Opportunities in Chemistry (1985) / Chapter Skim
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VII. Resources for Basic Research in the Chemical Sciences
VII. Resources for Basic Research in the Chemical Sciences
Pages 288-326
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From page 288... ...
Thus it continuously renews our pool of scientific personnel with young scientists whose thesis work has probed the edges of our knowledge. BASIC CHEMICAL RESEARCH IN INDUSTRY Because of the clear potentiality for short-term payofffrom chemical research, the chemical industry invests heavily in its own in-house research.
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From page 289... ...
Efforts are being made to strengthen this coupling (e.g., through the Council for Chemical Research) and to increase the amount of this support.
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From page 290... ...
While the FY 1983 federal obligation of $349M for chemistry research may seem a large sum, it is well within bounds defined by federal obligations for other physical sciences that depend upon sophisticated instrumentation (see Table VIl-1) , which compares federal funding for chemistry novice and astronomy over the 10-year period 1973 to 1983.
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From page 291... ...
These agencies also support research in their own national laboratories, but funding of basic research performed in universities and colleges is a clear-cut and unambiguous indicator of a particular agency's commitment to long-range chemistry research and the renewal of the pool of scientists. Table VIl-2 shows that the largest fraction for the support of chemical research has come from the National Science Foundation over the last decade.
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From page 292... ...
federal science-funding agencies will candidly admit that they believe it easier to argue for an enormous increment of funding to sponsor a large machine or a massive project than for a smaller increment to stimulate many smaller projects with comparable or greater expectation for new discoveries and scientific advances that will surely respond to society's needs. Thus the Department of Energy in its 1985 budget devotes 55 percent of its Office of Energy Research budget to two "Big Science" project areas: $54SM for high energy physics and $440M for fusion research.
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From page 293... ...
operating budgets that are irresistibly rooted in huge initial capital investments. In the presence of such ambitious programs, the incremental resources needed to exploit the rich opportunities before us in chemistry are easily in scale.
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From page 294... ...
Selectivity, the key challenge in chemical synthesis, is the cornerstone. Control of the different intrinsic reactivity in each bond type (chemoselectivity)
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From page 295... ...
All facets of this critical frontier are opening and synergistically interacting. Heterogeneous catalysts are solid materials prepared with large surface areas upon which chemical reactions occur at extremely high rate and selectivity.
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From page 296... ...
In either case, our growing knowledge of homogeneous catalysis and of semiconductor behavior is being applied and coupled with the stimulating aspect of the electro- or photochemical energy input. Potential applications range from solar energy storage to photogeneration of liquid fuels, such as methanol from carbon dioxide and water.
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From page 297... ...
The first two issues involve analytical chemistry, and the second two involve reaction dynamics. Fortunately, both fields are in particularly fruitful states of development.
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From page 298... ...
and at temperatures near absolute zero. High-pressure chemistry has potentiality on several fronts as it has become possible to examine reactivity at pressures up to and exceeding a million times atmospheric pressure (>1 megabar)
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From page 299... ...
extraction, liquid crystals for display devices, and new polymer transitions. High temperature chemistry is not new: combustion has been known since prehistoric times.
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From page 300... ...
New applications of supersonic jet cooling are still being discovered, and they often provide unique insights. Suspension of highly reactive molecules in inert gas solids at temperatures near absolute zero (the matrix isolation technique)
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From page 301... ...
This can be examined most clearly for the Chemistry Division budget and in terms of three funding dimensions: purchase of large instrumentation for shared use (either on a departmental or regional basis) , purchases of expensive instrumentation for dedicated use, and the size of individual research grants.
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From page 302... ...
It was then deliberately raised to about 9 percent NSF CHEMISTRY DIVISION BUDGET for the years 1970 to 1972. Again a deliberate decision in 1973 led to another increase in the percent of the Chemis try Division budget spent for dedicated and shared instru mentation, this time to 17 percent.
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From page 303... ...
. The need to divert to instrumentation an increasingly larger fraction of the NSF Chemistry Division budget is but one of the symptoms of resources inadequate to the opportunities we must exploit and develop.
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From page 304... ...
NSF should build into its shared instrumentation program annual operating and maintenance support (20 percent of capital investment) for a period of 5 years after purchase.
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From page 305... ...
The cost of such a shared instrumentation program is shown in Table VIT-5 and compared with the projected NSF Departmental Instrumentation budget for FY 1985. The NSF shared instrumentation budget falls far short of the need.
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From page 306... ...
Array processor (15) Instruments Average capital cost per instrument Cost share, NSF, loon Maintenance and operation at 20% capital cost/year for 3 years Total cost, NSF share, per instrument 360K 250K 400K 540K 400K 500K 600K 250K $3300K 220K 130K 350K Grant Size As indicated earlier, instrumentation has absorbed almost all the growth in the Chemistry Division budget for the last 15 years.
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From page 307... ...
Needed increment $9.6 M TABLE VII-8 Proposed NSF Chemistry Grant Sizes Level of effort A B C D E Postdoc, 20K 1 20.0 1 20.0 1 20.0 1/2 10.0 Grad's, 9K 6 54.0 4 36.0 2 18.0 1/2 4.5 Faculty summer, 2 mo 8.0 2 mo 8.0 2 mo 8.0 2 mo 8.0 2 mo 8.0 4K/mo Services, 3.5K (7)
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From page 308... ...
It does imply and advocate open competition for individual grants within the peer review system, and it assumes that an award, once made, will be adequate to complete the proposed research. It implies less proposal writing, less need for multiple grants to sustain a viable program, and provision for supporting infrastructure at all grant sizes.
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From page 309... ...
