyond explores key developments in statistics, highlights critical future directions, and presents investment priorities to secure U.S. economic and technological advantage over the next decade.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics
Elementary particle physics reflects the human quest to understand the basic building blocks of nature and the rules that govern the physical world. This quest has led not only to critical scientific advancements and technology breakthroughs, but also to the development of essential technologies enabling new medical treatments, productive techniques in manufacturing, and enhanced capabilities in quantum computing, as well as ancillary benefits such as the precursor to the World Wide Web, which was created to manage the enormous data flows at CERN.
At the request of the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, this report explores long-term goals and future ambitions for particle physics. Elementary Particle Physics: The Higgs and Beyond presents a bold 40-year vision for the field and highlights critical actions necessary to make this vision reality. The recommendations of this report will guide support and investments to maintain U.S. leadership in particle physics and move the field forward.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
National and international plans for halting and reversing climate change focus on reducing and eventually ending the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions: carbon dioxide (CO2) released by fossil fuel combustion. However, as the nation moves towards replacing many fossil CO2-emitting processes with zero- or low-carbon-emission alternatives, special attention is needed to eliminate net carbon emissions from the systems that cannot be fully "decarbonized", such as the production of aviation fuel, chemicals, plastics, and construction materials. For these systems, carbon will need to be managed and utilized effectively, in a way that either prevents CO2 from entering the atmosphere or reuses it through circular processes that do not contribute additional emissions.
Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report is the second report of a two-part study. The study's first report assessed the state of infrastructure for CO2 transportation, use, and storage, highlighting priority opportunities for further investment. This second report identifies potential markets and commercialization opportunities for CO2- and coal waste-derived products, examines economic, environmental, and climate impacts of CO2 utilization infrastructure, and puts forward a comprehensive research agenda for carbon utilization technologies.
Topics: Energy and Energy Conservation » Energy Resources | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Energy and Energy Conservation » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Decades of research have shown that disadvantaged communities exist at the intersection of high levels of hazard exposure and poverty. Geospatial environmental justice (EJ) tools, such as the White House Council on Environmental Quality-developed Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), are designed to integrate different kinds of health, social, environmental, and economic data to identify disadvantaged communities and to aid policy and investment decisions that address the pervasive, persistent, and largely unaddressed problems associated with environmental disparities in the United States.
Constructing Valid Geospatial Tools for Environmental Justice evaluates several EJ tools, including CEJST, and provides a conceptual framework and data strategy recommendations for developing the composite indicators that are the heart of geospatial EJ tools. An EJ tool that is transparent, legitimate, and has the trust of its users and the communities it represents is based on a structured iterative process that includes: a clear statement of tool objectives and definitions for the concepts being measured; the selection and integration of data and indicators; and assessment of robustness of the selected data and integration processes. Decisions regarding the tool should be iteratively informed by meaningful community engagement, validation to ensure tool results reflect real-world experiences, and careful and thorough documentation of all decision and data processes.
Topics: Environment and Environmental Studies » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Behavioral and Social Sciences » Law and Justice
High magnetic fields are a vital tool in many areas of science and technology that impact our everyday lives. Magnetic resonance imaging enables a wide range of medical diagnostics and research, while nuclear magnetic resonance is critical for drug discovery research and more. High magnetic fields are an essential component to many proposed fusion energy reactors and are necessary to push the boundaries towards the development of new quantum technologies and semiconductors.
At the request of the National Science Foundation, the National Academies organized a study to identify scientific opportunities and key applications for high-magnetic-field science and technology for the next decade and beyond. This report explores the current state and future prospects for high-magnetic-field technologies and recommends actions to support the workforce, facilities, magnet development, and critical materials access necessary to promote U.S. innovation.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Engineering and Technology » Materials | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Across multiple domains of science, engineering, and medicine, excitement is growing about the potential of digital twins to transform scientific research, industrial practices, and many aspects of daily life. A digital twin couples computational models with a physical counterpart to create a system that is dynamically updated through bidirectional data flows as conditions change. Going beyond traditional simulation and modeling, digital twins could enable improved medical decision-making at the individual patient level, predictions of future weather and climate conditions over longer timescales, and safer, more efficient engineering processes. However, many challenges remain before these applications can be realized.
This report identifies the foundational research and resources needed to support the development of digital twin technologies. The report presents critical future research priorities and an interdisciplinary research agenda for the field, including how federal agencies and researchers across domains can best collaborate.
Topics: Computers and Information Technology » Information Technology | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Computers and Information Technology » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
The field of quantum information science (QIS) has witnessed a dramatic rise in scientific research activities in the 21st century as excitement has grown about its potential to revolutionize communications and computing, strengthen encryption, and enhance quantum sensing, among other applications. While, historically, QIS research has been dominated by the field of physics and computer engineering, this report explores how chemistry - in particular the use of molecular qubits - could advance QIS. In turn, researchers are also examining how QIS could be used to solve problems in chemistry, for example, to facilitate new drug and material designs, health and environmental monitoring tools, and more sustainable energy production.
Recognizing that QIS could be a disruptive technology with the potential to create groundbreaking products and new industries, Advancing Chemistry and Quantum Information Science calls for U.S. leadership to build a robust enterprise to facilitate and support research at the intersection of chemistry and QIS. This report identifies three key research areas: design and synthesis of molecular qubit systems, measurement and control of molecular quantum systems, and experimental and computational approaches for scaling qubit design and function. Advancing Chemistry and Quantum Information Science recommends that the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and other funding agencies should support multidisciplinary and collaborative research in QIS, the development of new instrumentation, and facilities, centralized and open-access databases, and efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive chemical workforce.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
High energy density (HED) science has critical applications for society from fusion energy to sustaining the US nuclear deterrent, while also contributing to broader scientific questions such as understanding planets and their origins.
The next decade of HED science will be instrumental to growing our understanding and in the development of new technologies and processes. Fundamental Research in High Energy Density Science identifies key challenges and science questions for the field for the coming decade and proposes ways to address them.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Energy and Energy Conservation » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Wildfires in America are becoming larger, more frequent, and more destructive, driven by climate change and existing land management practices. Many of these fires occur at the wildland-urban interface (WUI), areas where development and wildland areas overlap and which are increasingly at risk of devastating fires as communities continue to expand into previously undeveloped areas. Unlike conventional wildfires, WUI fires are driven in part by burning of homes, cars, and other human-made structures, and in part by burning vegetation. The interaction of these two types of fires can lead to public health effects that are unique to WUI fires.
This report evaluates existing and needed chemistry information that decision-makers can use to mitigate WUI fires and their potential health impacts. It describes key fuels of concern in WUI fires, especially household components like siding, insulation, and plastic, examines key pathways for exposure, including inhalation and ingestion, and identifies communities vulnerable to exposures. The report recommends a research agenda to inform response to and prevention of WUI fires, outlining needs in characterizing fuels, and predicting emissions and toxicants.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Earth Sciences » Earthquakes, Floods and Natural Disasters | Environment and Environmental Studies » Environmental Health and Safety
This report evaluates submissions received in response to a Request for Proposals for Biomolecular Simulation Time on Anton 2, a supercomputer designed and built by D.E. Shaw Research (DESRES). Over the past 12 years, DERES has made an Anton or Anton 2 system housed at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center available to the non-commercial research community, based on the advice of previous committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. As in those prior rounds, the goal of the thirteenth Request for Proposals for simulation time on Anton 2 is to continue to facilitate breakthrough research in the study of biomolecular systems by providing a massively parallel system specially designed for molecular dynamics simulations. These capabilities allow multi-microsecond simulation timescales. The program seeks to continue to support research that addresses important and high impact questions demonstrating a clear need for the special capabilities of the Anton.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
People spend the vast majority of their time inside their homes and other indoor environments where they are exposed to a wide range of chemicals from building materials, furnishings, occupants, cooking, consumer products, and other sources. Despite research to date, very little is known about how exposures to indoor chemicals across complex chemical phases and pathways affect human health. The COVID-19 pandemic has only increased public awareness of indoor environments and shed light on the many outstanding questions about how best to manage chemicals indoors. This report identifies gaps in current research and understanding of indoor chemistry and new approaches that can be applied to measure, manage, and limit chemical exposures. Why Indoor Chemistry Matters calls for further research about the chemical transformations that can occur indoors, pathways and timing of indoor chemical exposure, and the cumulative and long-term impacts of exposure on human health. Research priorities should consider factors that contribute to measurable environmental health disparities that affect vulnerable populations, such as the age, location, and condition of buildings that can alter exposures to indoor chemicals.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Environment and Environmental Studies » Environmental Health and Safety
Chemistry plays a pivotal role in the strength of the U.S. economy and the advancement of humankind. Chemists' achievements include life-saving pharmaceuticals, advanced energy solutions, improved agricultural productivity, and novel materials used in products from clothing to electronic devices. The many sectors reliant on the U.S. chemical economy account for about 25% of the U.S. GDP and support 4.1 million U.S. jobs. However, a new and evolving chemistry landscape requires changes with regard to funding, training, and a focus on integrating sustainability into manufacturing, product usage, and product disposal.
