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Forging the Solution to the Energy Challenge: The Role of Materials Science and Materials Scientists

  • The 2009 Distinguished Lecture in Materials & Society ASM International
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Abstract

The energy challenge is central to the most important strategic problems facing the United States and the world. It is increasingly clear that even large-scale deployments of the best technologies available today cannot meet the rising energy demands of a growing world population. Achieving a secure and sustainable energy future will require full utilization of, and substantial improvements in, a comprehensive portfolio of energy systems and technologies. This goal is complicated by several factors. First, energy strategies are inextricably linked to national security and health issues. Second, in developing and deploying energy technologies, it is vital to consider not only environmental issues, such as global climate change, but also economic considerations, which strongly influence both public and political views on energy policy. Third, a significant and sustained effort in basic and applied research and development (R&D) will be required to deliver the innovations needed to ensure a desirable energy future. Innovations in materials science and engineering are especially needed to overcome the limits of essentially all energy technologies. A wealth of historical evidence demonstrates that such innovations are also the key to economic prosperity. From the development of the earliest cities around flint-trading centers, to the Industrial Revolution, to today’s silicon-based global economy, the advantage goes to those who lead in exploiting materials. I view our challenge by considering the rate of innovation and the transition of discovery to the marketplace as the relationship among R&D investment, a skilled and talented workforce, business innovations, and the activities of competitors. Most disturbing in analyzing this relationship is the need for trained workers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To develop the STEM workforce needed for innovation, we need sustainable, positive change in STEM education at all levels from preschool through postgraduate. Materials sciences can be a significant magnet in attracting students to STEM areas, and a focused effort is needed to ensure that it is included in STEM programs. From this effort will come the next generation of materials scientists and the innovations that will enable us to overcome the energy challenge.

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Acknowledgments

For assistance in the preparation of this article, special thanks go to Bonnie Nestor and Jo Roy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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  1. Battelle Memorial Institute, 505 King Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43201, USA

    Jeffrey Wadsworth (President and CEO)

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Correspondence to Jeffrey Wadsworth.

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Jeff Wadsworth has been President and CEO of Battelle Memorial Institute since January 2009. Battelle is the world’s largest nonprofit research and development organization, executing about $5 billion of work annually and employing about 21,000 people. Formed in 1925 as a charitable trust and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle counts among its successes the development of the Xerox machine, pioneering work on the compact disc, and a number of innovations in medical technology, telecommunications, environmental waste treatment, homeland security, and transportation. Battelle has spun off new ventures and companies in fiber optics, pharmaceuticals, energy, electronics, and informatics. Its principal businesses today are fee-for-service contract research, laboratory operations, and commercial ventures, executing more than 5,000 projects for some 1,500 industrial and government clients throughout the world.

Jeff formerly led Battelle’s Global Laboratory Operations business, where he oversaw Battelle’s management or comanagement of eight major laboratories—six national laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy, representing more than $3 billion in annual business (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), the Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, and a renewable energy laboratory in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, designed, built, and operated by Battelle for the private sector. In March 2009, a consortium including Battelle was awarded a contract to manage the National Nuclear Laboratory of the United Kingdom’s Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Jeff was educated at Sheffield University in England, where he studied metallurgy, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1972 and a Ph.D. in 1975. He was awarded a Doctor of Metallurgy degree in 1991 for his published work and received the highest recognition conferred by the university, an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree, in July 2004.

Jeff came to the United States in 1976 and has worked at Stanford University, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 2002, he joined Battelle and served as a member of the White House Transition Planning Office for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. From 2003 to June 2007, Jeff was director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Department of Energy’s largest multipurpose science laboratory.

Jeff has authored or coauthored nearly 300 scientific papers and 1 book, and he has been granted 4 U.S. patents. His many honors and awards include three honorary doctorates, two honorary professorships from Chinese universities, and election to the rank of Fellow of three technical societies. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2005.

Jeff and his wife Jerre live with their two Parson (Jack) Russell terriers in Upper Arlington. They have three adult children; two live and work in California and one lives in Vermont.

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Wadsworth, J. Forging the Solution to the Energy Challenge: The Role of Materials Science and Materials Scientists. Metall Mater Trans A 41, 1047–1062 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-010-0188-4

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