Corporate Research Laboratories Research Articles

Interview of Ivan Sutherland

Ivan E. Sutherland was born in Hastings, Nebraska, in 1938. He received a BS from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (1959) in electrical engineering, an MS from Caltech (1960) and a PhD in electrical engineering from MIT (1963) <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Sutherland's dissertation, Sketchpad: A Man Machine Graphical Communication System, described a groundbreaking interactive computer-aided design system, one whose graceful interaction and functionality inspire admiration among computer graphics professionals even today <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">From 1964 to 1966, Sutherland was director of the Information Processing Techniques Office of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), where he guided computer research across the United States. In 1968, he joined colleague David Evans to build a center of computer graphics research at the University of Utah and to found with him the Evans and Sutherland Computer Corporation <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">From 1976 to 1980, Sutherland served as chairman of computer science at Caltech, and from 1980 onwards, was a vice president of the consulting firm Sutherland, Sproull and Associates, acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1990 to form the basis of its corporate research laboratory <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Sutherland has won many awards for his work, including the ACM Turing Award (1988) the IEEE John von Neumann Medal (1998). He is a Fellow of the Computer History Museum.

Unpacking the Relationship between Corporate Research Labs &amp; Firm Performance

What effect does investment in R&D have on firm performance? The papers in this symposium consider a particular form of R&D investment— namely, corporate research laboratories, seeking to unpack the relationship between the firms’ use of corporate research labs to pay- offs to R&D investments. Each paper in the symposium presents a different lens on how corporate research laboratories create value for the parent firms. Arora, Belenzon, Kosenko, Suh and Yafeh argue that corporate research labs can fill institutional voids. Knott and Vinokurova document persistence of corporate research labs over time and the labs' negative impact on research productivity. Martins and Soares investigate whether firms are able to retain the knowledge generated after the labs shut down. Finally, Arts, Cassiman, and Hao develop a new measure for the degree to which R&D investment translates into technological differentiation and show that such differentiation is especially valuable in markets characterized by product competition and high R&D intensity. Unpacking the Relationship between Corporate Research Labs and Firm Performance Presenter: Natalya Vinokurova; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania

Launching a materials informatics initiative for industrial applications in materials science, chemistry, and engineering

Abstract The advent of materials informatics (MI) with emerging global trends in digitalization, artificial intelligence, and automation has led to promising opportunities for transforming traditional scientific research workflows. However, new MI efforts rely critically on the establishment, management, and accessibility of high-quality thermophysical and chemical data, either by mining existing databases, labelling historical data in archives, or generating sufficient data sets as prerequisites to the creation of predictive machine learning models. For ambitious MI-driven projects, amassing systematic data can be a time-intensive and prohibitively costly endeavor in spaces where data is uncurated or scarce. Here, we describe a MI initiative that started in the 3M Corporate Research Laboratories (CRL), highlighting how we strategically applied MI tools and data-driven methodologies for industrial materials research and product development workflows. Robust web applications and cloud infrastructure were developed to structure, standardize, and aggregate materials data for specific CRL projects. This integrated approach leverages the diverse skills and deep technical expertise of subject-matter experts at 3M to build the foundations for MI through systematic data management in materials research and, ultimately, to advance core technology platforms with innovative, customer-driven product solutions. Key elements that have contributed to the ongoing implementation of this highly versatile MI program, as well as challenges encountered, are presented as lessons learned for the broader MI and cheminformatics communities.

Leaning from an office worker&apos;s career at corporate research laboratories

Leaning from an office worker&apos;s career at corporate research laboratories

How Industry Affiliation of Academic Scientists Affect the Rate and Direction of Research

I examine the influence of industry affiliation of university scientists on the rate and direction of their research in a dataset of 19,008 papers by 21,408 machine learning scientists at 1,973 public and private institutions. By leveraging a difference-in-difference model, I show that scientists who affiliate with corporate research labs pu blish higher-quality but more commercially focused research. Surprisingly, those whose research has significant commercial value, publish more university-like research after moving to private-sector. I suggest that in competing for talent, firms' provide scientists with significant academic freedom, allowing them to leverage firms' resources to further expand their research agenda. More nuanced results, however, show that star scientists enjoy this type of research freedom granted by firms, regardless of the commercial value of their areas of interest.

