Publications

Climate change is a long-term process that will trigger a range of multi-dimensional demographic, economic, geopolitical, and national security issues with many unknowns and significant uncertainties. At first glance, climate-change-related national security dimensions seem far removed from today's major national security threats. Yet climate change has already set in motion forces that will require U.S. attention and preparedness. The extent and uncertainty associated with these situations necessitate a move away from conventional security practices, toward a small but flexible portfolio of assets to maintain U.S. interests. Thoughtful action is required now if we are to acquire the capabilities, tools, systems, and institutions needed to meet U.S. national security requirements as they evolve with the emerging stresses and shifts of climate change.

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The Materials Applications for Homeland Security session at the Materials Science and Technology 2005 (MS&T'05) Conference discussed new countermeasures related to anticipate, prevent, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism. Examples were given of how science and technology have contributed to counter-terrorism, as with the development of sensor systems and in effects mitigation, where the latter protect people and physical assets in the event of attack. However, it is also important that the S&T community consider the technical capabilities of end-users. Jon MacLaren of the DHS Risk Assessment program discussed the threats to critical infrastructures while Jiann-Yang (Jim) Hwang and Bowen Li of Michigan Technological University described active antibacterial/antifungal coatings made of low-cost vermiculite in which magnesium ions are replaced with copper ions. Dr. John Vitko of the Department of Homeland Security oversees a broad-ranging program from surveillance to forensics and consequence management, from personnel training to development of anti-viral drugs. Vinayak Dravid described bio-chem assay microsensor which offer versatility for sensing biological and chemical threats, and provide significant advantages over alternatives.

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MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) technology offers considerable potential throughout the manufacturing sector, because of certain intrinsic advantages in terms of low cost, reliability, and small size. Relatively simple MEMS are used in applications ranging from automobile air bag sensors to electronic games. Considerably more complex devices have been designed for defense applications, for which government funding is available; however, the fledgling industry suffers from insufficient knowledge of materials physics at micrometer size and from the fact that currently commercialized MEMS devices are designed for specialized and rather disparate purposes, do not have a broad user base, and therefore have not generated industry standards or the design and process software that would be built upon those industry standards. In addition to industry standards, further advances in MEMS technology require a more complete understanding of the physics underlying performance and reliability. The first half of this paper reviews general issues related to fabrication and commercialization; the second half addresses the technical materials issues that relate to MEMS performance and reliability. © 2003 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights resreved.

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This case study describes a success in technology transfer out of Sandia National Laboratories that resulted in commercialization supporting both the laboratories' national security mission and economic development. This case exemplifies how the process of technology innovation stretches from national legislation to laboratory management to entrepreneurs, and then out into the community where the technology must be developed and commercialized if innovation is to occur. Two things emerged from the research for this case study that have implications for technology transfer and commercialization from other national laboratories and may also be relevant to technology commercialization out of other federal laboratories and universities. The first is the very clear theme that partnerships were critical to the ultimate successful commercialization of the technology--partnerships between public and private research groups as well as between business development groups. The second involves identifiable factors that played a role in moving the process forward to successful commercialization. All of the factors, with two significant exceptions, focused on technology and business development directly related to creating research and business partnerships. The two exceptions, a technology with significant market applications, and entrepreneurs willing and able to take the risks and accomplish the hard work of technology innovation, were initiating requirements for the process.