The startling revelation of Table VTI-9 is how far the proposed FY 1985 Chemistry Division budget falls short of these aspirations and needs. Table VIl-10 combines this with the analyses of Tables VIl-5 on shared instrumentation and Table VIl-7 on dedicated instrumentation.
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From page 310... ...
Finally, within bounds set by reasonable accountability, NSF should strive to minimize the number and length of proposals required for an active and productive investigator to obtain adequate support. The increase in grant size advocated here would immediately reduce both the number of proposals per investigator and the diversion of the research community in the operation of the peer review system.
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From page 311... ...
. ~ TAB LE V I I- 1 1 Magnitude of Sel ected D OF Fundamental Research Programs, FY 1985a High energy physicsb Magnetic fusion energy Materials sciencesC Environmental sciences Nuclear physicsb Chemical sciencesC Nuclear sciencesC Applied mathematical sciencesC Engineering and geosciencesC Biological energy researchC Advanced energy projectsC Total $547.8M 440.1 193.6 191.1 180.6 95.1 44.0 36.8 28.3 13.1 11.1 $1781.6M 30.7~o 24.7 10.9 10.7 10.1 5.3 2.5 2.1 1.6 0.7 0.6 aAAAS Report IX: Research and Development, FY 1985 (following congressional action, as compiled by AAAS in Nov.
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From page 312... ...
To accelerate our movement toward meeting these critical needs the Department of Energy should mount a major initiative in those areas of chemistry relevant to the energy technologies of the future. The same urgency that justifies our powerful program in nuclear fusion dictates a program of comparable magnitude in chemistry.
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From page 313... ...
Each yearly increment in this 5-year program would be divided in a growth pattern that will, first, stimulate the efforts of those National Laboratories that choose to refocus their defined mission toward chemistry-based energy technologies and, second, build the engagement of the academic research community in the areas that undergird these technologies. The FY 1985 baseline is taken to be $120M, based upon the approximate present sum of the Chemical Sciences, the Biological 313
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From page 314... ...
Laboratories In light of our recommendation that the DOE mount an initiative in support of chemistry-based energy technologies, it is useful to ask about the distribution of technical qualifications of the scientific staffs at the existing National Laboratories. Furthermore, changes over the last decade in professional qualifications at each of the National I~aboratories may indicate changing trends in the way each Laboratory sees its mission evolving.
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From page 315... ...
It is recommended that growth in chemistryoriented research should be concentrated at those National Laboratories that choose to refocus their defined mission toward chemistry-based energy technologies. This growth should add substantially to the cadre of Ph.D.
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From page 316... ...
The discrepancy undoubtedly reflects the substantial crossdisciplinary character of chemistry research as conducted in our university chemistry departments and implicitly justifies the substantial support chemistry receives from NTH. Average Grant Size Table VIl-15 shows some detail on the FY 1982 distribution among the institutes of the funding received by chemists.
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From page 317... ...
For this particular Institute, detailed study of awards made relative to the number of applications received over the period 1974-1982 shows that the percentage of applications awarded has consistently remained a few percentage points above the rate to nonchemistry scientists over this period. Thus scientists in chemistry departments are apparently being equitably treated as measured by the success of their applications.
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From page 318... ...
Now NIH has reawakened its shared instrumentation program, a timely addition to the existing oversolicited counterpart programs in NSF and DOD. In view of the growing dependence upon sophisticated instrumentation in the health-related sciences, we recommend that NIH maintain its extramural shared instrumentation program at a [eve!
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From page 319... ...
Over the last two decades, there have been profound changes in the pattern of DOD research activity. When corrected for inflation, the level of support for all R&D declined steadily from 1970 to 1975, remained constant until 1980, and then was raised steeply during the last 5 years.
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From page 320... ...
The table also indicates specific applicabilities to the specialized interests of the various defense arms. Chemistry Research in Universities With so many areas of opportunity of special relevance to the DOD mission, there is ample reason for DOD to guarantee the vitality of U.S.
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From page 321... ...
Then, in the years 1984 and 1985, planned support for chemistry research leveled oh, just matching inflation at 6.1 percent per year. It is recommended that DOD support for university research in the chemical sciences should be raised to about 25 percent of the total federal support.
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From page 322... ...
Comparable growth in the Chemistry and the Materials Science programs should exploit the opportunities chemistry offers to provide new strategic materials, fuels, propellants, and explosives, as well as deeper understandings of chemistry relevant to atmospheric phenomena, biological defense, and nuclear power and weapons elects. Collaborative Relationships Since it is to the benefit of both the inhouse DOD laboratories and the broader chemical research community (including both industry and universities)
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From page 323... ...
It is recommended that DOD continue its instrumentation program but with the addition of support for maintenance and operation to ensure cost-effective use of the equipment. This instrumentation program should not grow at the expense of the direct contract support for research activities.
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From page 324... ...
These attempts have not yet been implemented by Congress. In the public interest, it is recommended that the Department of Agriculture initiate a substantial competitive grants program in chemistry research.
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From page 325... ...
In light of the potential contributions of chemistry to the safety, range, and effectiveness of future space operations, NASA should more actively encourage academic chemists to address problems relevant to the NASA mission through competitive grants for funclamental research. CHEMISTRY IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY For FY 1985, EPA proposed to direct 6.5 percent of its $4.25 billion budget request toward R&D.
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From page 326... ...
Presuming that this Exploratory Research program is intended to nurture long-range research relevant to its mission, EPA should increase the percentage of its R&D funds placed in its Exploratory Research program and its commitment to extramural fundamental research relevant to environmental problems of the future. Most of this growth should be awarded through competitive grants.
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