Competitive Inhibitors Unveil Structure/Function Relationships in Human D-Amino Acid Oxidase.

D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) catalyzes the oxidative deamination of several neutral D-amino acids and is the enzyme mainly responsible (together with serine racemase) for degrading D-serine (D-Ser) in the central nervous system of mammals. This D-amino acid, which binds the coagonist site of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, is thus a key neuromodulator of glutamatergic neurotransmission. Altered D-Ser metabolism results in several pathological conditions (e.g., amylotrophic lateral sclerosis or schizophrenia, SZ) for which effective “broad spectrum” pharmaceutical drugs are not yet available. In particular, the correlation between reduced D-Ser concentration and SZ led to a renaissance of biochemical interest in human DAAO (hDAAO). In the last 10 years, public and corporate research laboratories undertook huge efforts to study the structural, enzymatic, and physiological properties of the human flavoenzyme and to identify novel effective inhibitors which, acting as pharmaceutical drugs, could decrease hDAAO activity, thus restoring the physiological concentration of D-Ser. Although, none of the identified hDAAO inhibitors has reached the market yet, from a biochemical point of view, these compounds turned out to be invaluable for gaining a detailed understanding of the structure/function relationships at the molecular level in the mammalian DAAO, in particular of the interaction between ligand and the enzyme. This detailed knowledge, together with several recent studies concerning the interaction of the human enzyme with other protein regulative partners, its subcellular localization, and in vivo degradation, contributed to gaining comprehensive knowledge of the structure, function, and physiopathological role of this important human enzyme.

(Invited) Hydrogen Fuel Cells for Small Unmanned Air Vehicles

Dr. Russ Kunz was known as an early pioneer of fuel cell research in the corporate research environment, carrying out and publishing basic and applied research toward the improvement of specific corporate applications. This talk will describe how similar research on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), or hydrogen fuel cells, is being developed at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the corporate research laboratory for the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Navy is interested in unmanned systems for numerous reasons, such as offering reduced manning and creating the ability to carry out missions in environments hostile to humans. However, numerous challenges remain, such as the limited endurance of battery-electric vehicles. At NRL, we targeted the limited endurance of battery-electric unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) proposing hydrogen fuel cells as a path to long-endurance propulsion. NRL developed the Ion Tiger UAV, first using a 1.1-kg 550-Watt fuel cell built by Protonex Technology Corporation in the power train. The Ion Tiger flew for 26 hours on hydrogen fuel cell propulsion in November 2009 using compressed hydrogen gas as the fuel, and 48 hours in April 2013 using liquid hydrogen fuel. More recently, NRL has designed and built in house a flight-weight, modular 1.5 to 5 kW PEMFC using metal bipolar plates as the backbone – first with 3D printed titanium bipolar plates, and more recently using automotive-grade, formed stainless steel bipolar plates. We have also developed the methodology to make catalyst-coated membranes in house to speed development of new designs. The overall success of our hydrogen UAV program is due to advances in materials, electronics, and thermal management, integrated into an aerodynamically efficient package. The resulting fuel cell–powered UAVs are relatively small (35 to 100 lbs) but they are quiet and efficient, allowing them to do “big airplane” missions. The full system approach, with basic and applied research as its foundation, is clearly a tribute to the corporate research approach that Dr. Kunz espoused.

ACS headed to SXSW for the first time

The American Chemical Society will be at the upcoming South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference & Festivals in Austin, Texas, in March. ACS will have a booth in the expo hall and will be featuring three short-form documentaries telling the story of chemists and interdisciplinary teams working in environments including academia, start-ups, and big corporate research labs and how the work they are doing is improving safety, health, and the environment. The films aim to illustrate the importance of chemistry in innovation, and the cross-collaboration and interdisciplinary nature of scientific endeavors today. ACS will be premiering the videos on its new community engagement platform, the ACS Xchange, which is open to the public and offers tools such as one-click video conferencing, in-line commenting, and live event platforms. Sign up for the ACS Xchange at chemistry.breezio.com. The films will be available for viewing on the Xchange after March 12.