This report identifies strategies and options for research investments that will support U.S. leadership while considering environmental sustainability and developing a diverse chemical economy workforce with equitable opportunities for all chemistry talent. The report recommends that funding agencies and philanthropic organizations who support the chemical sciences fund as large a breadth of fundamental research projects as possible. Chemical industry and their partners at universities, scientific research institutions, and national laboratories should align the objectives of fundamental research to directly assist with new practices toward environmental stewardship, sustainability, and clean energy. Additionally, the report recommends that funding agencies make substantial investment toward education research to enable innovative ways of teaching about emerging concepts, tools and technologies.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Industry and Labor » Economics
This report evaluates submissions received in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Biomolecular Simulation Time on Anton 2, a supercomputer designed and built by D. E. Shaw Research (DESRES). Over the past 11 years, DESRES has made an Anton or Anton 2 system housed at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center available to the non-commercial research community, based on the advice of previous committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The goal of the twelfth RFP for simulation time on Anton 2 is to continue to facilitate breakthrough research in the study of biomolecular systems by providing a massively parallel system specially designed for molecular dynamics simulations. These capabilities allow multi-microsecond simulation timescales. The program seeks to continue to support research that addresses important and high impact questions demonstrating a clear need for Anton's special capabilities.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Report of the Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics: Eleventh Round evaluates submissions received in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Biomolecular Simulation Time on Anton 2, a supercomputer designed and built by D. E. Shaw Research (DESRES). Over the past 10 years, DESRES has made an Anton or Anton 2 system housed at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center available to the non-commercial research community. The goal of the eleventh RFP for simulation time on Anton 2 is to continue to facilitate breakthrough research in the study of biomolecular systems by providing a massively parallel system specially designed for molecular dynamics simulations. The program seeks to continue to support research that addresses important and high impact questions demonstrating a clear need for Anton's special capabilities.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
The field of atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) science underpins many technologies and continues to progress at an exciting pace for both scientific discoveries and technological innovations. AMO physics studies the fundamental building blocks of functioning matter to help advance the understanding of the universe. It is a foundational discipline within the physical sciences, relating to atoms and their constituents, to molecules, and to light at the quantum level. AMO physics combines fundamental research with practical application, coupling fundamental scientific discovery to rapidly evolving technological advances, innovation and commercialization. Due to the wide-reaching intellectual, societal, and economical impact of AMO, it is important to review recent advances and future opportunities in AMO physics.
Manipulating Quantum Systems: An Assessment of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics in the United States assesses opportunities in AMO science and technology over the coming decade. Key topics in this report include tools made of light; emerging phenomena from few- to many-body systems; the foundations of quantum information science and technologies; quantum dynamics in the time and frequency domains; precision and the nature of the universe, and the broader impact of AMO science.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
This report describes the work of the Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics, Tenth Round. The committee evaluated submissions received in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) for biomolecular simulation time on Anton 2, a supercomputer specially designed and built by D.E. Shaw Research (DESRES). Over the past 9 years, DESRES has made an Anton or Anton 2 system housed at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) available to the non-commercial research community, based on the advice of previous National Research Council committees. As in prior rounds, the goal of the tenth RFP for simulation time on Anton 2 is to continue to facilitate breakthrough research in the study of biomolecular systems by providing a massively parallel system specially designed for molecular dynamics simulations. The program seeks to continue to support research that addresses important and high impact questions demonstrating a clear need for Anton's special capabilities.
Report of the Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics, Tenth Round is the final report of the committee's evaluation of proposals based on scientific merit, justification for requested time allocation, and investigator qualifications and past accomplishments. This report identifies the proposals that best met the selection criteria.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are a type of unconventional explosive weapon that can be deployed in a variety of ways, and can cause loss of life, injury, and property damage in both military and civilian environments. Terrorists, violent extremists, and criminals often choose IEDs because the ingredients, components, and instructions required to make IEDs are highly accessible. In many cases, precursor chemicals enable this criminal use of IEDs because they are used in the manufacture of homemade explosives (HMEs), which are often used as a component of IEDs.
Many precursor chemicals are frequently used in industrial manufacturing and may be available as commercial products for personal use. Guides for making HMEs and instructions for constructing IEDs are widely available and can be easily found on the internet. Other countries restrict access to precursor chemicals in an effort to reduce the opportunity for HMEs to be used in IEDs. Although IED attacks have been less frequent in the United States than in other countries, IEDs remain a persistent domestic threat. Restricting access to precursor chemicals might contribute to reducing the threat of IED attacks and in turn prevent potentially devastating bombings, save lives, and reduce financial impacts.
Reducing the Threat of Improvised Explosive Device Attacks by Restricting Access to Explosive Precursor Chemicals prioritizes precursor chemicals that can be used to make HMEs and analyzes the movement of those chemicals through United States commercial supply chains and identifies potential vulnerabilities. This report examines current United States and international regulation of the chemicals, and compares the economic, security, and other tradeoffs among potential control strategies.
Topics: Conflict and Security Issues » Weapons and Technology | Conflict and Security Issues » Prevention, Security and Response | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
Chemistry plays a critical role in daily life, impacting areas such as medicine and health, consumer products, energy production, the ecosystem, and many other areas. Communicating about chemistry in informal environments has the potential to raise public interest and understanding of chemistry around the world. However, the chemistry community lacks a cohesive, evidence-based guide for designing effective communication activities. This report is organized into two sections. Part A: The Evidence Base for Enhanced Communication summarizes evidence from communications, informal learning, and chemistry education on effective practices to communicate with and engage publics outside of the classroom; presents a framework for the design of chemistry communication activities; and identifies key areas for future research. Part B: Communicating Chemistry: A Framework for Sharing Science is a practical guide intended for any chemists to use in the design, implementation, and evaluation of their public communication efforts.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Education » Math and Science Education
River and coastal floods are among the nation's most costly natural disasters. One component in the nation's approach to managing flood risk is availability of flood insurance policies, which are offered on an individual basis primarily through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Established in 1968, the NFIP is overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and there are about 5.4 million individual policies in the NFIP. The program has experienced a mixture of successes and persistent challenges. Successes include a large number of policy holders, the insurance of approximately $1.3 trillion of property, and the fact that the large majority of policy holders - 80% - pay rates that are risk based. NFIP challenges include large program debt, relatively low rates of purchase in many flood-prone areas, a host of issues regarding affordability of premiums, ensuring that premiums collected cover payouts and administrative fees, and a large number of properties that experience severe repetitive flood losses.
At the request of FEMA, A Community-Based Flood Insurance Option identifies a range of key issues and questions that would merit consideration and further analysis as part of a community-based flood insurance program. As the report describes, the community-based option certainly offers potential benefits, such as the prospect of providing coverage for all (or nearly all) at-risk residents and properties in flood-prone communities. At the same time, many current challenges facing the NFIP may not necessarily be resolved by a community-based approach. This report discusses these and other prominent issues to be considered and further assessed.
Topics: Conflict and Security Issues » Disaster Response | Environment and Environmental Studies » Environmental Health and Safety | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
The tremendous progress in biology over the last half century - from Watson and Crick's elucidation of the structure of DNA to today's astonishing, rapid progress in the field of synthetic biology - has positioned us for significant innovation in chemical production. New bio-based chemicals, improved public health through improved drugs and diagnostics, and biofuels that reduce our dependency on oil are all results of research and innovation in the biological sciences. In the past decade, we have witnessed major advances made possible by biotechnology in areas such as rapid, low-cost DNA sequencing, metabolic engineering, and high-throughput screening. The manufacturing of chemicals using biological synthesis and engineering could expand even faster. A proactive strategy - implemented through the development of a technical roadmap similar to those that enabled sustained growth in the semiconductor industry and our explorations of space - is needed if we are to realize the widespread benefits of accelerating the industrialization of biology.
