The need for changing how science is taught and the expansion of undergraduate research experiences is essential to foster critical thinking in the Natural Sciences. Most faculty research programs only involve a small number of upper-level undergraduate students each semester. The course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) model enables…

This article describes the work being undertaken to make more use of supercritical carbon dioxide as a green solvent. It discusses how the use of surfactants can address the limitations of supercritical CO[subscript 2] in dissolving solutes that are polar and of higher molecular weight. The design of appropriate hydrocarbon CO[subscript 2]-philic…

This paper describes a simple, cost-effective experiment which introduces students to drug delivery and modeling using alginate beads. Students produce calcium alginate beads loaded with drug and measure the rate of release from the beads for systems having different stir rates, geometries, extents of cross-linking, and drug molecular weight.…

Discusses whether universities should do research for the Department of Defense. Principle arguments against universities doing defense research, benefits of grants, and problems that universities face in dealing with federal agencies are addressed. (BC)

Proposes that one cause of the current decline in basic scientific research is the distrust and scorn existing between universities and industry. (SL)

Physicists and engineers advance the state of several arts in the design of gravitational-wave detection equipment. Provides background information and discusses the equipment (including laser interferometer), its use, and results of several experimental studies. (JN)

Discusses the planning and implementation of a laboratory course in which students carried out experimental measurements, reduced data, conducted literature surveys, and presented their results in the form of original research papers. (Author/MLH)

Discusses the need for involvement of non-academic experts experienced in engineering in university directed task-oriented research. (SL)

Characteristics of science are explained through a historical and a functional approach. Indicates that science works successfully toward traditional goals because individual and group goals tend to coincide, and that competition between individual scientists contributes to the functional organization of science. (DH)

The belief that "knowledge is most effectively pursued when disseminated without hindrance" began when science first took shape in early Greece. Its development during the Middle Ages and Renaissance is discussed (examining patenting innovation), ownership rights became more important as science became a means to power. (DH)

Highlights findings from National Science Foundation's National Survey of Academic Research Instruments and Instrumentation which examined the amount, condition, and cost of existing equipment systems for 1982 in computer sciences, physical sciences, and engineering. Indicates that one-fourth of the equipment is classified as obsolete by…

Access to new information, including basic research, has created competitive advantages in the pursuit of military, commercial, and other social goals and has influenced communication practices in science. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility has conducted a project to…

Products of the mind constitute a kind of property and this belief leads to concerns in the academic community. Protection of open scientific communication and the distribution of economic value created by knowledge are discussed, addressing conflicts of interest, joint ventures for research support, and patent ownership. (DH)

A conference was held at the University of Pennsylvania (December 1982) to discuss university-corporate relations in science and technology. Issues discussed included, among others, whether academic researchers can enter into contracts with industry without sacrificing important university values and the limits to university-industry…