Adverse User Innovation

IntroductionVon Hippel (1988) coined the term innovation by arguing that semiconductor device makers (equipment users) played a critical role as innovators in the development of semiconductor process equipments rather than process equipment manufacturers.However, in the same period as the research by von Hippel (1988), the Japanese semiconductor process equipment manufacturer, ULVAC, conducted not only research and development (RD we define this phenomenon as adverse user innovation.ULVAC is a process equipment manufacturer founded as a venture in 1952. It has grown to be a company with sales of about 200 billion yen in 2016. Their highest source of revenue is the deposition process equipment using vacuum technology. This specific equipment had gained approximately 70% of the global market share in the field of HDD (1990) and about 80% of the global market share in the field of LCD (2008).The company autonomously conducted fundamental research, developed new process equipment for the market using the research result, and provided the equipments to users. In concrete terms, the company conducted fundamental research on cobalt-nickel-chrome (CoNiCr) material composition and developed new HDD manufacturing equipment based on the results. Such fundamental research is supposed to be conducted by device makers (equipment users); conversely, ULVAC created adverse user innovation, and successfully developed new equipment, thus achieving corporate growth.In this study, we present a case of ULVAC as the phenomenon opposite to the assertion by von Hippel (1988); however, there is a possibility that such a phenomenon is not rare. In the following, we explain the details of adverse user innovations made by ULVAC.Material Research of ULVACFounded in 1952 as an RD in 1972, the company established the Institute for Super Materials (ISM) as an independent corporate research laboratory that conducts fundamental research on materials and processes.Chikara Hayashi, the third president of ULVAC, established this research laboratory. Despite recession, he established the research laboratory against opposition from the board members. Why did a process equipment manufacturer establish a research laboratory of materials? President Hayashi explained:For customers to use our vacuum equipment, the process problem of the product needs to be solved: The purpose of establishing ISM is to place our company on a common ground with our users. We would provide knowledge and skills based on vacuum technology, following which users would request applications and suggest technologies that are unfamiliar to us. This was key to the development of the industry; therefore, it was absolutely necessary to establish ISM (ULVAC, 2002).From the 1970s onward, process equipment manufacturers began to face an ever-increasing need to understand process technologies in order to effectively develop new process equipment (Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan, 1991). However, process equipment manufacturers are often only permitted to stay in the factory from delivery of the equipment until stable performance of the machine is achieved (Akabane, 2014; Shintaku, 2008). Owing to these limitations, ULVAC, a process equipment manufacturer, established ISM and undertook a fundamental research to deeply understand the process of equipment users. The research objects of ISM were various materials such as superconductive, super high-temperature, super low-temperature, and super functional materials. They paid attention to what the users (device makers) want now and what type of materials and processes are required for the devices. …

WE-F-204-03: Developing a Corporate Research and Innovation Laboratory

In recent years heavy focus has been placed on clinical careers in medical physics, and the pathways to such careers are well-known and well-described. For the future advancement of the field of medical physics, it is necessary the focus also include research-oriented careers. It is important for the younger generation of medical physicists to know that there are many career opportunities in research, and that it is quite possible to build a successful career in which research is a major component. We will hear from those who have already blazed a trail of success in academic and industry research careers in order to understand some of the most important decisions to make and skills to develop in order to be successful. Topics such as how to build a research program, how to develop your own lab, and how to initiate good collaborations are not generally taught explicitly but are integral to succeeding in a research career. Skills such as these are often best learned from the experiences of others. The challenges encountered in transitioning from graduate student to faculty member, securing the first grant, and moving into an industry research position will be highlighted and discussed. Learning Objectives: 1.Identify career paths built on interest in research 2.Understand basic steps to starting and maintaining a research career 3.Identify differences between research careers in academia and industry M. Giger, support by NIH and COI will be listed. J. Dempsey, ViewRay, Inc. has provided financial support for my research. R. Mohan, support from NIH.