Industrialization of Biology presents such a roadmap to achieve key technical milestones for chemical manufacturing through biological routes. This report examines the technical, economic, and societal factors that limit the adoption of bioprocessing in the chemical industry today and which, if surmounted, would markedly accelerate the advanced manufacturing of chemicals via industrial biotechnology. Working at the interface of synthetic chemistry, metabolic engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology, Industrialization of Biology identifies key technical goals for next-generation chemical manufacturing, then identifies the gaps in knowledge, tools, techniques, and systems required to meet those goals, and targets and timelines for achieving them. This report also considers the skills necessary to accomplish the roadmap goals, and what training opportunities are required to produce the cadre of skilled scientists and engineers needed.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Industry and Labor » Industrial and Manufacturing Technologies
Historically, regulations governing chemical use have often focused on widely used chemicals and acute human health effects of exposure to them, as well as their potential to cause cancer and other adverse health effects. As scientific knowledge has expanded there has been an increased awareness of the mechanisms through which chemicals may exert harmful effects on human health, as well as their effects on other species and ecosystems. Identification of high-priority chemicals and other chemicals of concern has prompted a growing number of state and local governments, as well as major companies, to take steps beyond existing hazardous chemical federal legislation. Interest in approaches and policies that ensure that any new substances substituted for chemicals of concern are assessed as carefully and thoroughly as possible has also burgeoned. The overarching goal of these approaches is to avoid regrettable substitutions, which occur when a toxic chemical is replaced by another chemical that later proved unsuitable because of persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, or other concerns.
Chemical alternative assessments are tools designed to facilitate consideration of these factors to assist stakeholders in identifying chemicals that may have the greatest likelihood of harm to human and ecological health, and to provide guidance on how the industry may develop and adopt safer alternatives. A Framework to Guide Selection of Chemical Alternatives develops and demonstrates a decision framework for evaluating potentially safer substitute chemicals as primarily determined by human health and ecological risks. This new framework is informed by previous efforts by regulatory agencies, academic institutions, and others to develop alternative assessment frameworks that could be operationalized. In addition to hazard assessments, the framework incorporates steps for life-cycle thinking - which considers possible impacts of a chemical at all stages including production, use, and disposal - as well as steps for performance and economic assessments. The report also highlights how modern information sources such as computational modeling can supplement traditional toxicology data in the assessment process.
This new framework allows the evaluation of the full range of benefits and shortcomings of substitutes, and examination of tradeoffs between these risks and factors such as product functionality, product efficacy, process safety, and resource use. Through case studies, this report demonstrates how different users in contrasting decision contexts with diverse priorities can apply the framework. This report will be an essential resource to the chemical industry, environmentalists, ecologists, and state and local governments.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Environment and Environmental Studies » Pollutants and Toxics
Recent serious and sometimes fatal accidents in chemical research laboratories at United States universities have driven government agencies, professional societies, industries, and universities themselves to examine the culture of safety in research laboratories. These incidents have triggered a broader discussion of how serious incidents can be prevented in the future and how best to train researchers and emergency personnel to respond appropriately when incidents do occur. As the priority placed on safety increases, many institutions have expressed a desire to go beyond simple compliance with regulations to work toward fostering a strong, positive safety culture: affirming a constant commitment to safety throughout their institutions, while integrating safety as an essential element in the daily work of laboratory researchers.
Safe Science takes on this challenge. This report examines the culture of safety in research institutions and makes recommendations for university leadership, laboratory researchers, and environmental health and safety professionals to support safety as a core value of their institutions. The report discusses ways to fulfill that commitment through prioritizing funding for safety equipment and training, as well as making safety an ongoing operational priority.
A strong, positive safety culture arises not because of a set of rules but because of a constant commitment to safety throughout an organization. Such a culture supports the free exchange of safety information, emphasizes learning and improvement, and assigns greater importance to solving problems than to placing blame. High importance is assigned to safety at all times, not just when it is convenient or does not threaten personal or institutional productivity goals. Safe Science will be a guide to make the changes needed at all levels to protect students, researchers, and staff.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Policy for Science and Technology » Research and Data | Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity
In 2010, NASA and the National Science Foundation asked the National Research Council to assemble a committee of experts to develop an integrated national strategy that would guide agency investments in solar and space physics for the years 2013-2022. That strategy, the result of nearly 2 years of effort by the survey committee, which worked with more than 100 scientists and engineers on eight supporting study panels, is presented in the 2013 publication, Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society. This booklet, designed to be accessible to a broader audience of policymakers and the interested public, summarizes the content of that report.
Topics: Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
The Committee to Assess the Current Status and Future Direction of High Magnetic Field Science in the United States was convened by the National Research Council in response to a request by the National Science Foundation. This report answers three questions: (1) What is the current state of high-field magnet science, engineering, and technology in the United States, and are there any conspicuous needs to be addressed? (2) What are the current science drivers and which scientific opportunities and challenges can be anticipated over the next ten years? (3) What are the principal existing and planned high magnetic field facilities outside of the United States, what roles have U.S. high field magnet development efforts played in developing those facilities, and what potentials exist for further international collaboration in this area?
A magnetic field is produced by an electrical current in a metal coil. This current exerts an expansive force on the coil, and a magnetic field is "high" if it challenges the strength and current-carrying capacity of the materials that create the field. Although lower magnetic fields can be achieved using commercially available magnets, research in the highest achievable fields has been, and will continue to be, most often performed in large research centers that possess the materials and systems know-how for forefront research. Only a few high field centers exist around the world; in the United States, the principal center is the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL).
High Magnetic Field Science and Its Application in the United States considers continued support for a centralized high-field facility such as NHFML to be the highest priority. This report contains a recommendation for the funding and siting of several new high field nuclear magnetic resonance magnets at user facilities in different regions of the United States. Continued advancement in high-magnetic field science requires substantial investments in magnets with enhanced capabilities. High Magnetic Field Science and Its Application in the United States contains recommendations for the further development of all-superconducting, hybrid, and higher field pulsed magnets that meet ambitious but achievable goals.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Data mining of massive data sets is transforming the way we think about crisis response, marketing, entertainment, cybersecurity and national intelligence. Collections of documents, images, videos, and networks are being thought of not merely as bit strings to be stored, indexed, and retrieved, but as potential sources of discovery and knowledge, requiring sophisticated analysis techniques that go far beyond classical indexing and keyword counting, aiming to find relational and semantic interpretations of the phenomena underlying the data.
Frontiers in Massive Data Analysis examines the frontier of analyzing massive amounts of data, whether in a static database or streaming through a system. Data at that scale—terabytes and petabytes—is increasingly common in science (e.g., particle physics, remote sensing, genomics), Internet commerce, business analytics, national security, communications, and elsewhere. The tools that work to infer knowledge from data at smaller scales do not necessarily work, or work well, at such massive scale. New tools, skills, and approaches are necessary, and this report identifies many of them, plus promising research directions to explore. Frontiers in Massive Data Analysis discusses pitfalls in trying to infer knowledge from massive data, and it characterizes seven major classes of computation that are common in the analysis of massive data. Overall, this report illustrates the cross-disciplinary knowledge—from computer science, statistics, machine learning, and application disciplines—that must be brought to bear to make useful inferences from massive data.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
From the interior of the Sun, to the upper atmosphere and near-space environment of Earth, and outward to a region far beyond Pluto where the Sun's influence wanes, advances during the past decade in space physics and solar physics—the disciplines NASA refers to as heliophysics—have yielded spectacular insights into the phenomena that affect our home in space.
Solar and Space Physics, from the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee for a Decadal Strategy in Solar and Space Physics, is the second NRC decadal survey in heliophysics. Building on the research accomplishments realized during the past decade, the report presents a program of basic and applied research for the period 2013-2022 that will improve scientific understanding of the mechanisms that drive the Sun's activity and the fundamental physical processes underlying near-Earth plasma dynamics, determine the physical interactions of Earth's atmospheric layers in the context of the connected Sun-Earth system, and enhance greatly the capability to provide realistic and specific forecasts of Earth's space environment that will better serve the needs of society.
Although the recommended program is directed primarily at NASA and the National Science Foundation for action, the report also recommends actions by other federal agencies, especially the parts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration charged with the day-to-day (operational) forecast of space weather. In addition to the recommendations included in this summary, related recommendations are presented in this report.
Topics: Space and Aeronautics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Space and Aeronautics » Space Exploration and Development | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics
The mathematical sciences are part of nearly all aspects of everyday life—the discipline has underpinned such beneficial modern capabilities as Internet search, medical imaging, computer animation, numerical weather predictions, and all types of digital communications. The Mathematical Sciences in 2025 examines the current state of the mathematical sciences and explores the changes needed for the discipline to be in a strong position and able to maximize its contribution to the nation in 2025. It finds the vitality of the discipline excellent and that it contributes in expanding ways to most areas of science and engineering, as well as to the nation as a whole, and recommends that training for future generations of mathematical scientists should be re-assessed in light of the increasingly cross-disciplinary nature of the mathematical sciences. In addition, because of the valuable interplay between ideas and people from all parts of the mathematical sciences, the report emphasizes that universities and the government need to continue to invest in the full spectrum of the mathematical sciences in order for the whole enterprise to continue to flourish long-term.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Education » Math and Science Education | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
The principal goals of the study were to articulate the scientific rationale and objectives of the field and then to take a long-term strategic view of U.S. nuclear science in the global context for setting future directions for the field. Nuclear Physics: Exploring the Heart of Matter provides a long-term assessment of an outlook for nuclear physics.
