relation involves such a breadth of traditional 

 branches of science, research in this field lacks 

 the sharp focus of fields such as surface science. 

 Therefore, our discussion of it will encompass 

 several thrusts. 



NBS is a leader in the study of the basic atomic 

 structure itself through work on x-ray and neutron 

 scattering, phase transformations, crystal growth, 

 and electron microscopy. A recent National Acad- 

 emy of Sciences study of the scientific opportuni- 

 ties in neutron scattering research has highlighted 

 the high potential of this field. Possessing one of 

 the foremost neutron scattering groups in the 

 country, NBS is in an excellent position to exploit 

 these opportunities. Recent advances in complex 

 and subtle ordering phenomena in multicompo- 

 nent materials point to increasing scientific prom- 

 ise for this field as well, and NBS expects to con- 

 tinue to contribute in a major way. 



An area of high priority and of special rele- 

 vance to the Nation's energy programs is research 

 on the performance of materials in extreme envi- 

 ronments. NBS has a history of contributions and 

 expertise in diffusion, crystal growth, electrical 

 properties, structure transformations, mechanical 

 properties, and corrosive processes, and in char- 

 acterizing novel materials, all of which bear on 

 the performance of materials in extreme environ- 

 ments. 



The science underlying nondestructive evalua- 

 tion and failure mechanisms is a timely concern of 

 NBS. Responding to the growth in the national 

 importance of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) to 

 public safety, health care, and commercial prod- 

 uctivity, and to promising advances in theory and 

 experiment, NBS has established and will contin- 

 ue to support an interdisciplinary research pro- 

 gram in NDE. 



Special notice should be taken of the interfaces 

 between materials science and biology. Increas- 

 ingly, the biological research community is using 

 synchrotron light souces, neutron sources, nuclear 

 magnetic resonance machines, and other tools of 

 the material scientists. NBS fosters and partici- 

 pates in a national collaboration which is begin- 

 ning between the material and biological scientists 

 who share measurement problems. This collabora- 

 tion will bring considerable benefit to both fields. 



Mathematics 



In the course of developing mathematical tech- 

 niques to meet the needs of NBS scientists and 

 the wider technical community, the Bureau's 

 mathematicians have contributed significantly to 

 numerical analysis, statistics, and operations re- 

 search. When computers became commonplace. 

 NBS numerical analysts turned to the study of 

 methods for validating and maintaining accurate 



algorithms. Work in the mathematical methods of 

 operations research has focused on optimization 

 techniques, problems of network routing and de- 

 sign, and models and methods for optimal facility 

 location. Interest is increasing in the theoretical 

 and conceptual problems that surround the com- 

 parative testing of competing "optimization" al- 

 gorithms, the evaluation of large-scale mathemati- 

 cal models, and the improvement of the model- 

 development process. 



Methods of mathematical statistics have been 

 developed to foster the efficient use of experi- 

 menter's time and materials in the planning and 

 analysis of precision measurement experiments. 

 The results of combinatorial analysis have provid- 

 ed partially balanced incomplete block designs, 

 fractional factorial designs, and other experiment 

 plans. The growing challenge is to couple experi- 

 ment design with sampling theory to provide a 

 sound basis for error analysis of physical meas- 

 urements arising in pollution abatement and the 

 application of other technological standards. 



Engineering 



NBS recognizes the importance of long-term 

 disciplinary research in the traditional engineering 

 fields and supports relevant advanced research 

 just as in the case of physics and chemistry. The 

 principal areas of research are: fire phenomena, 

 building technology, and electronic technology. In 

 all three areas, strong interconnections are being 

 developed to the research previously discussed in 

 mathematics, materials science, physics, and 

 chemistry. 



Fire research. NBS operates the Federal Gov- 

 ernment's fire research center and performs re- 

 search on the prevention and control of fires, 

 conducting both intramural and external contract 

 research. 



NBS is applying laser diagnostic techniques to 

 fire research. Chemical species in the flame are 

 detected and the temperature of the flame is meas- 

 ured simultaneously. Other research includes the 

 analysis of the basic reaction kinetics in flames 

 with and without additions of retardants and of 

 the properties of smoke particles and of pyrolysis. 

 Mathematical models are developed for fires. 



Fire research is a particular challenge to scien- 

 tists, requiring the pooling of interdisciplinary 

 expertise from chemistry, physics, materials, and 

 mathematics, a process that is in its early stages 

 of development at NBS. Heretofore, fire research 

 has been considered too complex to attract much 

 attention from the top researchers in physics and 

 chemistry. Fire research is closely allied to com- 

 bustion research, a field now receiving intense 

 national attention, and will benefit from and con- 

 tribute to that effort. In particular, advances dis- 



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