US Naval Research Laboratory focus issue: introduction.

Rather than concentrate on a single topic, this feature issue presents the wide variety of research in optics that takes place at a single institution, the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and is analogous to an NRL feature issue published in Applied Optics in 1967. NRL is the corporate research laboratory for the Navy and Marine Corps. It conducts a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research and advanced technological development in the physical, engineering, space, and environmental sciences related to maritime, atmospheric, and space domains. NRL's research is directed toward new and improved materials, techniques, equipment, and systems in response to identified and anticipated Navy needs. A number of articles in this issue review progress in broader research areas while other articles present the latest results on specific topics.

Sally Gregory Kohlstedt and David Kaiser (eds), Science and the American Century: Readings from "Isis"

It is always a pleasure to sit and read a well-crafted, thought-provoking article. So much more a pleasure, then, to find fifteen such articles in one place, as is the case with Science and the American Century. The volume gathers together contributions on various aspects of American science (less so technology and medicine) since the 1880s, all of which were published in Isis between 1996 and 2010. Though the contributions are eclectic—ranging widely in subject matter, as well as scale and style of argument—the volume offers a coherent and at times surprising look at some of the topics that have concerned historians of American science over the past ten to twenty years. The editors identify three broad subject areas around which the volume is organised. The first, ‘Nature, Science, and Environmental Perspectives’, includes contributions by Daniel W. Schneider on the interactions of professional science and local labour and knowledge in early ecological research, Philip J. Pauly on the science and politics of non-native species in the early-twentieth century, Michael Rossi on the meanings of authenticity in the construction of natural history models, Paul S. Sutter on environmental knowledge and entomological research in the building of the Panama Canal, and Joshua Blu Buhs on controversies over pesticide use in the late-twentieth century. A second set of articles, ‘Patrons, Politics, and the Physical Sciences’, includes work by Alex Wellerstein on the patenting of nuclear weapons by the US government, David Kaiser on political activism and pedagogical practice in post-war physics, W. Patrick McCray on the participation of amateur astronomers in the International Geophysical Year, Scott G. Knowles and Stuart W. Leslie on the architectural design of post-war corporate research laboratories, and Catherine Westfall on medium-scale physics and the need for alternate histories of Big Science. The third section, ‘Social Policies, Scientific Practice, and the Law’, is more motley in its composition, with articles by Ellen Herman on scientific adoption in the early-to-mid-twentieth century, John P. Jackson, Jr. on the role of social science in legal battles against discrimination in the 1940s, David S. Jones on controversies over cardiac surgery and clinical trials in the late-twentieth century, Sally Smith Hughes on the patenting of recombinant DNA technology, and Brianna Rego on the tobacco industry and research into the hazards of polonium in cigarettes.

Platform and applications for massive-scale streaming network analytics

The ability to analyze massive amounts of network traffic data in real time is becoming increasingly important for communication service providers, as it enables them to optimize use of their service infrastructure and develop innovative revenue-generating opportunities. In particular, the real-time analysis of perishable user traffic (which is not stored because of privacy, regulatory, and other constraints) can provide insights into the use of applications and services by telecommunication subscribers. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a novel system for real-time analysis of network traffic based on IBM InfoSphere® Streams, a scalable stream-processing platform, which provides access and analysis with respect to the data objects and communication patterns of users at the application layer, in contrast to simple packet- and flow-based analysis that most current systems provide. We discuss our design considerations for such a system and further describe analytics applications developed to showcase its capabilities: online identification of most-frequent objects, online social network discovery, and real-time sentiment analysis. We also present performance results from a pilot deployment of this platform and its applications that analyzed Internet traffic generated by users at a large corporate research lab.