The first phase of the report articulates the scientific rationale and objectives of the field, while the second phase provides a global context for the field and its long-term priorities and proposes a framework for progress through 2020 and beyond. In the second phase of the study, also developing a framework for progress through 2020 and beyond, the committee carefully considered the balance between universities and government facilities in terms of research and workforce development and the role of international collaborations in leveraging future investments.
Nuclear physics today is a diverse field, encompassing research that spans dimensions from a tiny fraction of the volume of the individual particles (neutrons and protons) in the atomic nucleus to the enormous scales of astrophysical objects in the cosmos. Nuclear Physics: Exploring the Heart of Matter explains the research objectives, which include the desire not only to better understand the nature of matter interacting at the nuclear level, but also to describe the state of the universe that existed at the big bang. This report explains how the universe can now be studied in the most advanced colliding-beam accelerators, where strong forces are the dominant interactions, as well as the nature of neutrinos.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Optics and photonics technologies are ubiquitous: they are responsible for the displays on smart phones and computing devices, optical fiber that carries the information in the internet, advanced precision manufacturing, enhanced defense capabilities, and a plethora of medical diagnostics tools. The opportunities arising from optics and photonics offer the potential for even greater societal impact in the next few decades, including solar power generation and new efficient lighting that could transform the nation's energy landscape and new optical capabilities that will be essential to support the continued exponential growth of the Internet.
As described in the National Research Council report Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation, it is critical for the United States to take advantage of these emerging optical technologies for creating new industries and generating job growth. The report assesses the current state of optical science and engineering in the United States and abroad—including market trends, workforce needs, and the impact of photonics on the national economy. It identifies the technological opportunities that have arisen from recent advances in, and applications of, optical science and engineering. The report also calls for improved management of U.S. public and private research and development resources, emphasizing the need for public policy that encourages adoption of a portfolio approach to investing in the wide and diverse opportunities now available within photonics.
Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation is a useful overview not only for policymakers, such as decision-makers at relevant Federal agencies on the current state of optics and photonics research and applications but also for individuals seeking a broad understanding of the fields of optics and photonics in many arenas.
Topics: Engineering and Technology » Applications of Technology | Engineering and Technology » Materials | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
The mathematical sciences are part of everyday life. Modern communication, transportation, science, engineering, technology, medicine, manufacturing, security, and finance all depend on the mathematical sciences. Fueling Innovation and Discovery describes recent advances in the mathematical sciences and advances enabled by mathematical sciences research. It is geared toward general readers who would like to know more about ongoing advances in the mathematical sciences and how these advances are changing our understanding of the world, creating new technologies, and transforming industries.
Although the mathematical sciences are pervasive, they are often invoked without an explicit awareness of their presence. Prepared as part of the study on the Mathematical Sciences in 2025, a broad assessment of the current state of the mathematical sciences in the United States, Fueling Innovation and Discovery presents mathematical sciences advances in an engaging way. The report describes the contributions that mathematical sciences research has made to advance our understanding of the universe and the human genome. It also explores how the mathematical sciences are contributing to healthcare and national security, and the importance of mathematical knowledge and training to a range of industries, such as information technology and entertainment.
Fueling Innovation and Discovery will be of use to policy makers, researchers, business leaders, students, and others interested in learning more about the deep connections between the mathematical sciences and every other aspect of the modern world. To function well in a technologically advanced society, every educated person should be familiar with multiple aspects of the mathematical sciences.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
"Vive la Revolution!" was the theme of the Twenty-Third Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics held in Val de Reuil, France, from September 17-22, 2000 as more than 140 experts in ship design, construction, and operation came together to exchange naval research developments. The forum encouraged both formal and informal discussion of presented papers, and the occasion provides an opportunity for direct communication between international peers.
This book includes sixty-three papers presented at the symposium which was organized jointly by the Office of Naval Research, the National Research Council (Naval Studies Board), and the Bassin d'Essais des Carènes. This book includes the ten topical areas discussed at the symposium: wave-induced motions and loads, hydrodynamics in ship design, propulsor hydrodynamics and hydroacoustics, CFD validation, viscous ship hydrodynamics, cavitation and bubbly flow, wave hydrodynamics, wake dynamics, shallow water hydrodynamics, and fluid dynamics in the naval context.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
This letter report describes the 2009-2011 activities of the Board on Global Science and Technology (BGST) and provides an initial characterization of the global science and technology landscape that the Board can use as a roadmap to develop future activities. BGST met five times between November 2009 and May 2011. Board meetings were devoted to (1) identifying national security implications of the globalization of S&T, (2) building a baseline understanding of current indicators for the U.S. posture with regard to the evolving global S&T landscape, and (3) developing a BGST engagement strategy. The letter portion of the report summarizes activities of the board in its first year, and also describes some existing approaches to identifying and/or benchmarking emerging technologies globally. It is followed by 5 appendixes which include three experimental examples of a qualitative approach to benchmarking, and brief descriptions of programs that are part of the National Academies complex, with which BGST has cooperated.
Topics: Policy for Science and Technology » Policy for Science and Technology | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
In order for the United States to maintain the global leadership and competitiveness in science and technology that are critical to achieving national goals, we must invest in research, encourage innovation, and grow a strong and talented science and technology workforce. Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation explores the role of diversity in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce and its value in keeping America innovative and competitive. According to the book, the U.S. labor market is projected to grow faster in science and engineering than in any other sector in the coming years, making minority participation in STEM education at all levels a national priority.
Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation analyzes the rate of change and the challenges the nation currently faces in developing a strong and diverse workforce. Although minorities are the fastest growing segment of the population, they are underrepresented in the fields of science and engineering. Historically, there has been a strong connection between increasing educational attainment in the United States and the growth in and global leadership of the economy. Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation suggests that the federal government, industry, and post-secondary institutions work collaboratively with K-12 schools and school systems to increase minority access to and demand for post-secondary STEM education and technical training.
The book also identifies best practices and offers a comprehensive road map for increasing involvement of underrepresented minorities and improving the quality of their education. It offers recommendations that focus on academic and social support, institutional roles, teacher preparation, affordability and program development.
Topics: Education » Math and Science Education | Policy for Science and Technology » Policy for Science and Technology | Engineering and Technology » Engineering Education | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Industry and Labor » Workforce and Labor Issues | Education » Engineering Education
Less than a month after the September 11, 2001 attacks, letters containing spores of anthrax bacteria (Bacillus anthracis, or B. anthracis) were sent through the U.S. mail. Between October 4 and November 20, 2001, 22 individuals developed anthrax; 5 of the cases were fatal.
During its investigation of the anthrax mailings, the FBI worked with other federal agencies to coordinate and conduct scientific analyses of the anthrax letter spore powders, environmental samples, clinical samples, and samples collected from laboratories that might have been the source of the letter-associated spores. The agency relied on external experts, including some who had developed tests to differentiate among strains of B. anthracis. In 2008, seven years into the investigation, the FBI asked the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct an independent review of the scientific approaches used during the investigation of the 2001 B. anthracis mailings.
Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the Anthrax Letters evaluates the scientific foundation for the techniques used by the FBI to determine whether these techniques met appropriate standards for scientific reliability and for use in forensic validation, and whether the FBI reached appropriate scientific conclusions from its use of these techniques. This report reviews and assesses scientific evidence considered in connection with the 2001 Bacillus anthracis mailings.
Topics: Conflict and Security Issues » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Conflict and Security Issues » Prevention, Security and Response | Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity
Prudent Practices in the Laboratory—the book that has served for decades as the standard for chemical laboratory safety practice—now features updates and new topics. This revised edition has an expanded chapter on chemical management and delves into new areas, such as nanotechnology, laboratory security, and emergency planning.
Developed by experts from academia and industry, with specialties in such areas as chemical sciences, pollution prevention, and laboratory safety, Prudent Practices in the Laboratory provides guidance on planning procedures for the handling, storage, and disposal of chemicals. The book offers prudent practices designed to promote safety and includes practical information on assessing hazards, managing chemicals, disposing of wastes, and more.
Prudent Practices in the Laboratory will continue to serve as the leading source of chemical safety guidelines for people working with laboratory chemicals: research chemists, technicians, safety officers, educators, and students.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Environment and Environmental Studies » Waste Disposal and Clean Up | Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity
Traditionally, the natural sciences have been divided into two branches: the biological sciences and the physical sciences. Today, an increasing number of scientists are addressing problems lying at the intersection of the two. These problems are most often biological in nature, but examining them through the lens of the physical sciences can yield exciting results and opportunities. For example, one area producing effective cross-discipline research opportunities centers on the dynamics of systems. Equilibrium, multistability, and stochastic behavior—concepts familiar to physicists and chemists—are now being used to tackle issues associated with living systems such as adaptation, feedback, and emergent behavior.
