National Science Foundation -Fourth Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1974 \'-:- For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washing-ton, D.C. 20402 - Price $2.35 Stocli Number 3800-00198 Letter of Transmittal Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I have the honor to transmit herewith the Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1974 of the National Science Foundation for submission to the Congress as required by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950. Respectfully, The Honorable The President of the United States. Contents Page Director's Statement vii Research Project Support Activities 1 Mathematical and Physical Sciences 5 Biological and Medical Sciences 13 Environmental Sciences 20 Engineering 26 Social Sciences 30 Materials Research 33 Computer Research 37 National and International Programs 41 National and Special Research Programs 43 National Research Centers 55 Science Information Activities 60 International Cooperative Scientific Activities 62 Research Applications 65 Energy 68 Environment 73 Productivity 77 Exploratory Research and Problem Assessment 81 Research Utilization 82 Science Education 85 Improvement of Education for Careers in Science 88 Development of Science Literacy 93 Public Understanding of Science 96 Increasing Effectiveness of Educational Processes 97 Problem Assessment and Experimental Projects 99 Science Resources Studies 100 Science Policy Studies 101 Appendices A. National Science Board, NSF Staff, Advisory Committees and Panels 103 B. Organization Changes and Staff Appointments 124 C. Financial Report for Fiscal Year 1974 126 D. Patents Resulting from Activities Supported by the National Science Foundation 127 E. Publications of the National Science Foundation, Fiscal Year 1974 128 F. National Research Centers Contractors 129 G. Criteria for the Selection of Research Projects 130 DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT vii Director's Statement As our Nation approaches its third century and world that supports it. Initially this appraisal as Western Society approaches its third mil- has generated much speculation concerning the lenium, we enter an era that may be recognized as future of human growth, raising a host of ques­ a turning point in human history. It is not diffi­ tions not only over the possibility of feeding pro­ cult to reaUze why we have arrived at this point. jected populations but over the environmental, The predominant reason is that through the economic, and social consequences of the con­ marriage of science and technology we have tinued industrial development of the world along created an industrially based society that up to present lines. now has been able to sustain and advance a If this speculation, given impetus by some new rapidly growing world population. scarcities now appearing, has led to and The shift from an economy based on agri­ intensified the debate over matters of growth, it cultural subsistence to one based on modern has also brought forth more penetrating thought industry has been responsible for explosive over the future role of science and technology. growth, not only in population size but in a While there are some who fear that further ad­ spectacular rise in mankind's activities—in vances in science and technology will only fire mobility, speed of communication, range of the engine of indiscriminate growth, there are knowledge, production of goods and services, others who feel there is a necessity for better and and in the number of interfaces within his more wisely applied science and technology to natural and social systems. Although much of enable better control and direction of growth and this process is based on human innovation and to allow us to continue to expand our physical industriousness, it is based also on humanity's frontiers. exploitation of the natural world. It draws This latter group also shares the belief that we heavily on nature's capital, particularly on the can expand our physical frontiers only by store of nonrenewable resources, and it impacts expanding our knowledge frontiers, and that heavily on her environment and living resources. knowledge is a form of capital capable of allow­ While many have long warned that such ing us to replace, in effect, the capital we have growth could not continue indefinitely, their withdrawn from the Earth's supply of finite admonitions have usually been taken with a resources. Perhaps a good example of this effect theoretical grain of salt. A combination of human lies in our potential ability to develop the means ingenuity and nature's bounty has always to use solar energy, directly and in all its seemed to disprove the Malthusians, or at least manifestations, as a form of energy income to move the day of reckoning into the distant future. replace the energy capital depleted through our In the past whenever scarcities conjured up the use of the nonrenewable fossil and fission fuels. ghost of Malthus to predict impending doom, the Increased knowledge capital, particularly that ghost of Micawber seemed to appear beside him gained from a sound program of basic research, telling us that "Something will turn up." And can have other very beneficial effects. Environ­ fortunately, up to now it has. As we depleted one mentally speaking, it can help us to understand resource we were able to find a replacement. As better the physical and social limits within we overtaxed one region of the Earth environ­ which we must operate in order to keep our mentally, we found the means to move on. And as natural and manmade systems individually we reached the limits of one technological viable and symbiotically compatible. In terms of achievement, we were able to find another to economics, it can help to increase the efficiency exceed its performance. with which we use limited resources, thus But in recent years we have been forced to moderating their cost as we draw down on them view the increasing problems of growth with a and giving us the time to search out and develop new degree of sophistication. That sophistica­ alternatives. And related to social change, in­ tion, also a product of science and technology, creased knowledge can help us to use both our has urged us to make a more realistic appraisal of physical and human resources more effectively, the human condition in relation to the physical improving our institutions and their distribution viii DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT of goods and services, perhaps moving us toward area decidedly is energy. Projects bearing on all a life characterized by more quality for less aspects of our energy situation can be seen quantity. This may be the major thrust of science throughout the Foundation's programs, in Scien­ and technology in the years ahead, even though tific Research Project Support, in Research we can still expect considerable quantitative Applications, in Science Education, in National growth as much of the world seeks further and International Programs, and in policy and development. planning activities. Another important thrust in science and tech­ We know that- fundamental research in all nology—one characterized for some time now by fields of science can make a multitude of the growth of interdisciplinary research in the contributions related to energy. By way of better physical, social, and managerial sciences—is the organizing and coordinating the Foundation's interest in systems. Humanity's pervasive in­ basic research support toward this end, the Re­ fluence and impact on both nature and our own search Directorate established an Office of global society has led us to a stronger recogni­ Energy-Related General Research. An initial tion that we operate within systems wherein we effort of this office was the identification of 45 must take note of and deal with a myriad of inter­ areas of energy-related research which might re­ related factors. Never has this been brought ceive priority support from the Foundation. A home more forcefully than during the past year series of workshops that included experts from when, following the Mid-East War and its result­ the universities, industry, and government was ing oil embargo, disturbances within the organized to examine the challenges and relationships between energy, economics, opportunities inherent in these areas. It is environment, food, materials, and international interesting to note that these areas run the gamut politics seemed to ricochet around the world. of research interest, including the physical and All this is bound to have an effect on the state biological sciences, the earth and environmental of science and technology, emphasizing that we sciences, the social sciences, and engineering. must intensify our search for new knowledge, for Reviewing these, one sees that solutions to our ways to organize and apply it more effectively for energy problems can be found through a better man's benefit. This 1974 Annual Report of the understanding of such diverse research subjects National Science Foundation reviews a program as combustion, corrosion, and catalysis; electro- that illustrates in effect how one agency of the magnetism, ecology, and economics; radiation Government is moving in that direction and effects, reaction mechanisms, and remote sens­ attempting to contribute to the amelioration and ing, to name only a few. Increased knowledge of solution of some of the problems we face as a basic phenomena can help us to develop better Nation. energy technologies, discover alternative energy In line with this major effort, the Foundation sources, and learn to live better with what will be continued to emphasize its support of basic re­ available to us. search in order to expand the frontiers of knowl­ Much of that basic knowledge acts as under­ edge in all scientific areas. The principal instru­ pinning for the energy programs being sup­ ment of such support is the Foundation's Scien­ ported by the Foundation's RANN pro­ tific Research Project Support Program, which gram—Research Applied to National Needs. funds research in the physical, environmental, RANN energy research focuses on energy biological, engineering, computing, and social systems, technologies, and resources while also sciences.