In Memoriam: Ranga Komanduri

In Memoriam: Ranga Komanduri

The Post-Heroic Generation: American Independent Inventors, 1900–1950

By World War I, the public (and later, many historians) had come to believe that teams of anonymous scientists in corporate research and development (R&amp;D) laboratories had displaced “heroic” individual inventors like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell as the wellspring of innovation. However, the first half of the twentieth century was actually a long transitional period when lesser known independents like Chester Carlson (Xerox copier), Earl Tupper (Tupperware), Samuel Ruben (Duracell batteries), and Edwin Land (Polaroid camera) continued to make notable contributions to the overall context of innovation. Accordingly, my dissertation considers the changing fortunes of American independent inventors from approximately 1900 to 1950, a period of expanding corporate R&amp;D, the Great Depression, and two world wars. Contrary to most interpretations of this period, I argue that individual, “post-heroic” inventors remained an important, though less visible, source of inventions in the early twentieth century.

The Post-Heroic Generation: American Independent Inventors, 1900–1950

By World War I, the public (and later, many historians) had come to believe that teams of anonymous scientists in corporate research and development (R&amp;D) laboratories had displaced “heroic” individual inventors like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell as the wellspring of innovation. However, the first half of the twentieth century was actually a long transitional period when lesser known independents like Chester Carlson (Xerox copier), Earl Tupper (Tupperware), Samuel Ruben (Duracell batteries), and Edwin Land (Polaroid camera) continued to make notable contributions to the overall context of innovation. Accordingly, my dissertation considers the changing fortunes of American independent inventors from approximately 1900 to 1950, a period of expanding corporate R&amp;D, the Great Depression, and two world wars. Contrary to most interpretations of this period, I argue that individual, “post-heroic” inventors remained an important, though less visible, source of inventions in the early twentieth century.

Editorial: CAG Debate

As you will have noticed, Plasma Processes and Polymers (PPP) has adopted an entirely new concept in scientific publishing, which we call “DEBATES”.1 The first of these, entitled Views on Macroscopic Kinetics of Plasma Polymerisation, was launched in May 2010; a second set of DEBATE contributions was issued in December 2010, and a third is set for the spring of 2011. We are very pleased with the way this first debate on Plasma Polymerisation has been developing, and we now launch a new debate on a second controversial topic of profound interest to our readers, namely “Contact angle goniometry (CAG) and wettability studies: methodologies and interpretations”. As you know, this is a very broad subject with an enormous background literature of its own, one that far transcends plasma-treated surfaces, but obviously also includes these. It is our intent to have the debate on CAG progress on that very broad basis, as long as it achieves the objective to give our readership the full mastery of sophisticated diagnostic tools; in other words, we shall not insist that plasma-modified surfaces or plasma-deposited coatings be an obligatory ingredient of contributions considered for publication, although those sub-themes will clearly be of interest. In order to kick off the CAG debate, we have asked selected leading experts on this subject to contribute a first commentary. Drs. M. Strobel and C.S. Lyons of 3M Company's Corporate Research Laboratories have written an essay on their own perception of this subject.2 Drs Rosa Di Mundo and Fabio Palumbo of the University of Bari3 and Drs Michaela Müller and Christian Oehr of FhG-IGB4 have also so far contributed to this second debate. Their contributions appear in this current (January 2011) issue of Plasma Processes and Polymers. We are now soliciting further contributions in the form of short original papers, communications, even letters-to-the-Editor, which will be clustered together in future issue(s) for ready accessibility. Thereby, we seek to create a stimulating, thought-provoking archival forum designed to drive forward the collective knowledge in our chosen area of research. We believe that the essay of Drs. Strobel and Lyons will constitute an excellent spark-plug to initiate and give a boost to this CAG debate, and we sincerely hope that you will elect to participate and “reply to”, “comment on” or “add to” the contributions so far. If you do, could we please ask you to first send us a brief abstract describing the main thrust of your proposed contribution: the purpose of this is by no means to “censor”, but rather to avoid potential overlaps, in case several commentators should choose a very similar approach to the theme. In such an event we, the editors, would put the two prospective authors in touch with one-another, so that such overlaps may be avoided. The commentaries are intended to express expert opinions, backed up by experience and know-how; therefore, they are not subjected to the same editorial process as general papers and are examined only by senior editors of PPP. All contributions to the DEBATES in PPP are open-access publications. If you wish to participate in this very exciting new DEBATE on CAG, submission should follow standard author submissions to PPP, but submitting to Special Edition: CAG We look forward to receive your contribution.

