NBS Seeks Greater Interplay with Industry Efforts to attract more scientists from industry awakens neglected Research Associates Program The National Bureau of Standards is set to go acourtin' American industry and wants industry to know it is being wooed. Starting this autumn, bureau officials will fan out to industrial sites around the country in efforts to entice entries into its revitalized Research Associates Program. Under the program, a company sends one or more of its scientists into Bureau of Standards laboratories for one to three years. During that time the participant learns new measurement techniques or works on sticky measurement procedures geared to the needs of his company. Upon acceptance, the associate is steered toward one of the bureau's 25 research divisions. He stays an average of 18 months, works with some of the bureau's own research staff, submits a report at departure time, and takes his newly acquired knowledge back to the plant. Results of his work become available to industry at large. Progress. Seven industry scientists have signed up for the program since it rose from a decade-long dormancy on Jan. 1 of this year, raising the total number to 41. The latest participant is Aerojet-General Corp., which is lending 34-year-old engineer Dale Nielsen to the bureau's cryogenics laboratories in Boulder, Colo., for studies on foam and bubble formation in lowtemperature fuels during flow. Robert L. Stern, chief of the bureau's Office of Industrial Services, says the cryogenic project typifies the way the bureau is making its facilities and know-how available to industry. The aim is to open the way to new technologies by effective feedback between industrial and federal scientists. He says the Research Associates Program is the "main thrust" of his newly formed office. "We want to establish a direct link to industrial research management throughout the country," Mr. Stern points out. The potential industrial uses of measurement, to the bureau's way of thinking, are immeasurable. Mr. Stern says his office would like to attract associates into such fields as analytical chemistry, computer data handling, ceramics, physical chemistry, and even astrochemistry. At the mo-
ment, associates cut across such specialties as photographic research, laser metrology, electrodeposition, x-ray diffraction analysis, and weathering of organic and inorganic agents. Two chemists from industry are currently working in bureau laboratories: Dr. William F. Bruksch of U.S. Rubber and Dr. Joseph E. Clark of W. R. Grace. Both are probing processes involved in the weathering of plastics such as polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrenes, and polyfluorides. Their stay at NBS is under sponsorship of the 30 member firms of the Manufacturing Chemists' Association. Mr. Stern's Office of Industrial Services came into being Jan. 1, but the associate program itself dates back to 1901. Over the past 64 years, about 1000 scientists representing more than 200 companies have passed through NBS laboratory portals in fields sweeping the spectrum of science and technology. Mr. Stern recalls that the program grew gradually in popularity, reaching a peak during the booming 1920's. It dipped during the depression, slid during the war years, and nearly
dropped out of sight in the 50's, averaging about 10 associates a year. Then came NBS director Allen V. Astin's 1961 plan to reorganize the bureau along lines more suitable for interplay with American industry. The bureau's reorganization became official in 1964 and Mr. Stern was appointed to his present spot last January. The 41 scientists currently serving as associates fall far below the number the bureau is equipped to handle. "Ideally," says Mr. Stern, "we seek one associate for every 10 professional staff members. This would amount to roughly five times the number presently on board. Our new facilities at Gaithersburg, Md., could easily accommodate them." Procedure. To enter the program, a company contacts Mr. Stern's office. Meetings are then arranged between company research directors and bureau scientists who determine whether their laboratories can provide fertile— as fertilizable—working as well grounds. If so, the company selects one or more of its research workers to take residence, at the company's expense, in Boulder or Washington. The compact is sealed by the signing of a "Memorandum of Agreement," which describes the nature and scope of the program, the number of associates involved, and the NBS laboratories to which they're assigned.
ON LOAN. Dr. Richard Zipin, project engineer for Sheffield Corp., is on loan to National Bureau of Standards under the bureau's Research Associates Program. He is one of the 4 1 industrial scientists now working at NBS facilities SEPT.
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