said that they were concerned about the lack of involvement in academic functions of a small minority of the NBS staff. In response to this concern, we noted the tenure of the NBS scientists at JILA and the number of graduate students or postdoctoral scientists who were affiliated with them as of August 1980. As shown below, only 6 of the 45 students and postdoctoral scientists are affiliated with the 4 most senior NBS scientists, whereas 16 students and postdoctoral scientists are associated with the 4 least senior (5 years or less) scientists. In addition to JILA in NBS, at least one other Federal agency--the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)--has also established joint or cooperative institutes by memoranda of understanding with various universities. NOAA had established seven of these institutes as of September 1980 (see app. XIII)--all within close proximity to NOAA laboratories. The Cooperative Institute for Research and Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the oldest NOAA institute, is located at the University of Colorado, as is JILA. According to NOAA officials, CIRES' budget is about $3 million annually, of which NOAA provides about $1.5 million. The other six institutes were established within the past 3 years--the most recent one in September 1980 at Colorado State University. NOAA officials said these institutes' budgets range from about $200,000 to $500,000 annually and that six of the seven institutes are funded through NOAA's Environmental Research Laboratories in Boulder, Colorado. According to NOAA officials, each of the institutes has from 4 to 10 NOAA staff including senior Fellows. The Fellows are appointed as adjunct faculty and, unlike JILA Fellows, are appointed for 3-year terms. Concerning the research to be performed at the institutes, a "typical" arrangement is for an advisory board appointed by the parent organizations to have final approval. New research projects may be initiated internally or by request from either parent organization. NOAA officials told us that CIRES had been very successful, and its other institutes probably stemmed from CIRES. Because the other institutes are less than 3 years old, these officials said it was too early to tell whether they also would be successful. One official said that it takes about 5 years to determine whether such institutes will be successful. Other possible NBS joint institutes OTA in its 1978 report (see p. 11) noted that JILA was "highly successful" and "widely praised inside and outside NBS." The report concluded that it would be useful to explore such a joint program in another area of technical pursuit, with a university near Washington, D.C. A senior NBS/JIA scientist told us that before NBS establishes other joint institutes, the following conditions should exist. --The discipline to be studied must be one in which --The discipline must be one which is active worldwide --NBS should benefit from the "great leverage" enjoyed through academic ties. Also, the associated university must benefit from having NBS staff on its campus supervising Ph.D. students and teaching courses. --NBS must be willing to commit a core group of high- --The research and work must be of a nature that will Because of the "great leverage," the NBS/JILA scientist said that it would appear advantageous for NBS to seriously consider supporting joint institutes when the opportunities arise. He identified the following areas as candidates for joint or cooperative research. 6. 7. Chemical engineering (continuous process technology). Another NBS official said that chemical engineering and materials were two areas that he strongly believed could be researched through joint institutes. He said that some discussion with the University of Colorado had already taken place concerning joint research in these areas. Also, he said that NBS had a good relationship with the Colorado School of Mines. CONCLUSIONS The joint concept under which JILA was established and operates appears to be a good method of performing research, based on the many positive comments as discussed above. However, we believe that any future joint institutes planned could benefit from a more concise statement of mission and goals and research planning that would ensure relevance to the NBS mission. Also, other serious questions that would confront the formation of any new joint institute include the following. --Will research be managed by the principal researchers or NBS? How should tenure at such an institute be awarded, or would a systematic program of rotation be appropriate for NBS scientists? --How can the quality of research at a joint institute Resolving these questions as well as clearly defining the mission and goals of any joint institute would greatly benefit the task of objectively evaluating the institute's performance as well as contribute to the orderly pursuit of scientific knowledge. MATTER FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE Based on the views of NAS evaluation panel members and NBS scientists and officials, the joint institute concept may be worthy of expansion to other universities. The subcommittee may wish to explore this with NBS during planned hearings. CHAPTER 5 NBS' COMPETENCE-BUILDING PROGRAM "The Competence Building program has over the last couple of years been on the Bureau's list of priority programs." The subcommittee, in making this observation, asked us to answer the following questions concerning NBS' competence-building program. "1. What basis was used to determine the areas in "2. "3. Does this program receive funding at the expense Please identify the ratio and trend of competence NBS defines competence as "the capacity to carry out its duties and to respond to new requirements assigned by the Administration and by Congress, or imposed by developments in industry, Government, and the public." According to an NBS official, the capacity to respond to such assignments is based on the availability of teams of scientists and engineers working at the forefront of research and able to devote their efforts to specific problems as they arise. Any time a group of scientists that had been engaged in research at the forefront of science and engineering is assigned to work on a specific, more narrowly defined problem, some of the competence is depleted. Competence can be rebuilt by returning scientists and engineers to state-of-the-art research in new fields, once their applied tasks are complete, or by adding sufficient resources to build and maintain the level of competence that is equal to the requirements placed on NBS. Between 1965 and 1978 NBS was required to respond to more than 20 acts which required short-term research addressed to specific national problems in energy, pollution, consumer interests, and efficient use of national resources. To respond to these requirements NBS had to direct existing competence into areas of short-term research, thereby depleting some of its competence--the competence was no longer available to solve future problems in a timely manner. In September 1977 the chairman of the NBS Statutory Visiting Committee, in his annual report to the Secretary of Commerce, expressed concern that long-range programs were being sacrificed to "salvage" short-term objectives and |