Research at the Intersection of the Physical and Life Sciences discusses how some of the most important scientific and societal challenges can be addressed, at least in part, by collaborative research that lies at the intersection of traditional disciplines, including biology, chemistry, and physics. This book describes how some of the mysteries of the biological world are being addressed using tools and techniques developed in the physical sciences, and identifies five areas of potentially transformative research. Work in these areas would have significant impact in both research and society at large by expanding our understanding of the physical world and by revealing new opportunities for advancing public health, technology, and stewardship of the environment.
This book recommends several ways to accelerate such cross-discipline research. Many of these recommendations are directed toward those administering the faculties and resources of our great research institutions—and the stewards of our research funders, making this book an excellent resource for academic and research institutions, scientists, universities, and federal and private funding agencies.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
In 1993, the National Advisory Committee was tasked with developing acute exposure guideline levels (AEGLs) for approximately 200 EHSs. This book is the fifteenth interim report from that committee. It summarizes the committee's conclusions and recommendations for improving documents for 16 chemicals and one chemical mixture identified as EHSs. The report also summarizes the committee's conclusions and recommendations for improving a draft white paper that proposes standard operating procedures for using physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling as a tool in the AEGLs development program.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Policy for Science and Technology » Policy for Science and Technology
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Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics
This in-depth benchmarking analysis is based on measures including numbers of published papers, citations, trends in degrees conferred, patent productivity, and awards. The book concludes that the United States is presently, and is expected to remain, among the world's leaders in all subareas of chemical engineering research. However, U.S. leadership in some classical and emerging subareas will be strongly challenged.
This critical analysis will be of interest to practicing chemical engineers, professors and students in the discipline, economists, policy makers, major research university administrators, and executives in industries dependent upon innovations in chemistry.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Policy for Science and Technology » Policy for Science and Technology | Engineering and Technology » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
At the request of the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Research Council conducted an in-depth benchmarking analysis to gauge the current standing of the U.S. chemistry field in the world. The Future of U.S. Chemistry Research: Benchmarks and Challenges highlights the main findings of the benchmarking exercise.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Conflict and Security Issues » Weapons and Technology
Shirley Ann Jackson sees the unseen. She's an expert in the invisible particles that make up everything in the universe, including you. Shirley is a theoretical physicist, a scientist who studies the subatomic world using only paper, pencils, computers and the most important tool of all: her imagination. Shirley's passion for science blossomed during her childhood, with bumblebee experiments and go-cart races. But it's her talent for math and her drive to succeed that have taken her career in amazing directions. Shirley uses her knowledge of electrons, neutrinos, and other particles of matter to better the lives of others—from solving important technology problems to teaching college physics to making nuclear power plants safer. A natural-born leader, Shirley has always seized opportunities and broken down racial barriers, not only for herself but for others. Strong Force is the compelling story of an African American scientist and her science. To tell this true story of courage, author Diane O'Connell drew on firsthand accounts from Shirley and her friends, family, and colleagues. How did a young bee collector grow up to be a world-renowned physicist? The life story of Shirley Ann Jackson will intrigue and inspire readers of all ages.
This title aligns to Common Core standards:
Interest Level Grades 6 - 8; Reading Level Grade level Equivalent: 7.1: Lexile Measure: 1080L; DRA: Not Available; Guided Reading: Z
Topics: Explore Science » Explore Science | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | » Biography and Autobiography | Biography and Autobiography » Biographies
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Scientists and engineers have long relied on the power of imaging techniques to help see objects invisible to the naked eye, and thus, to advance scientific knowledge. These experts are constantly pushing the limits of technology in pursuit of chemical imaging—the ability to visualize molecular structures and chemical composition in time and space as actual events unfold—from the smallest dimension of a biological system to the widest expanse of a distant galaxy.
Chemical imaging has a variety of applications for almost every facet of our daily lives, ranging from medical diagnosis and treatment to the study and design of material properties in new products. In addition to highlighting advances in chemical imaging that could have the greatest impact on critical problems in science and technology, Visualizing Chemistry reviews the current state of chemical imaging technology, identifies promising future developments and their applications, and suggests a research and educational agenda to enable breakthrough improvements.
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Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Policy for Science and Technology » Policy for Science and Technology
The impact of catalysis on the nation's economy is evidenced by the fact that catalytic technologies generate U.S. sales in excess of $400 billion per year and a net positive balance of trade of $16 billion annually.
This book outlines recent accomplishments in the science and technology of catalysis and summarizes important likely challenges and opportunities on the near horizon.
It also presents recommendations for investment of financial and human resources by industry, academe, national laboratories, and relevant federal agencies if the nation is to maintain continuing leadership in this field—one that is critical to the chemical and petroleum processing industries, essential for energy-efficient means for environmental protection, and vital for the production of a broad range of pharmaceuticals.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
The third workshop of the Chemical Sciences Roundtable, Research Teams and Partnerships was held in Irvine, California, on May 2-3, 1999. The presentations and discussions at the workshop considered the current status of research partnerships in the chemical sciences and methods to improve the ability to form and maximize such collaborations. This volume presents the results of that workshop.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
This book focuses on computational methods to determine the dynamics of large-scale electromagnetic, acoustic, and mechanical systems, including those with many substructures and characterized by an extended range of scales. Examples include large naval and maritime vessels, aerospace vehicles, and densely packed microelectronic and optical integrated circuits (VLSI). The interplay of time and frequency-domain computational and experimental procedures was addressed, emphasizing their relationship and synergy, and indicating mathematics research opportunities.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
The Twenty-Second Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics was held in Washington, D.C., from August 9-14, 1998. It coincided with the 100th anniversary of the David Taylor Model Basin. This international symposium was organized jointly by the Office of Naval Research (Mechanics and Energy Conversion S&T Division), the National Research Council (Naval Studies Board), and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (David Taylor Model Basin). This biennial symposium promotes the technical exchange of naval research developments of common interest to all the countries of the world. The forum encourages both formal and informal discussion of the presented papers, and the occasion provides an opportunity for direct communication between international peers.
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This book identifies challenges and opportunities in the development and implementation of software that contain significant statistical content. While emphasizing the relevance of using rigorous statistical and probabilistic techniques in software engineering contexts, it presents opportunities for further research in the statistical sciences and their applications to software engineering.
It is intended to motivate and attract new researchers from statistics and the mathematical sciences to attack relevant and pressing problems in the software engineering setting. It describes the "big picture," as this approach provides the context in which statistical methods must be developed. The book's survey nature is directed at the mathematical sciences audience, but software engineers should also find the statistical emphasis refreshing and stimulating. It is hoped that the book will have the effect of seeding the field of statistical software engineering by its indication of opportunities where statistical thinking can help to increase understanding, productivity, and quality of software and software production.
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Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
With the publication in 1994 of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Science: An Investment in the Future (the FAMOS report), the National Research Council launched the series Physics in a New Era, its latest survey of physics. Each of the six area volumes in the survey focuses on a different subfield of physics, describing advances since the last decadal survey and suggesting future opportunities and directions. This survey culminated in 2001 with the publication of the seventh and final volume, Physics in a New Era: An Overview. Since the publication of the FAMOS report, the developments in atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) science have been amazing.
Significant advances in areas such as cooling and trapping, atom and quantum optics, single-atom and single-molecule detection, and ultrafast and ultra intense phenomena, along with the emergence of new applications, made it clear that an update of the FAMOS report was needed. With support from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, the Committee for an Updated Assessment of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Science was formed. The committee's statement of task reads as follows: The committee will prepare a narrative document that portrays the advances in AMO science and its impact on society. This report highlights selected forefront areas of AMO science, emphasizing recent accomplishments and new opportunities, identifies connections between AMO science and other scientific fields, emerging technologies, and national needs, describes career opportunities for AMO scientists.
