--Scientists spend 1 to 3 years of postdoctoral work
and education at JILA despite usually significantly
lower salaries than they might be receiving elsewhere.

--While directly employing only 15 Fellows and 9 other staff at JILA, NBS benefits from all 171 JILA employees.

--Generally, JILA scientists have not had difficulty
finding jobs after leaving JILA; many have joined
other NBS divisions, other Government agencies,
industrial laboratories, and universities.

Still other JILA contributions include patents obtained and commercial applications of its research. According to an NBS official, three patents have been granted to JILA scientists during its 18-year history.

--A distance-measuring instrument (1969).

--A system for wavelength measurement (1979).

--A tunable laser (1979).

In commercial applications of research, JILA officials noted its role in developing

--methods now used by industry for improving high-
pressure arc lamps,

--a new method of distance measurement using a satellite,

--a million-watt pulsed nitrogen laser now in commercial production, and

--the concept of a heat-pipe oven now used widely for
scientific and practical purposes.

QUANTUM PHYSICS DIVISION'S

LONG-RANGE GOALS

The stated objectives of NBS' Quantum Physics Division (NBS scientists at JILA) and affiliated students and postdoctoral scientists are directed toward the objectives of the Center for Absolute Physical Quantities at NBS headquarters. Specific division objectives as shown in the Center's latest 5-year plan include

--using available technology to provide standards,

--researching areas likely to provide major improvements in definition or use of standards within 5 years,

--providing more accurate state-of-the-art determina-
tions of physical constants,

--providing tests of fundamental physical laws,

--developing fundamental understanding of the behavior of gaseous media and its interaction with radiation, --providing assistance to other agencies knowledgeable about radiating gaseous media, and

--applying expertise to provide precise measurements of large distances.

The perceived more independent position of the Quantum Physics Division as seen by other NBS divisions raises questions about NBS' control over JILA research. Under JILA's bylaws, scientific and administrative policy is established by the JILA Fellows (NBS Quantum Physics Division and university scientists). Policy is subject to review by the university president and the NBS Director, who receive minutes of all the Fellows' formal deliberations. The JILA chairman is responsible for recognizing impending policy issues and for resolving issues based on a consensus of the Fellows and in consonance with the policies of the parent institutions as determined through discussions with the university president and the NBS Director.

According to JILA tradition, the Fellows have personal responsibility for their own scientific efforts and collective concern for JILA's welfare. But according to the JILA chairman and the chief of the NBS Quantum Physics Division at JILA, the Director of NBS' Center for Absolute Physical Ouantities was active in managing JILA's programs, and therefore the Quantum Physics Division was not more independent than other NBS divisions. However, the Center director told us that NBS' management of JILA was mostly by suggestion.

JILA research performed under grants is usually directed by the JILA Fellows who receive written descriptions for research projects commensurate with the grants' objectives. With the advice of the scientific community, they "identify outstanding research opportunities as they arise, ** * identify opportunities to make especially cost-effective capital investments not associated with an individual project," and evaluate "mini-proposals" in consultation with other knowledgeable Fellows.

THE JOINT INSTITUTE CONCEPT

We believe the joint institute concept has merit and may be worthy of expanding to other universities. However, a clear statement of mission and goals and research planning is necessary before beginning other joint or cooperative institutes. In addition, other matters, such as how the research will be managed, tenure of NBS scientists at a joint institute, and how the research results can be judged, should be resolved before beginning new institutes.

Evaluations of JILA

The 1979 National Academy of Sciences evaluation panel said that

"JILA is an outstanding example of an interdisci-
plinary organization. In it, physicists, chemists,
astronomers and astrophysicists work together in a
synergistic environment. Such an arrangement is
rare on university campuses, which are normally
structured around highly discipline-oriented depart-
ments. JILA serves to focus these normally disparate
activities, to the mutual benefit of the individual
scientists and the University as a whole."