Public-private innovation: Mediating roles and ICT niches of industrial research institutes

Innovation processes involve diverse sets of organizations including universities, private firms, corporate research labs and public research institutes. Collaborative forms of knowledge production and innovative activity enable actors to reduce risk, specialize, and take advantage of knowledge internal and external to the own organization. This paper discusses interactions and collaborations between public and private sector innovation. This is done through an analysis of semi-public research institutes in Sweden and their roles as arenas for R&D processes involving industry, university and government in terms of funding, research and public—private innovation. Particular attention is paid to technological niches of research institutes and utilization of research findings from collaborative R&D. The results show that institutes occupy specific niches which influence their ways of transferring knowledge. It is argued that diversity among R&D performers as well as funding opportunities is paramount for innovation systems to thrive.

Value Conflicts in Computational Modeling

What value conflicts influence the success of the modeling process and of models as products? Clients commission models, modelers develop models, users use models, and many other members of society are affected by models. These different groups all have different values, leading to value conflicts that influence the success of both the modeling process and of models as products. Data collection included in-depth, semi-structured interviews at three field sites: a corporate research laboratory, an academic research laboratory, and a government research laboratory. Three key value conflicts influence the success of the modeling process: timeliness versus completeness, innovation versus reliability, and honesty versus obedience. Value conflicts among different groups influence the success of models as products, including: the modelers versus their organization, the modelers versus the clients, and the clients versus the users. Thus, understanding value conflicts can help us to understand the ethical implications of models.

RDS appointed new Editor-in-Chief of JIMB

I am honored to have been appointed Editor-in-Chief for JIMB. I thank Allen Laskin, my fellow Senior Editors and the SIM Board of Directors for the conWdence they have shown in me. When Allen became Editor-in-Chief 3 years ago he had the big shoes of Joe Cooney to Wll. Not surprisingly, he has done an exemplary job of growing our journal, in both quality and quantity, to the internationally recognized venue that it is today. I have known Allen since the early 1970s when I reported to him at the Exxon Research and Engineering Company Corporate Research Laboratories. Since then, Allen has been a mentor, colleague and friend. I have learned much from him, especially about how industrial science is conducted, technology invented, and scientiWc writing and editing done. Allen, I personally thank you for this, and we all thank you for your dedication to JIMB and the results achieved under your leadership. With continued help from the JIMB Senior Editors, I intend to continue the quality growth of our journal. JIMB Wlls a unique role in the scientiWc world serving as a Wrst class venue for research-based novel “industrial microbiology and biotechnology”. We have a manuscript rejection rate of about 65%. We have all had manuscripts rejected and know that it doesn’t feel good. However, a journal cannot long survive if it does not accept manuscripts. Our goal is to accept manuscripts. If your manuscript is rejected, I encourage you to seriously look at the reviewer comments. They are there to help you improve your presentation. Together we will continue the publication of quality, relevant science and technology as we continue the exploration of our fascinating microbial-based world. So that all become more familiar with me, I conclude with a brief bio: Dr. Robert D. Schwartz recently retired as a Senior Development Scientist in the Fermentation Development Department at Abbott Laboratories. He received his PhD in microbiology from the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University in 1969 and subsequently had an extensive and highly productive career in industry as an industrial microbiologist. He has a number of publications and holds 10 US patents. He has been very active in several scientiWc organizations. For SIM Bob has served in many capacities, including President in 1991–1992. He received the Charles Porter Award in 1989 and was elected an SIM Fellow in 1994. Bob was a long time Senior Editor for JIMB before being appointed Editor-in-Chief in 2010.