To accomplish its task and at the same time reach a broad audience, the committee decided to present its report in the form of a brochure highlighting selected advances, connections, and impacts on national needs. An exhaustive assessment of the field, which will fall within the purview of the next decadal survey, was not the goal of the update. The committee would like to express its gratitude for the informative interactions it had with many scientists and policy makers. Many colleagues completed a questionnaire and suggested topics to be included in this report. The final selection of topics was made in accordance with the criteria set forth in the statement of task. While this report was still being written, the tragic events of September 11, 2001, occurred. AMO science and its applications have already played and will continue to play a central role in our nation's response to terrorist threats from conventional as well as chemical or biological weapons. Some of the technology discussed in this report in the chapter "AMO Science Enhancing National Defense" was used successfully for the U.S. military response in Afghanistan—the Global Positioning System (GPS) and laser-guided munitions are just two examples. AMO science will also enable the development of early detection techniques that will help to neutralize the threat from biological and chemical agents.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Conflict and Security Issues » Weapons and Technology
Significant advances have been made in fusion science, and a point has been reached when we need to decide if the United States is ready to begin a burning plasma experiment. A burning plasma—in which at least 50 percent of the energy to drive the fusion reaction is generated internally—is an essential step to reach the goal of fusion power generation. The Burning Plasma Assessment Committee was formed to provide advice on this decision. The committee concluded that there is high confidence in the readiness to proceed with the burning plasma step. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), with the United States as a significant partner, was the best choice. Once a commitment to ITER is made, fulfilling it should become the highest priority of the U.S. fusion research program. A funding trajectory is required that both captures the benefits of joining ITER and retains a strong scientific focus on the long-range goals of the program. Addition of the ITER project will require that the content, scope, and level of U.S. fusion activity be defined by program balancing through a priority-setting process initiated by the Office of Fusion Energy Science.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics
This letter report presents a review of actions taken by the FBI that address many of the concerns discussed in the NRC report, A Review of the FBI's Trilogy Information Technology Modernization Program. That report was released in early May. The letter report presents the NRC assessment of those steps, noting where progress is apparent in addressing earlier concerns and where additional efforts are needed.
Topics: Computers and Information Technology » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
Some of the hardest computational problems have been successfully attacked through the use of probabilistic algorithms, which have an element of randomness to them. Concepts from the field of probability are also increasingly useful in analyzing the performance of algorithms, broadening our understanding beyond that provided by the worst-case or average-case analyses.
This book surveys both of these emerging areas on the interface of the mathematical sciences and computer science. It is designed to attract new researchers to this area and provide them with enough background to begin explorations of their own.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
How can the federal government gauge the overall health of scientific research—as a whole and in its parts—and determine whether national funding adequately supports national research objectives? It is feasible to monitor US performance with field-by-field peer assessments. This might be done through the establishment of independent panels consisting of researchers who work in a field, individuals who work in closely related fields, and research "users" who follow the field closely. Some of these individuals should be outstanding foreign scientists in the field being examined. This technique of comparative international assessments is also known as international benchmarking.
Experiments in International Benchmarking of U.S. Research Fields evaluates the feasibility and utility of the benchmarking technique. In order to do this, the report internationally benchmarks three fields: mathematics, immunology, and materials science and engineering, then summarizes the results of these experiments.
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Chemical signals among organisms form "a vast communicative interplay, fundamental to the fabric of life," in the words of one expert. Chemical ecology is the the discipline that seeks to understand these interactions-to use biology in the search for new substances of potential benefit to humankind.
This book highlights selected research areas of medicinal and agricultural importance. Leading experts review the chemistry of:
Topics also include the appropriation of dietary factors for defense and communication; the use of chemical signals in the marine environment; the role of the olfactory system in chemical analysis; and the interaction of polydnaviruses, endoparasites, and the immune system of the host.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
For a period of history no women worked outside the home. Bust as years have gone by and society has changed, Women are working varying jobs every day. They are, however, underrepresented in some sectors of jobs. This includes women in the engineering and science fields. To matters worse, women do not ascend the career ladder as fast as or as far as men do.
The impact of this and related problems for science, the academic enterprise, the U.S. economy, and global economic competitiveness have been recently examined. The Chemical Sciences Roundtable evaluate that the demographics of the workforce and the implications for science and society vary, depending on the field of science or engineering. The roundtable has organized a workshop, "Women in the Chemical Workforce," to address issues pertinent to the chemical and chemical engineering workforce as a whole, with an emphasis on the advancement of women.
Women in the Chemical Workforce: A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable includes reports regarding the workshop's three sessions—Context and Overview, Opportunities for Change, and Conditions for Success—as well as presentations by invited speakers, discussions within breakout groups, oral reports from each group.
Topics: Industry and Labor » Workforce and Labor Issues | Behavioral and Social Sciences » Women and Minorities | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
Experts agree that the nation would benefit if more young people "turned on" to the sciences. This book is designed as a tool to do just that. It is based on Opportunities in Chemistry, a National Research Council publication that incorporated the contributions of 350 researchers working at the frontiers of the field. Chemistry educators Janice A. Coonrod and the late George C. Pimentel revised the material to capture the interest of today's student.
A broad and highly readable survey, the volume explores:
The book concludes with a discussion of chemistry's role in society's risk-benefit decisions and a review of career and educational opportunities.
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Knowledge of time is essential to precise knowledge of location, and for this reason the Navy, with its need to navigate on the high seas, has historically played an important role in the development and application of advanced time realization and dissemination technologies. Discoveries coming from basic research funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) lie at the heart of today's highest performance atomic clocks, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) expertise played a role in developing the space-qualified atomic clocks that enable the Global Positioning System (GPS), and the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) maintains and disseminates the standard of time for all of the Department of Defense (DOD). The Navy has made major investments in most aspects of precision time and time interval (PTTI) science and technology, although specific PTTI-related research has also been funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and non-DOD agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Commerce. Navy funding, largely through ONR, has a history of being an early enabler of key new developments. Judicious funding decisions by the Navy—particularly by ONR program officers—have underpinned most of the major advances in PTTI science and technology (S&T) in the last 50 years.
PTTI is important to modern naval needs, and indeed to all the armed Services, for use in both navigation and communications. Precise time synchronization is needed to efficiently determine the start of a code sequence in secure communications, to perform navigation, and to locate the position of signal emitters. Precise frequency control is required in communications for spectrum utilization and frequency-hopped spread-spectrum techniques. There are many examples of essential military operations that depend on PTTI and could benefit from improvements in PTTI technology. These include:
-GPS clocks and autonomous operations,
-Weapon system four-dimensional coordination,
-GPS antijamming,
-Network-centric warfare, and
-Secure military communications.
This report summarizes that reductions in the size, weight, and power requirements and increases in the ruggedness of PTTI devices without sacrificing performance would put more accurate and precise timekeeping in the hands of the warrior, improving capabilities in all of the above operations.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Space and Aeronautics » Space Systems and Hardware
This report is part of a series of reports that summarize this regular event. The report discusses research developments in ship design, construction, and operation in a forum that encouraged both formal and informal discussion of presented papers.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
This cross-disciplinary book documents the key research challenges in the mathematical sciences and physics that could enable the economical development of novel biomedical imaging devices. It is hoped that the infusion of new insights from mathematical scientists and physicists will accelerate progress in imaging. Incorporating input from dozens of biomedical researchers who described what they perceived as key open problems of imaging that are amenable to attack by mathematical scientists and physicists, this book introduces the frontiers of biomedical imaging, especially the imaging of dynamic physiological functions, to the educated nonspecialist.
Ten imaging modalities are covered, from the well-established (e.g., CAT scanning, MRI) to the more speculative (e.g., electrical and magnetic source imaging). For each modality, mathematics and physics research challenges are identified and a short list of suggested reading offered. Two additional chapters offer visions of the next generation of surgical and interventional techniques and of image processing. A final chapter provides an overview of mathematical issues that cut across the various modalities.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Engineering and Technology » Applications of Technology | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
This book responds to the call for a clear description of the role of basic science in meeting societal needs. It gives examples of societal benefits of atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) science in a number of key areas, including industrial technology, information technology, energy, global change, defense, health and medical technology, space technology, and transportation.
This volume highlights the role of lasers in trapping, cooling, and manipulating individual atoms and molecules to make possible ultraprecise atomic clocks, structural engineering at the atomic level (nanotechnology), and new approaches to the study of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). AMO science is shown to be a field that is both an intellectually important basic science and a powerful enabling science that supports many other areas of science and technology.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
In spite of its high cost and technical importance, plasma equipment is still largely designed empirically, with little help from computer simulation. Plasma process control is rudimentary. Optimization of plasma reactor operation, including adjustments to deal with increasingly stringent controls on plant emissions, is performed predominantly by trial and error. There is now a strong and growing economic incentive to improve on the traditional methods of plasma reactor and process design, optimization, and control. An obvious strategy for both chip manufacturers and plasma equipment suppliers is to employ large-scale modeling and simulation. The major roadblock to further development of this promising strategy is the lack of a database for the many physical and chemical processes that occur in the plasma. The data that are currently available are often scattered throughout the scientific literature, and assessments of their reliability are usually unavailable.
Database Needs for Modeling and Simulation of Plasma Processing identifies strategies to add data to the existing database, to improve access to the database, and to assess the reliability of the available data. In addition to identifying the most important needs, this report assesses the experimental and theoretical/computational techniques that can be used, or must be developed, in order to begin to satisfy these needs.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics
This volume updates and combines two National Academy Press bestsellers—Prudent Practices for Handling Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories and Prudent Practices for Disposal of Chemicals from Laboratories—which have served for more than a decade as leading sources of chemical safety guidelines for the laboratory.