The joint institute concept as illustrated by JILA has also received some criticism because of its academic nature and the physical separation of the NBS JILA scientists from the other NBS organizational units. For example, in 1975 an NAS evaluation panel commented as follows on NBS management problems created by JILA. The Laboratory Astrophysics Division (now Quantum Physics Division)

"*** with its strong ties to the University, is
unique within NBS and presents some unusual problems
for Bureau management. In particular, questions
regarding the relevance of JILA to the current NBS
mission have been raised, and concern has been ex-
pressed that [the NBS division] has become insulated
from the rest of NBS as a result of insufficient
personnel movement and an 'institutional drift' of
JILA."

These comments may have been in response to a 1974 OMB report which concluded that astrophysics was not a part of the NBS mission and recommended that NBS phase out its special and formal relationship with JILA. The OMB report

noted that

"Astrophysics (the study of stars and the phe-
nomena of intersteller space) was given high
priority in the early 1960s because of the Na-
tion's interest in space and the goal of landing a
man on the moon. The Nation's interest in space
was the primary rationale for establishing JILA."

"The relationship of NBS activities at JILA to
the overall NBS mission is, at best, indirect.
* * * NBS can point to cases where the basic
research conducted at JILA has supported [its]
objectives but these results seem to be inciden-
tal rather than the result of a directed effort."

As a result of the OMB report, NBS in January 1975 identified three matters which needed to be addressed.

--The JILA memorandum of understanding needed to be
rewritten to reflect appropriate purposes for the
next decade.

--The tenure policy--unlimited term of appointment--for Quantum Physics Division scientists (NBS JILA Fellows) stood in the way of rotating qualified NBS scientists into and out of JILA.

--The lack of common scientific direction and management for two centers of atomic and molecular physics at Boulder (JILA and a section of another NBS division) was probably contributing to JILA's perceived "drift" away from the NBS mission.

A senior JILA official noted that a 1976 addendum to the JILA memorandum of understanding had resolved the first issue while the move of the section of the other NBS division to NBS headquarters had partially resolved the third issue. The tenure question has not been completely resolved.

In March 1976 NBS and the university, in response to the OMB criticism, reaffirmed their support of JILA by signing an addendum to the original memorandum of understanding. The addendum expanded the scope of JILA activities and reinforced JILA's mandate for research and advanced training in areas within the missions of both partners. According to the addendum,

"*** the purpose and role of the Joint Institute
for Laboratory Astrophysics shall continue to
evolve and expand beyond the areas of science out-
lined in the original Memorandum of Understanding."

Concerning the tenure question, a 1976 NAS evaluation panel recommended that NBS staff at JILA be rotated within NBS to eliminate the perception that the staff was unfairly privileged and essentially to get new scientists into the organization. The panel's report stated that

11* ** the unconventional (by NBS standards)
location and organization of JILA and the emphasis
on astrophysics in the *** Memorandum of Under-
standing between NBS and the University have led
to the perception in other parts of [NBS] that
JILA scientists are unfairly privileged compared
with others within [NBS] and that JILA has not ad-
justed its priorities to reflect the changing
requirements of the NBS mission."

A senior JILA scientist told us that the vitality and success of JILA depended strongly on the large flow-through of senior and junior scientists.

Several JILA scientists said that few other NBS scientists had their same interests or expertise and they preferred that visiting scientists come to JILA from academia and institutions other than NBS. However, the Quantum Physics Division chief told us that the perception of elitism and the issue of NBS tenure at JILA had been alleviated somewhat through management efforts and the adoption of the JILA position on "Tenure of Fellowship." According to a resolution adopted by JILA Fellows in 1976, JILA's parent bodies (NBS and the university) should apply the same personnel review and reassignment procedures to each JILA staff member that would apply if that person were in another NBS or university organizational unit.

We noted that 4 of the 15 NBS scientists at JILA were assigned in 1962, and 8 have been in residence for the past 12 years. As a result, the average age of the NBS JILA staff has increased from 35.9 years in 1963 to 45.5 years. However, one NAS evaluation panel member we interviewed stated that this trend was not unique to the NBS JILA staff but was shared by most institutions which had experienced rapid scientific staff expansion in the 1960s.

University faculty members told us that there was a need for orderly rotation of NBS scientists who might have lost interest in the academic aspects of JILA. A faculty member