JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG SCIENTISTS IN NAVAL RESEARCH P. BORGSTROM Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C.
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Naval Research Laboratory is located on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia, about five miles from the Capitol and the Library of Congress. The Laboratory was founded in 1923 as a research arm of the fleet. It was a new concept for a Naval laboratory to be a research laboratory. Although some fifteen per cent of the Naval Research Laboratory's work consists of evaluative studies on new materials, a t least eighty-five per cent of the work involves applied research of both basic and developmental nature. In fact, whereas most of the Naval laboratories are under Bureau control, the Naval Research Laboratory is under the jurisdiction of the Officeof Naval Research and thereby has greater freedom of action and a wider variety of problem. The Laboratory consists of some ten divisions under civilian superintendah, totaling about 1500 professional employees. There are three closely related divisions, one called Chemistry, one Metallurgy and one Nucleonics. The other divisions use chemists fre,quently as consultants and often on the staff when the problems require such training. The present staff of the Laboratory includes a small percentage of "career"
employees but for'the most part the men were recruited from universities and industrial laboratories. There ir a small staff of Naval officers in charge of the administration of the Laborat,ory and for contact work with the Naval Bureaus and the fleet. The type of problems a t the Laboratory varies with the needs of the fleet. As has already been stated, the work has an applied tinge and covers a large variety of work. The Chemistry Division has problem of electrochemistry, organic, physical, inorganic, and biochemical nature. The number employed on any one problem varies with the needs and urgency. If a man is interested in instruments there are plenty of problems of this nature, but please do not think we do "control" or "specification" testing for the Navy Department. That is done elsewhere and not at the Naval Research Laboratory. Now let us trace what happens to a prospective employee in chemistry. If the employee has just completed his formal education he is encouraged to express his desires as to the type of work he feels tie can do best. He is then sent to the men who are interested in that kind of work and he t,alks with them and finally mnkw
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his decision where he would like to be. We assume that the man is in a P-1 to P-3 rating, that is, a salary of three thousand to four thousand per annum. If at the end of a year or two, he finds that this work is not to his liking and that he would rather be in some other field such transfers can often be made. The employee may find that he is deficient in certain types of training even though he comes from an accredited institution and he may wish to pursue courses in mathematics, physics, or advanced chemistry. In the development of an employee it is difficult for him to do his daily work and this outside study, which he may desire, without guidance. At the close of the last war the administration of the Naval Research Laboratory decided that it would be wise to consider some method of training for these yolmger men so that they could advance their positions in the scientific field. To do this an educational program was inaugurated. This educational program, after discussion with employees, offered various types of courses that seemed interesting to the personnel on the reservation. A booklet called "The Scientific Training Program" has been issued and copies may be obtained by writing the Naval Research Laboratory. To teach these courses, arrangements were made with the local universities so that the courses would be taught on a level that would satisfy the requirements for credits a t these institutions. Part of the instructing staff consists of employees of the Naval Research Laboratory who have had academic experience and are of the level in training and experience that would fit them for university professorships. Sometimes the instructors come from one of the nearby universities. The courses offered give the employee the background education required for degrees at uni-
versities either in this neighborhood or elsewhere. These courses are taken partly on the employees' time and partly on the Laboratory's time, usually 3: 30 to 5: 30 P.M. At times it is advisable for the employee to save his annual leave and with additional leave granted without pay he can spend one year a t his chosen university to fulfill the residence requirements. When these requirements have been completed, it is frequently arranged between the universities and the administration a t this Laboratory that the research being done here can be used for higher degrees at the chosen uni. versity. In the last two years, seminars have been given in alternate weeks. The scope of one has to do with chemical subjects and the other with problems in physics. Both were well attended. The equipment a t this Laboratory is excellent and there is very little difficulty in satisfying the universities on this score. The Laboratory has an excellent library of 22,000 volumes, as well as thousands of documents from restricted and nonrestricted sources, and has an informstion service that aids greatly in any type of work that is desired. The Laboratory also has close relations with the Library of Congress and with other govemmental libraries, so there is plenty of technical literature available for any type of research desired. The patent policy of the Laboratory is liberal. The p~hlicat~ion of completed work, especially when it is no longer of a restricted nature, is encouraged by the Laboratory. In closing, you may be interested to know that it actually works. Four employees of the Chemistry Division received their Ph. D.'s last year, two from the University of Maryland, one from Johns Hopkins University, and one from the University of Oklahoma.