Developed by experts from academia and industry, with specialties in such areas as chemical sciences, pollution prevention, and laboratory safety, Prudent Practices for Safety in Laboratories provides step-by-step planning procedures for handling, storage, and disposal of chemicals. The volume explores the current culture of laboratory safety and provides an updated guide to federal regulations. Organized around a recommended workflow protocol for experiments, the book offers prudent practices designed to promote safety and it includes practical information on assessing hazards, managing chemicals, disposing of wastes, and more.
Prudent Practices for Safety in Laboratories is essential reading for people working with laboratory chemicals: research chemists, technicians, safety officers, chemistry educators, and students.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Environment and Environmental Studies » Waste Disposal and Clean Up
The workshop was a direct outgrowth of a previous study by the CNSTAT Panel on Estimates of Poverty for Small Geographic Areas. That panel, established under a 1994 act of Congress, began its work with a very specific mission: to evaluate the suitability of the U.S. Census Bureau's small-area estimates of poor school-age children for use in the allocation of funds to counties and school districts under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
In carrying out their assignment, panel members came to realize that the properties of data sources and statistical procedures used to produce formula estimates, interacting with formula features such as thresholds and hold-harmless provisions, can produce consequences that may not have been anticipated or intended. It also became evident that there is a trade-off between the goals of providing a reasonable amount of stability in funding from one year to the next and redirecting funds to different jurisdictions as true needs change. In one instance, for example, the annual appropriation included a 100 percent hold-harmless provision, ensuring that no recipient would receive less than the year before. However, there was no increase in the total appropriation, with the result that new estimates showing changes in the distribution of program needs across areas had no effect on the allocations.
Choosing the Right Formula provides an account of the presentations and discussions at the workshop. The first three chapters cover the overview, case studies, and methodological sessions, respectively. Chapter 4 summarizes the issues discussed in the roundtable and concluding sessions, with emphasis on the identification of questions that might be addressed in a panel study.
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The President's FY 2003 Budget Request for the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction Account called for a National Research Council (NRC) review of the scientific merits of IceCube and other proposed U.S. neutrino projects in the context of current and proposed capabilities throughout the world. The NRC committee-the Neutrino Facilities Assessment Committee (NFAC)-was charged with providing scientific assessments of two possible future science initiatives: (1) IceCube, a very large volume detector of high-energy neutrinos proposed for the South Pole and (2) a possible deep underground science facility to be developed in the United States to pursue a broad range of fundamental questions in physics and astronomy. Fourteen persons were appointed to the committee, and the first meeting was held in June 2002, with delivery of the final report expected within 6 months. The committee's assessment was to be performed in the context of current and planned neutrino capabilities throughout the world. Specifically, the study was to address the unique capabilities of each class of new experiment and any possible redundancy between the two types of facility.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics
Since publication of the National Research Council (NRC) reports on chemistry in 1985 and chemical engineering in 1988,1,2 dramatic advances in information technology (IT) have totally changed these communities. During this period, the chemical enterprise and information technology have enjoyed both a remarkably productive and mutually supportive set of advances. These synergies sparked unprecedented growth in the capability and productivity of both fields including the definition of entirely new areas of the chemical enterprise. The chemical enterprise provided information technology with device fabrication processes, new materials, data, models, methods, and (most importantly) people. In turn, information technology provided chemical science and technology with truly remarkable and revolutionary resources for computations, communications, and data management. Indeed, computation has become the strong third component of the chemical science research and development effort, joining experiment and theory. Sustained mutual growth and interdependence of the chemical and information communities should take account of several unique aspects of the chemical sciences. These include extensive and complex databases that characterize the chemical disciplines; the importance of multiscale simulations that range from molecules to technological processes; the global economic impact of the chemical industry; and the industry's major influence on the nation's health, environment, security, and economic well-being. In planning the future of the chemical sciences and technology, it is crucial to recognize the benefits already derived from advances in information technology as well as to point the way to future benefits that will be derived.
Topics: Computers and Information Technology » Computers | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
A Challenge of Numbers describes the circumstances and issues centered on people in the mathematical sciences, principally students and teachers at U.S. colleges and universities. A healthy flow of mathematical talent is crucial not only to the future of U.S. mathematics but also as a keystone supporting a technological workforce. Trends in the mathematical sciences' most valuable resource—its people—are presented narratively, graphically, and numerically as an information base for policymakers and for those interested in the people in this not very visible, but critical profession.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Policy for Science and Technology » Policy for Science and Technology | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
Separation processes—or processes that use physical, chemical, or electrical forces to isolate or concentrate selected constituents of a mixture—are essential to the chemical, petroleum refining, and materials processing industries.
In this volume, an expert panel reviews the separation process needs of seven industries and identifies technologies that hold promise for meeting these needs, as well as key technologies that could enable separations. In addition, the book recommends criteria for the selection of separations research projects for the Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technology.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
A Positron Named Priscilla is a book of wonder, offering a fascinating, readable overview of the cutting-edge investigations of many of today's leading young scientists. This volume, containing chapters authored by popular science writers, reports on some of the most exciting recent discoveries and advances. Topics include planetary science, astrophysics and the emergence of helioseismology, biology and what we have learned about DNA, physics and our new-found ability to move and manipulate individual atoms on a surface, and more.
Topics: Explore Science » Explore Science | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
Some of the modem developments described in Motion, Control, and Geometry include the geometric control of robot motion and craft orientation, how high-power precision micromotors are engineered for less invasive surgery and self-focusing lens applications, what a mobile robot on a surface has in common with one moving in three dimensions, and how the motion-control problem is simplified by a coupled oscillator's geometric grouping of degrees of freedom and motion time scales.
The four papers in these proceedings provide a view through the scientific portal of today's motion-control geometric research into tomorrow's technology. The mathematics needed to carry out this research is that of modem differential geometry, and the questions raised in the field of motion-control geometry go directly to the research frontier. Geometry is a mathematical area too often neglected nowadays in a student's education. This publication will help adjust the control initially imposed about 2,300 years ago on one kind of "motion"—that of students entering Plato's Academy, where the following caveat was inscribed above the doorway: "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here." Readers of these chapters will gain an appreciation of modem geometry and how it continues to play a crucial role in the context of motion control in cutting-edge science and technology.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
Computational methods are rapidly becoming major tools of theoretical, pharmaceutical, materials, and biological chemists. Accordingly, the mathematical models and numerical analysis that underlie these methods have an increasingly important and direct role to play in the progress of many areas of chemistry. This book explores the research interface between computational chemistry and the mathematical sciences. In language that is aimed at non-specialists, it documents some prominent examples of past successful cross-fertilizations between the fields and explores the mathematical research opportunities in a broad cross-section of chemical research frontiers. It also discusses cultural differences between the two fields and makes recommendations for overcoming those differences and generally promoting this interdisciplinary work.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
The Program Manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (PMACWA) of the Department of Defense (DOD) requested the National Research Council (NRC) to assess the engineering design studies (EDSs) developed by Parsons/Honeywell and General Atomics for a chemical demilitarization facility to completely dispose of the assembled chemical weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Pueblo, Colorado. To accomplish the task, the NRC formed the Committee on Review and Evaluation of Alternative Technologies for Demilitarization of Assembled Chemical Weapons: Phase II (ACW II Committee). This report presents the results of the committee's scientific and technical assessment, which will assist the Office of the Secretary of Defense in selecting the technology package for destroying the chemical munitions at Pueblo.
The committee evaluated the engineering design packages proposed by the technology providers and the associated experimental studies that were performed to validate unproven unit operations. A significant part of the testing program involved expanding the technology base for the hydrolysis of energetic materials associated with assembled weapons. This process was a concern expressed by the Committee on Review and Evaluation of Alternative Technologies for Demilitarization of Assembled Chemical Weapons (ACW I Committee) in its original report in 1999 (NRC, 1999). The present study took place as the experimental studies were in progress. In some cases, tests for some of the supporting unit operations were not completed in time for the committee to incorporate results into its evaluation. In those cases, the committee identified and discussed potential problem areas in these operations. Based on its expertise and its aggressive data-gathering activities, the committee was able to conduct a comprehensive review of the test data that had been completed for the overall system design. This report summarizes the study.
Topics: Environment and Environmental Studies » Waste Disposal and Clean Up | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
Topics: Engineering and Technology » Materials | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
This book describes fruitful past collaborations between the mathematical and materials sciences and indicates future challenges. It seeks both to encourage mathematical sciences research that will complement vital research in materials science and to raise awareness of the value of quantitative methods. The volume encourages both communities to increase cross-disciplinary collaborations, emphasizing that each has much to gain from such an increase, and it presents recommendations for facilitating such work.
This book is written for both mathematical and materials science researchers interested in advancing research at this interface; for federal and state agency representatives interested in encouraging such collaborations; and for anyone wanting information on how such cross-disciplinary, collaborative efforts can be accomplished successfully.
Topics: Engineering and Technology » Materials | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs.
Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics
Computing and communications are becoming essential tools of science. Together, they make possible new kinds and degrees of collaboration. This book addresses technical, scientific, and social aspects of fostering scientific collaboration using information technology. It explores issues in molecular biology, oceanography, and space physics, and derives recommendations for a partnership between scientists and technologists to develop better collaboration technology to support science.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
In the next 10 to 15 years, chemical engineers have the potential to affect every aspect of American life and promote the scientific and industrial leadership of the United States. Frontiers in Chemical Engineering explores the opportunities available and gives a blueprint for turning a multitude of promising visions into realities. It also examines the likely changes in how chemical engineers will be educated and take their place in the profession, and presents new research opportunities.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
This book both describes the chemical parameters that must be measured in the ocean in order to improve our understanding of the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle and recommends technologies of analytical chemistry that could be applied to these parameters. Additionally, the volume recommends how the federal government, ocean scientists, and analytical chemists could work together more closely to speed development of new instruments and implementation of new techniques.
Topics: Earth Sciences » Ocean Studies | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
The goals of atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO physics) are to elucidate the fundamental laws of physics, to understand the structure of matter and how matter evolves at the atomic and molecular levels, to understand light in all its manifestations, and to create new techniques and devices. AMO physics provides theoretical and experimental methods and essential data to neighboring areas of science such as chemistry, astrophysics, condensed-matter physics, plasma physics, surface science, biology, and medicine. It contributes to the national security system and to the nation's programs in fusion, directed energy, and materials research. Lasers and advanced technologies such as optical processing and laser isotope separation have been made possible by discoveries in AMO physics, and the research underlies new industries such as fiber-optics communications and laser-assisted manufacturing. These developments are expected to help the nation to maintain its industrial competitiveness and its military strength in the years to come. This report describes the field, characterizes recent advances, and identifies current frontiers of research.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
Last November, the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative held the Designing Nanostructures at the Interface Between Biomedical and Physical Systems conference at which researchers from science, engineering and medicine discussed recent developments in nanotechnology, directions for future research, and possible biomedical applications. The centerpiece of the conference was breakout sessions in which ten focus groups of researchers from different fields spent eight hours developing research plans to solve various problems in the field of nanotechnology. Among the challenges were:
Representatives from public and private funding organizations, government, industry, and the science media also participated in the focus groups. This book provides a summary of the conference focus groups. For more information about the conference, visit Keck Futures Initiative.
The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative was launched in 2003 to stimulate new modes of scientific inquiry and break down the conceptual and institutional barriers to interdisciplinary research. The National Academies and the W.M. Keck Foundation believe considerable scientific progress and social benefit will be achieved by providing a counterbalance to the tendency to isolate research within academic fields. The Futures Initiative is designed to enable researchers from different disciplines to focus on new questions upon which they can base entirely new research, and to encourage better communication between scientists as well as between the scientific community and the public.
Funded by a $40 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative is a 15-year effort to catalyze interdisciplinary inquiry and to enhance communication among researchers, funding agencies, universities, and the general public—with the object of stimulating interdisciplinary research at the most exciting frontiers. The Futures Initiative builds on three pillars of vital and sustained research: interdisciplinary encounters that counterbalance specialization and isolation; the identification and exploration of new research topics; and communication that bridges languages, cultures, habits of thought, and institutions. Toward these goals, the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative incorporates three core activities each year: Futures conferences, Futures grants, and National Academies Communication Awards.
Topics: Health and Medicine » Health Sciences | Engineering and Technology » Applications of Technology | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
The Department of the Navy maintains a vigorous science and technology (S&T) research program in those areas that are critically important to ensuring U.S. naval superiority in the maritime environment. A number of these areas depend largely on sustained Navy Department investments for their health, strength, and growth. One such area is naval hydromechanics, that is, the study of the hydrodynamic and hydroacoustic performance of Navy ships, submarines, underwater vehicles, and weapons. A fundamental understanding of naval hydromechanics provides direct benefits to naval warfighting capabilities through improvements in the speed, maneuverability, and stealth of naval platforms and weapons.
An Assessment of Naval Hydromechanics Science and Technology is an assessment of S&T research in the area of naval hydromechanics. This report assesses the Navy's research effort in the area of hydromechanics, identifies non-Navy-sponsored research and development efforts that might facilitate progress in the area, and provides recommendations on how the scope of the Navy's research program should be focused to meet future objectives.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Engineering and Technology » Construction: Design, Research, Planning
This book captures the messages from a workshop that brought together research managers from government, industry, and academia to review and discuss the mechanisms that have been proposed or used to assess the value of chemical research.
The workshop focused on the assessment procedures that have been or will be established within the various organizations that carry out or fund research activities, with particular attention to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). The book presents approaches and ideas from leaders in each area that were intended to identify new and useful ways of assessing the value and potential impact of research activities.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
This book presents guidelines for the development and evaluation of statistical software designed to ensure minimum acceptable statistical functionality as well as ease of interpretation and use. It consists of the proceedings of a forum that focused on three qualities of statistical software: richness—the availability of layers of output sophistication, guidance—how the package helps a user do an analysis and do it well, and exactness—determining if the output is "correct" and when and how to warn of potential problems.
Topics: Computers and Information Technology » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
Gravitational Physics assesses the achievements of the field over the past decade in both theory and experiment, identifies the most promising opportunities for research in the next decade, and describes the resources necessary to realize those opportunities. A major theme running through the opportunities is the exploration of strong gravitational fields, such as those associated with black holes.
The book, part of the ongoing decadal survey Physics in a New Era, examines topics such as gravitational waves and their detection, classical and quantum theory of strong gravitational fields, precision measurements, and astronomical observations relevant to the predictions of Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics
Physics at the beginning of the twenty-first century has reached new levels of accomplishment and impact in a society and nation that are changing rapidly. Accomplishments have led us into the information age and fueled broad technological and economic development. The pace of discovery is quickening and stronger links with other fields such as the biological sciences are being developed. The intellectual reach has never been greater, and the questions being asked are more ambitious than ever before.
Physics in a New Era is the final report of the NRC's six-volume decadal physics survey. The book reviews the frontiers of physics research, examines the role of physics in our society, and makes recommendations designed to strengthen physics and its ability to serve important needs such as national security, the economy, information technology, and education.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Conflict and Security Issues » Weapons and Technology
Spatial statistics is one of the most rapidly growing areas of statistics, rife with fascinating research opportunities. Yet many statisticians are unaware of those opportunities, and most students in the United States are never exposed to any course work in spatial statistics. Written to be accessible to the nonspecialist, this volume surveys the applications of spatial statistics to a wide range of areas, including image analysis, geosciences, physical chemistry, and ecology.
The book describes the contributions of the mathematical sciences, summarizes the current state of knowledge, and identifies directions for research.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
Topics: Earth Sciences » Climate, Weather and Meteorology | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry
This report presents the results of a workshop focusing on mathematical methods and techniques for addressing these areas. The goal of the workshop is to help mathematical scientists and policy makers understand the connections between mathematical sciences research and these homeland security applications.
Topics: Computers and Information Technology » Internet and Networking | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
Plasma science is the study of ionized states of matter. This book discusses the field's potential contributions to society and recommends actions that would optimize those contributions. It includes an assessment of the field's scientific and technological status as well as a discussion of broad themes such as fundamental plasma experiments, theoretical and computational plasma research, and plasma science education.
Topics: Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
Part of the Physics in a New Era series of assessments of the various branches of the field, Elementary-Particle Physics reviews progress in the field over the past 10 years and recommends actions needed to address the key questions that remain unanswered. It explains in simple terms the present picture of how matter is constructed. As physicists have probed ever deeper into the structure of matter, they have begun to explore one of the most fundamental questions that one can ask about the universe: What gives matter its mass? A new international accelerator to be built at the European laboratory CERN will begin to explore some of the mechanisms proposed to give matter its heft. The committee recommends full U.S. participation in this project as well as various other experiments and studies to be carried out now and in the longer term.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Space and Aeronautics » Astronomy and Astrophysics
This volume contains technical papers and discussions covering ship motions, ship hydrodynamics, experimental techniques, free-surface aspects, wave/wake dynamics, propeller/hull/appendage interactions, and viscous effects.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics
The scientific basis, inference assumptions, regulatory uses, and research needs in risk assessment are considered in this two-part volume.
The first part, Use of Maximum Tolerated Dose in Animal Bioassays for Carcinogenicity, focuses on whether the maximum tolerated dose should continue to be used in carcinogenesis bioassays. The committee considers several options for modifying current bioassay procedures.
The second part, Two-Stage Models of Carcinogenesis, stems from efforts to identify improved means of cancer risk assessment that have resulted in the development of a mathematical dose-response model based on a paradigm for the biologic phenomena thought to be associated with carcinogenesis.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics